"I enjoy sparking a little friendly competition among my team members every once in a while. It is good to see people get moving about and focused on something different than the regular day to day routine. For instance, this week, I held a safety competition. If the team could reach the end of the week without any injury to themselves or product in the warehouse, they would all get a 25 Visa Gift Card. The motivation worked beautifully!"

"In my current role, we have high sales targets, so it's easy to become demotivated if your week starts off slow. I am sure to remind my coworkers of their best sales weeks, and what they did to get there. Sometimes a quick reminder of their past successes can make all the difference."

"Of course, I love motivating those around me! In my current position, we are a crew of high performing sales professionals, but that is not to say that we don't need an extra push now and then. This motivation usually comes in the form of friendly competition. For instance, to see who can make the most cold calls in the week or who can gain the most referrals. Whoever wins gets free drinks at our next get together."

"My current team is a good blend of self-motivated professionals and others who could use a little more encouragement. For those who need it, I will dish out compliments on their work more often. Genuine compliments of course! Some people need a little more of a pat on the back, and that is fine with me."

"Motivating others is the core of what I do as an educator. My students depend on me to inspire and motivate them. I take every opportunity to do so because it makes me feel like I am doing my job as a teacher, and it benefits my students wholly."

The interviewer wants to know how you go about motivating your coworkers and encouraging a productive work environment. You need to show the hiring authority that you have an interest in adding to their workplace culture versus being an employee who is dragged down when morale is low. Give a recent example of a time when you motivated someone to keep going!

"Last month we had a very stringent deadline, and it felt as though we were not going to reach it. I quickly stopped at the bakery next door, bought a bunch of specialty pastries and encouraged everyone to take a minute, enjoy the treat, get a little sugar high, and pump out the rest of our work. This approach worked! Everyone took a much-needed breather, and the break gave us all a second wind."