Episode #3: Motivational Leadership (Part One)

As leaders, how well do we know the hopes, fears, dreams and situations of our team? In the old model, the personal lives of the team members was thought to be an off limits area for bosses. Not today. The team want to know the boss is in their corner, actively working to help them further their careers. The times have changed and we have to move with it.

Can leaders actually motivate others? Is the leader responsible for the drive, energy, engagement, consistent attitude and innovative outlook of the their team? Hollywood says we are. Rousing soapbox oratory, stirring speeches in the locker room at half time, passionate battlefield calls for sacrifice are legendary scenes from the movies. What about at work, rather than the game-day half time?

Leaders energetically telling others “be motivated, be motivated” doesn’t work. Yelling it progressively louder doesn’t work either! The leader can create a work environment where self-motivation can flourish – maybe. Why maybe? Most leaders in Japan seem to have had a charisma bypass. They were promoted because of their seniority or their individual and often idiosyncratic technical expertise. They are often not great communicators, not great with people - simply not inspirational at all.

Here is an interesting insight from Lee Iacocca, “Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can’t be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next person down the line and get them to inspire their people”.

Here lies the problem. Not only have leaders got to be able to inspire their direct reports, they also have to be able to teach these same direct reports how to pass it on to their teams. Role model and teacher-by-example elements are combined here. How many leaders do you know who can manage one, let alone both?

To be fair, as leaders, we don’t have to be saints or perfect, but there are 7 things we should stop doing because they are potentially de-motivating the team. Imagine that - by being a bit more self-aware, we can help lift motivation!

Be honest now - check that this isn’t you!

1. Showing a lack of common courtesy

You are a super busy boss. Are you barking out commands like a pirate captain, with no thought to say “please” when requesting action or adding a ”thank you” when it is completed. Do you come to work full of worries, with a cartoon rain cloud above your head - black and ominous? Is the pressure making your mood grim and subject to major fluctuations during the day. It is hard for staff to feel motivated working for Grumpy, so just double check you are showing sufficient respect for the team.

2. Possess poor listening skills

How long do we usually keep trying to talk to people who don’t want to listen? Once! If that non-listener is you, then we followers keep our best thoughts, ideas, innovations and insights to ourselves, because we know we are wasting our breath. If you happen to notice one day, that you are the source of all the ideas, that should be a warning signal. The best ideas often come from those closest to the action and by definition in your more senior role, that is no longer you.

3. Perpetrate the Killer 3Cs – criticizing, condemning and complaining

Many of us have seen demanding leaders explode with rage and disappointment, publically tongue lash the troops and speak ill of individuals to whoever happens to be around. People looking on may be silent but they are thinking “but for the grace of God, there go I”. They worry that anytime soon they could be next.

This boss behavior guarantees fostering no risk taking, slow decision making and sycophants. Maybe you are not that toxic, but putting people down makes it difficult to lift the results up. So study how to best deal with your people’s mistakes.

4. Promoting the black arts of cynicism and sarcasm

The sarcastic comments of the leader fillets team motivation clumsily and remorselessly. The Japanese language doesn’t have the degree of sarcasm of English, so often the team are just left bewildered. The cynicism of the corner office “prophet of doom” eventually kills all hopes for the future. Remember, you lead certified experts in “boss watching”. They take their lead from you. Want positive outcomes? Be positive in verbal and body language, as well as action!

5. Playing favourites

Childhood memories of the bitter taste of hopes and aspirations delayed or destroyed by favouritism, pop up in the work place whenever the boss is clearly favouring the few. You may be blissfully and innocently unaware you are even doing this. Remember, your job is to build people and manage processes. If you want to increase motivation, that means build all the people, not just your best buddies. Double check you are treating everyone the same.

6. Using secrets as a power play

Everyone in the team likes to know what is going on, because we definitely don’t like surprises at work. Obviously keeping secrets, holding closed-door meetings and announcing sudden changes mangles the team commitment. Managers themselves are often greedy to access the information trickle, dripping down from above, but miserly in passing it on. How about you? Are you communicating the WHY or just the WHAT?

7. Lack of interaction

Every busy boss is balancing the tradeoff of their own concentrated personal production hours, with spending more time with the team. The question remains though, in a busy life, how do we build common understanding, share ideas, experiences and views. These activities require time. The introverted boss or the selfish “they died taking the hill but I got my promotion ” leader, fails to garner any real engagement. Don’t go that route - communicate, involve, share – these work wonders for team spirit.

We have just covered what we should not be doing. In Part Two of Motivational Leadership we will look at what we should be doing instead.