When I look at motivational leadership goals I remember distinct times in my life that had an impact
on me.
A friend of mine ask me if I ever did any running. I said
yes, in High School I ran some track. He
said, how would you like to run a marathon?
Now I ran the 100 yard dash! When
I asked him how far a marathon was and he told me 26.2 miles, my response was,
“I don’t even like driving 26 miles let alone run it.” He said it builds “character.” I said, “It would build to a heart attack.” He said it would be inspirational for my
employees that worked for me as a team leader.
I said, "yes, they can say nice things about me at my funeral". Now I did not run the marathon so you won’t
see me with some picture up on the screen crossing the finish line in front of
some guy from Kenya. Now in this I realized I needed to find other ways to
motivate and create effective leadership with my co-workers.
We are all motivated for different reasons as each of us have different values and goals. When I was young life was different and over time everything changes just as what motivates us may transcend. I have friends that must go out and buy the latest I Phone, just because they want to be the first to have one. Having the latest technology motivates them and makes them happy...that is until six months later they are motivated to spend another $300 on the newest device. Having grown up in a time when we did not have cell phones, my values do not see the need to have a device that can tell me within twenty feet where I am at. I look around and remember where I have been, which in turn tells me where I am. Do I need an app to determine what motivates those I work with? The answer of course is no! I observe, ask questions, and most importantly listen to understand my subordinates so I can truly lead. Remember leadership is not taking individuals where they want to go, but where they ought to be.
What goals do you have for your employee's, and even a greater question might be do your employees have goals. One of the first parts of motivational leadership as stated above is understanding what goals your employees have for themselves. No matter what goals you have for them, if they do not see where they want to go as a goal you will not be successful. Another key is that goals they have just as we have should be specific. Saying, "I want to be a manager some day.", is a broad goal. Saying I want to be an regional property manager or the manager of a four diamond resort helps me understand what path to take with that person as well as if the goal is realistic based on their potential. Second part is creating the motivational environment which makes people believe and want to strive for a higher level.
The message leaders send has a lot to do with the environment they create.
7 ways for leaders to send out a powerful and positive message: Themselves!
- Leaders manage the process, but lead people
- Leaders inspire people, they don’t just drive them
- Leaders are easy to respect and look up to
- Leaders are easy to like and get along with
- Leaders help people to like themselves
- Leaders help people to believe that what they’re doing is important
- Leaders are responsive to people
