Managers and leaders can struggle to get their staff motivated to perform at their highest level. I learned a long time ago that as a leader I can only inspire my people and that motivation comes from within.
Employees need to be self-motivated in order for them to personally succeed at work. We (managers and leaders) can be the cheerleader on the sideline cheering them on to success, but if they do not want to rise to the top, they will not.
A couple of months ago I was thinking about this topic and trying to come up with some ideas to excite my staff about making some changes in our practice. I started thinking about what motivates me and among the top factors is reading motivational and inspirational books. Books by authors like John Maxwell, Ken Blanchard, Randy Pausch, and Jim Rohn, to name a few. Reading these types of books stirs my inner-being and gets the thinking juice going in my brain.
BINGO! I had an idea. I created a small library in my office of easy to read, motivational books for my staff to check out, read, write a book report on and receive an incentive bonus when they shared their thoughts on the book with the staff at a meeting.
I certainly cannot change them from the inside but reading 5-10 pages of an inspirational book a day can. So far three of my staff have read books and there is a difference in their attitude in the way they are carrying out their daily work.
In my efforts to keep them reading I began to look on the internet and came upon a website called givemore.com (the link is below). They have several good books on motivation that are just perfect to use in a business setting (short and easy to read). One caught my eye and I ordered it called “212 degrees, the extra degree” written by Sam Parker.
It has a simple but powerful message that is based on the following, “At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train.” Just go the extra degree to make the difference between something that is very hot and something that can power a locomotive engine.
Such a small effort can be the tipping point to make all the difference to make something great!
Comentários