Over the past few months I have had the chance to meet with a lot of senior leaders across a variety of industries. Buoyed with improving top and bottom lines, I could sense a marked upswing in the enthusiasm levels. Wow, the business climate seems to be taking a decisive turn for the better, I deduced, and hence the return of the confidence.
Something in the discussions gave an impression of anxiety about the nature of the recovery – is it for real and for the long run or are there challenges that can stunt it one more time. I soon discovered the common theme of bother – how to get people in my organisation charged enough, sufficiently motivated to help sustain the growth momentum. Human capital being the most crucial ingredient of sustenance for great enterprises, you might want to look around and sense if this malaise palgues your function/organisation too.
Job performance is a function of ability and motivation and a positive combination of the two can be extremely potent. Let me define motivation as the inner power or energy that pushes one towards action and achievement. Just that the subject of motivation is poorly understood and more often than not poorly practiced. We have all heard frequently echoed statements – I am no longer motivated to work here, there isn’t much that challenges me any more, the organisation is not interested in me, have done this role for so long and lost interest….. the list can go on and on!
Must share an opinion that I have held for a while now and which has always been a guiding light for me. Motivation is such a self thing, so personal and internal that it has to come from within. Organisations can only create an environment that supports you but then how and why you act/behave the way you do is something that only you can explain. It is inherently intrinsic.
Since the power lies within you, let me share a few rules for enhancing motivation :
– set a major goal and follow the path. Establish mini milestones of success – they urge you on further. A personal vision has such a great potential of guiding towards action. It is when you don’t know what you want that you can feel down and out
– finish what you start. A half finished project is no good to anyone – it is often said that quitting is a habit and so develop the habit of completing self created projects
– socialise with others of similar interest – mutual support is motivating. It is always invigorating to associate with people that give you energy rather that with those that drain us
– develop the art of self education. That way you are forced to continuously keep doing. Dependency on others for knowledge leads to procrastination.
One great mantra for leaders is that of employee engagement – the more your employees get a sense of involvement and control over what they do, the better the levels of energy will be. Creation of empowered task forces is a supportive step in that direction. Just that this calls for an open and transparent work place.
Often failure can motivate you to come back and succeed in big and amazing ways. I am sharing a wonderful such video, an all time favourite with me.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tjYoKCBYag[/youtube]
I do realise this is such a huge topic – would love to seek your views.
stay charged, be a source of energy!!
rs
I’ve been in the IT Industry for 17 years. I am in kind of what the HR folks love to call IC these days. Its like a being given the scarlet letter given to a raging adultress 🙂 reporting to a young brash nincompoop who only knows how to jerk around reporting to a mid-40’s NRI type or IIM/IIT type joker with no people skills other than a fake/real accent who can only talk of his pedigree Pomarian?
But that apart. I’ve generally seen that leadership is term lots of folks love to throw down other peoples throats, especially leaders among them the brash aggressive grown in the ranks like crazy type or even phoren return NRI Amerikan accent type – they even point out that they might be Type A personality. Really?
We are sales people lets not get emotion and lets be macho infact. But the trend is that “leaders” increasing think they can do no wrong, and they can get away with dealing roughly with people all the time (performance or otherwise). Engaging and managing your team, being with your team when they look for advise (MNC “leaders” run like hell), really connecting (and doesnt mean the types who do this at a bar-of ill repute) – seems like an endangered species….like the fake tiger count. May be “leaders” especially in MNC IT Companies (would love to name names) should be thought how to be less insecure, and more engaging and open.
Or maybe we should bend down with a feather cap with Your Leaderships…..
wonderfully stated! Employee engagement, connection – just the stuff that will help create conditions for a motivated workforce. Do realise that such leadership has become a scarcity in the recent times, especially in the IT industry. Often the urgency to deliver outstanding results in a very short time manifests in this sort of a behaviour – obviously detrimental to the long term culture and performance of the organisation.
Nice video Rajeev. Interesting you talk of failure and motivation. Isnt it failure that managers and leaders especially in large MNC corporations actually dont know how to lead? I wonder if other leaders (they wish!) follow this blog. Maybe we could get all of them in line and bitchslap them.
Rajiv…..all this is Bullshit. Managers need to lead rather than be butt-kissers, excel shaggers or pptexuals that they are these days.
great that you allude to the manager – leader nuance. It is perfectly possible to be completely action oriented and demanding and also carry the team along. Depends how you shuffle between positional and personal powers.