Page 214 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

the eight principles model � 193

road, all over the world. So how does Mike keep his team
energized? He explains:

Can you keep a sales team as motivated virtually as if they were
physically colocated? Yes, and it’s hard. It is harder because you
can’t look them in the eye. It is harder because they can’t look you
in the eye. Passion is something that many people need to take
them to the next level. To stay motivated. To grow. To stay in the
job. Passion is something that is more difficult over distance. You
can hear it, but it is much more powerful if you can see it. Those
visual clues are very powerful clues. The way we have overcome
that is we have put together a series of communications. We have
balanced virtual, online meetings, online Webinars, and world-
wide .com calls with a set of physical and personal meetings that
are anchors for the year. Everything else is done to support that
kind of visual, passionate push when we are physically together.
Then you get together on an annual basis as an entire group.

The other point Mike emphasizes about motivating a
sales team at a distance is “communication, communica-
tion, communication.” The organization has constantly ana-
lyzed and refocused the content of communication and the
how of communication. “We can meet globally,” he says,
“virtually every month. We use our own tools to do that.”

principle Four: do what you love, the motivation will Follow
When people are doing work they enjoy, the motivation to do some-
thing special flows from the work itself. The manager doesn’t have to
do much more than to make sure the worker doesn’t exhaust himself or
herself. Ask yourself why people spend hours at hobbies for no money
at all. It’s because the work itself is motivating—and in fact that’s what
work should always be but often isn’t. When people are doing the work
they love they get into a stream that just carries them forward.