Leadership Traits: Motivation

Like I wrote a few blog posts ago, I’d like to get back to some of the fundamentals of Personal and Business Development.  I’d like to put feelers out there for my readers so they’ll have an idea of where the edges of the box are before thinking outside of it.

I’ve already written a post about the five paragraph order, which is a good communications, planning, and problem solving tool.  Over the next several entries, I’d like to expand my blog post on the fifteen leadership traits.  Knowing these traits will give you the opportunity to find ways to develop and advance your leadership skills in all areas of your life.

Here we go:

Motivation

It’s probably not by accident that the acronym MILITARY BEARING is used to delineate the fifteen leadership traits.  It starts with an ‘M’ … and ‘M’ stands for ‘Motivation.’

I’ve attended a lot of training evolutions where motivation was not only the primary focus, it was the only item on the agenda.  If all you have is motivation, you can go a long way, and everything else tends to fall into place after a while.

Bill Bartmann points out that there are two kinds of motivation, positive, and negative.  Mr. Bartmann is a true operator of the American Dream.  He went from being a ‘hopeless’ teen age derelict to being among the Worlds Billionaires.

Mr. Bartmann tells a story of his use of positive, and negative motivators.  He met his wife when they were both very young.  When they met, Bill was already friends with wifes sister.  Bills wifes sister told Bills wife, while they were still dating, not to have anything to do with him … he was a high school drop out, and a street gang member, etc., etc.

On the positive side, Bill wanted to be … needed to be … someone his wife would be proud of, and he wanted to provide themselves with a lifestyle other than the one they were on the path to living.

On the negative side, Bill didn’t want to prove his sister – in – law right … he needed her estimation of him not to be correct.

One factor drew Mr. Bartmann into a course of action, the other repelled him into a course of action.  Some individuals are driven primarily by positive motivational factors, while others are driven primarily by negative.  Most successful people employ a combination of the two in a balance that is suitable for them, and you should follow their example.  Find your motivators, figure out your ‘why’s, and keep them in your personal development tool belt like you would a wrench.

We’ve already gone over that you can go a long way if all you have is motivation.  My observation is that motivation spreads through a group like a plague, particularly the motivational tone that originates from the head of the pack.  Motivation can take a group of people above, and beyond.  The lack of motivation can back a group up like a clogged drain.

If you are in a leadership position … shop steward, supervisor, business owner, salesperson, parent, teacher, volunteer coordinator … you have got to be motivated if you want to move foreword.  You set the tone, whether you like it or not, whether you feel good or not, whether there are other things you’d rather be doing or not.

Think of how your work day went when your boss would rather have been out golfing, and let that emotion show up on his or her shirt sleeve.  Were you very productive?  Be motivated.  Be glad you’re there.  I hate to say this, but, for the sake of fulfilling your objective, if you have to fake it, fake it till it comes back around on its own.

Till next time, overcome motivation block by finding out your motivators, and keeping them handy for review.  You’ll thank yourself later, and remember, you are spectacular.

Back to the Basics

Several years ago I was the Training Department Head for a restaurant franchise organization out here in Nebraska.  At any given time during my appointment I had between 13, and 17 stores of which to keep track.  It was one of those deals where one works for the corporate entity, but is paid by the franchiser.   The two didn’t always agree with each other, and I was stuck in the middle.

The franchise owner was very impressed with the concept of thinking outside of the box … I am as well.  However, the Old Man wanted me to jump right in … start teaching his people how to think outside of the box right away.  That’s good, but one needs to at least know what local store marketing is before one starts thinking outside of the box with it.  My contention was that his management staff had to know where the sides of the box were before they started working outside of it.

I’d like to put us back inside the box … find out where the edges are.  I may have gotten ahead of myself, and presented subject mater I was impressed with myself, but may need some development to present fully.

Over the course of the next several posts I intend to yak what I know about leadership traits, problem solving, communications, relaxation, and whatever else I can think of which to write on the subject.

In closing, I’d like to leave you with this little tidbit on how the mind works in a funny way.  It’s a fairly advanced concept, but I’m stoked into yakety smaketing about it.

Have you ever looked for something, and just couldn’t find it?  You tore your house apart looking for it, and even blamed the dog for hiding it.  Not having this thing right at that moment left you in a terrible mess.  Then, after all was said and done, and you’d moved on to other issues, what you had been looking for was now in your way. 

Odd, isn’t it?  When you fret, and fume over something, its resolution seems to avoid you … till you’ve calmed down.  It may be that finding things takes a degree of passion, and focus.  However, it may come quicker to you if you use positive energy, instead of negative energy … and maybe even setting the issue off to the side and forgetting about it for a while helps.

Till next time, think positive, and remember, you are an extraordinary person.