12-6-2017, Forbes -- Have you ever listened to a speech that inspired you so much, you were ready to make a change in your life immediately? What was it about that person, that presentation, that drove you to take action? Chances are, the speaker had some pretty solid qualities that inspired you to follow their lead.

Now imagine a typical day at your office. Are your employees energized and ready to drive change, or do they appear quiet and listless, only striving for the bare minimum?

Motivating your employees, while no easy feat, is critical to driving results. When people come to me for help with a career change, they are often looking to leave a job due to a bad boss, lack of opportunity, or pure boredom (aka not enough change). As a career coach, I remind my clients that some of this is due to poor leadership, while some simply boils down to a lack of communication. You don’t want to be the “boring boss” who could have, in fact, potentially saved that employee from walking out the door, do you? Chances are, if this person was looking for growth - for change - you could have inspired them to make it happen.

The catch? To inspire change in your employees, you need to spend just as much time working on yourself as you do working to inspire others. Here’s how.

Be an expert communicator.

Have an open-door policy that employees actually use and believe in. If you allow for more two-way dialogue and open communication, your employees will learn to trust you. Not only is communication important for results, it’s important for the bottom line as well. $26,041 is the cost per worker per year due to productivity losses resulting from - you guessed it - communications barriers. Yikes. So aim for healthy, professional dialogue with your employees. Ask for feedback as much as you give it, and have candid conversations. In other words, it’s time to up your communication game.

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