Within the present economic climate, the need to positively motivate both yourself and your fellow professionals has rarely been more relevant. For a business to perform well, even within adverse trading conditions, it requires employees who are prepared to go the extra mile, and for all the right reasons. A collective sense of purpose is essential to establish if you want people to get behind it.

But how does one develop career motivation, self-belief and even progression within an economic context that is nothing short of despondent? Below are some tips on how you can, and indeed should, develop a keen sense of motivation within the workplace.

Motivation is infectious

In business, as with other aspects of life, every participant has the opportunity to affect the performance and moods of others in both positive and negative ways. Just as a depressed mood within the office can start to get under the skin of even the most hardened optimist, a refreshed and motivated individual can spread an upbeat philosophy equally as well. Start trying to focus on the positive things, and you may well see your momentum carry across to fellow colleagues, who in turn may inspire you further.

Which curve are you on?

Despite the gloomy economic situation, there are still many individuals and businesses in the UK that are continuing to develop and prosper. This may be due, on a collective level, to the business operating in relatively unharmed sectors, such as energy, education or pharma. On a more personal level however, it can also be the case that the business is surviving because the teams and individuals involved are highly motivated and intent on bucking the trend.

Human resources are often the most valuable assets of any company, so look at the bigger picture and realise that the only way to deal with times such as these is for everyone to be highly charged and focused towards common goals.

Visualise, then actualise

Whether you are trying to motivate yourself, another individual or even a whole team, the key initial step is to develop a vision within your own mind of the preferred outcomes and the actions required in order to achieve them. Only once your objectives and methodology have been fully developed can you hope to inspire and motivate both yourself and others to get behind the strategy. The more clearly you can communicate this vision, the more actively your colleagues can successfully implement it.

Individuals need different goals

Although most people respond to similar incentives and motivational triggers within the professional environment, it is important to remember that we all also have a slight variance in our priorities. With this in mind, try and understand the motivations within yourself and others, tailoring your approach to objectives and their rewards accordingly. A clear goal is only aspirational if everyone involved can translate it into benefits that resonate to them.

Stay focused

Motivational workshops or other initiatives, both internally and externally run, are often a good idea to refocus a team and the individuals that populate it. It is worth bearing in mind however that you will need to initiate processes that serve to motivate yourself and your colleagues day in, day out, rather than experiencing around the workshops themselves. With consistent application, motivational practices can weave their way into the cultural fabric of any company

Celebrate achievements

A huge part of successful motivation, and confidence building, is the reward received when an objective is reached. Whether this be a financial bonus, taking the team out to lunch, or just a general feeling of individual and collective achievement, it needs to be celebrated. If you are

trying to build motivation, make sure that some of the initial goals are fairly easily reached, providing a 'quick win' scenario whereby everybody involved feels the satisfaction of achievement early on. This will in turn build motivation to more complex objectives, backed by the knowledge and experience of meeting objectives in the past.

Staying motivated in a changing world

The concept of motivation is, by definition, a relative one. Everybody has times when they feel more or less motivated than they have done in the past, and this can be as the result of both internal and external pressures. Being motivated is a positive state however, and it involves being able to see the opportunities, rather than the pitfalls, in everything you put your mind to. It's an easy habit to create, infinitely preferable to being de-motivated, and could open up avenues within your current and future career that you hadn't thought previously possible.