If they believe in you they will do amazing things.

Great leadership is an amazing motivator. If a boss or manager can become a great leader, then people will more easily forget the tough times when they inevitably come. However, being a great leader is much easier said than done.

There have been a few managers that I've really enjoyed working for.  They were very different people but the main factors they had in common were- they were approachable, fair, treated me with respect, passionate about and good at what they did, and thanked me for working for them.  They provided honest feedback, positive and negative, and helped me improve my skills.  I wanted to go to work for them and worked hard.  I've considered these people friends, still do.

Combined with mutual respect, good communication, clear direction and decent pay and we just might get some shit done!

The topic of motivation involves some noteworthy research.  I strongly encourage anyone seriously interested in it to read Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs."  If you don't have time, just breeze through the Needs Pyramid section.

Institutions that constantly struggle at the lower-order levels of human motivation--survival and security--will NEVER get people to inspire themselves to achieve higher-order company goals, no matter how ambitious the individual.  In summary, what Maslow is saying is that you cannot motivate individuals; they motivate themselves.  You cannot "reach" employees by high-minded slogans and mottos, because their primary motive for work rests at a lower rung.

Currently, given the number of layoffs and an incessant, addiction-like behavior on the part of corporations to solve problems by laying off or outsourcing, a vital step in motivation has been summarily executed by those who pat themselves on the back with billion-dollar bonuses for destroying the social milieu of an organization (which used to be considered the grease behind the machinery):  the term is Sense of Belonging.  It's the step after survival and safety/security needs are met.  In Maslow's model, improving employee motivation requires that each of the steps be satisfied before moving to the next stage.

Although I have been out of the work force for several years, from what I see and from past experience, great leadership is becoming difficult to find. I am one of the lucky few that worked for a man in the service department of a Ford dealership whose leadership would qualify as great. It's a difficult task putting the customer first and not putting the employee second but I've seen for myself it can be done. It starts by hiring the right people and paying them a good wage. If you hire minimum people and pay minimum wage you're going to get exactly what you pay for. Then there is the issue of mutual respect. The owner's name may be on the sign outside the business but its labor holding up that sign. Management and labor need each other and depend on each other. When you hire good people, pay them a good wage, and show them respect, you end up with people who care about their job and the company they work for. In the auto dealership I mentioned there was always a stack of job apllications two inches high of people who wanted to work there because of the manager's reputation. Good people, good wages, mutual respect, and concern for customer satisfaction. If more business leaders understood that simple formula we would not only have more great leadership but a much prouder and satisfied work force.