Get Fired Up!

Posted on by Scott

match-268526_640Sometimes, you just run out of steam.

One day, you’re on fire; ready to tackle the world. These are the days when you get so much work done, and make so much forward progress, it feels like nothing can get in your way. The wins start stacking up. Your confidence swells. You end the day looking forward to tomorrow and the great things you’ll accomplish. It’s even hard to sleep because your mind is racing with ideas, answers, and possibilities.

But when morning comes, it feels like the tank is empty. All that energy and excitement is gone. In fact, you’re starting to wonder what made you think you could have an impact at all. Engaged? Nope. Motivated? Not a chance. It’s all you can do to get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other. Forget “seizing the day” or “taking the bull by the horns.” Maybe, if you’re lucky, you can make it to lunch without anyone asking too much of you. Maybe, if you go through the motions today, tomorrow will be better.

We all have those days when our confidence takes a hit. It certainly happens to me. Despite my best intentions, I just can’t muster enough willpower to ignite the spark that usually drives me to do my best work. Sometimes, it’s a bit of bad news that brings me down. Something doesn’t go my way and the setback seems particularly harsh – a key resource lets me down or a pet project falls flat.

Sometimes I just feel tired. The energy I’ve expended in recent days, either at work or even on projects outside the office, takes its toll and I need to recuperate. Sometimes a new project seems a little too big to tackle and I feel drained just thinking about it. I don’t feel confident in what I’m doing and my motivation takes a hit.

You’ve been there, haven’t you? No one can maintain a high level of motivation all the time. Everyone feels the drain. The key is to recognize what’s happening. Temporary drops in engagement are normal, possibly even healthy. But long-term disengagement is dangerous. I don’t like feeling that way. I like feeling energized by my work and look for ways to rekindle my motivation.

Back in January, I wrote about some things I do to stay motivated – activities that help boost my mood. Today, I want to share three mental exercises that I think are key to building confidence and, by extension, engagement. How we think determines how we act. How we act determines our impact.[Tweet “How we think determines how we act. How we act determines our impact.”]

Exercise #1 – WAKE UP!
The first step to rebuilding your confidence and motivation is to shake yourself out of the mental stupor that’s clouding your judgement. So what if something didn’t go your way? Who cares about that person who shot you down? Stop letting circumstances and people outside of your control dictate how you feel. Take ownership of your mental state and snap out of it.

Remember, you were born to do great things! You have talents and skills that no one else can provide! You have value that people desperately need. The longer you let self-doubt and hesitation keep you from reaching your potential, the longer you starve the world of your gifts. Now is the time to wake up!

Exercise #2 – GET UP!
You won’t accomplish anything just sitting there. Stop stewing in self-pity and malaise and start moving. The only way to realize your true potential is to act. That means it is time to attack your future head-on. Seize control of your emotions by engaging in activity that moves you forward.

Go for an easy win. Reach for the low hanging fruit. Take the first, tiny step forward. Get a small accomplishment under your belt and see how great it feels. Now use that feeling to propel forward into the next, more significant step. Build up some momentum and let inertia work for you. Now is the time to get up!

Exercise #3 – LOOK UP!
Once you’re on the move, keep your focus onward and upward. Let nothing pull your attention away from the goal. All it takes is one distraction to stall your efforts. That’s what caused you to lose confidence to begin with, right?

So don’t look back. This is not the time for “what if’s” and “if only’s.” If you start looking back at what could have been, you’ll feel the urge to wallow in the past. Don’t look around at what others are doing. It’s too easy to see someone doing something different or better. Self-doubt lives in our peripheral vision. So keep your eyes front and your feet moving. Now is the time to look up!

I’m constantly amazed at how quickly I can become my own worst enemy. One minute things are going great. The next, I’ve let my focus drift. I’ve stopped moving. I’ve fallen asleep. Thankfully, my mind is equally capable of reversing the downward spiral. Once I take control of my emotions by waking up, getting up, and looking up, I feel the fire within ignite. Once that fire gets burning, there’s nothing that can stop me.

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What Are You Afraid Of?

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fear-1172407_640In the 1991 film Defending Your Life, Albert Brooks plays a man named Daniel Miller. Daniel dies in a car accident and finds himself in Judgement City, a way-station for the recently departed. It is here that souls are assigned a defender and, through a series of interviews, must demonstrate they have overcome the fears that govern most human behavior in order to be granted access into heaven. Those found to still be struggling with fear are sent back to earth, reincarnated so they can try again. Daniel is forced to relive several incidents from his life, played back on a large video screen, and attempts to justify his often less than heroic actions.

I don’t know what the afterlife might hold for us, but I am convinced that fear is one of our most formidable opponents here on earth. While motivation drives us forward, fear is what holds us back. The most exciting goals and meaningful activities can be easily thwarted by fear. It’s only by overcoming our fears that we can break through the barriers keeping us from realizing our fullest potential.[Tweet “It’s only by overcoming our fears that we can realize our fullest potential.”]

Some people have a fear of rejection. They fear their ideas will be deemed insignificant, insufficient, or even laughable. They worry about not fitting in. Rather than seeking to stand out, they seek to blend in. Their desire for acceptance overshadows their desire to grow and achieve.

Some people have a fear of failure. They fear falling short of the goal and ultimately decide it is better not to tempt fate. After all, if you never make the attempt, you don’t have to worry about losing. And for them, the potential pain of losing overrides the potential benefits of winning.

Still others have a fear of success. They fear actually achieving the goal. They’ll never admit it, but successfully attaining their goal is causes great anxiety. Reaching a new level of performance brings on a lot of pressure. You might be expected to continue performing at a high level. You might find yourself with a new set of challenges and responsibilities you don’t necessarily want. Pursuing a goal is often more comforting than actually reaching it.

These fears manifest themselves in various ways. Worry, anxiety, timidity, disengagement, lack of communication, procrastination, low performance, missed opportunities, decreased trust. Any of these sound familiar?

As leaders, it’s critical that we help team members overcome the fears that are holding them back; but that process has to start with facing our own. Those in leadership positions are often the most susceptible to fear. Their position adds a different dimension to the motivation vs. fear equation. It can be difficult to help someone else move forward when I’m being held back myself.

Overcoming fear is a process. It occurs to me that there are three key steps to mastering the fears that hold us back.

  1. Name it. When you feel yourself reluctant to take that next step, it’s important to identify exactly what’s causing that hesitation.
    • Why am I reluctant to take the next necessary step?
    • What negative consequences do I feel might result?
    • Why do I feel these negative consequences are likely to occur?
  2. Quantify it. Once you’ve named your fear, identify its impact on your progress.
    • What’s the cost to me should the negative consequences come to pass?
    • What’s the cost to me of not moving forward? What positive outcomes am I giving up?
    • What’s the worst case scenario? Do the benefits of moving forward outweigh the consequences?
  3. Address it. Assuming the potential benefits outweigh the potential negative consequences, identify the best way forward.
    • What steps should/could be taken to minimize the potential negative consequences?
    • Who can I confide in/work with to help me make the most of this opportunity?
    • How can I use this experience to propel my performance forward and lay the groundwork for even more success in the future?

Overcoming fear is a very real component of motivation. Without addressing the internal reservations that hold us back, we can’t fully embrace the challenges ahead. Without confronting that part of us that creates doubt, we’ll never realize our full potential. Ultimately, you may find that overcoming fear is the most motivating move of all.

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Dialed In or Checked Out?

Posted on by Scott

hand-977641_640Do you remember your first day on the job?

Do you remember the sense of excitement you felt? Perhaps you felt butterflies in your stomach or the rush of a quickened heartbeat. Every sense was alive as you entered that new environment. Every sight and sound was a fresh experience. You drank in every moment with a heightened sense of expectation.

What was it that excited you that day? Was it the prospect of a new job role? Certainly, the idea of taking on a new set of responsibilities (and possibilities) is an exciting one. Was it the idea of meeting new people? The first few days of feeling out a new team are always filled with anticipation. Or maybe it was something larger – being part of the organization’s larger purpose that fueled your excitement. Being a part of something significant has always been a source of motivation for me.

What about today? How have your feelings about your job changed since that first, possibility laden day? Does the work still excite you? Are you still energized by those around you and the work you accomplishing together?

Or is the thrill gone? Has your excitement given way to apathy? Has the pride in your mission been replaced by a daily feeling of dread? Are you still fueled by a sense of purpose or have you run out of gas? Have you simply quit and forgot to tell anyone?

A recent Gallup poll found that only 30% of American workers are engaged, meaning they work with “passion and feel a connection with their company.” That means seven out of every ten employees have lost their motivation to deliver their best. Of those seven, five (52%) say they have “checked out.” They sleep walk through the day, putting in their time, but not their best effort.  They’re simply going through the motions. Their mind is elsewhere. Their focus is on something other than improving efficiency, satisfying the customer, or growing the business.

The other 18% are what Gallup calls “actively disengaged.” These people aren’t just unhappy. Every day, they work to undermine the progress made by their engaged coworkers. Imagine that for just a moment. For every team of ten people, two are likely to be waging a war of sabotage – moving the opposite direction of everyone else.

How does this happen? How do excited, engaged, purpose-driven employees turn into saboteurs? Where did the passion go? What happened to their motivation?

There are any number of theories about what drives an employee’s motivation, but a lot of it comes down to culture. Culture has been described as the operating system of an organization. During a workshop last year, I asked attendees how they would define “culture.” The best response was the simplest: “It’s how things work around here.”

How’s the culture in your organization? If the members of your team were to answer honestly, how would they describe their level of engagement? Are they filled with passion? Are they checked out? Or are they actively disengaged?

As leaders, we are the keepers of the culture. It falls to us to protect and cultivate the type of work environment that attracts top talent and motivates them to continue performing at their best. It is, in fact, the essence of leadership.[Tweet “Leaders are the keepers of culture.”]

Great cultures are difficult to build. That’s why there are so few around. That’s why studies like the one conducted by Gallup revel such disappointing numbers regarding employee engagement. But the leaders of high performing organizations understand the importance of culture. They believe the struggle is an important one.

So, do you remember your first day on the job? It’s not too late to recapture that magic. Culture is a living, breathing entity. The energy and excitement that once drew people in may simply have gone dormant. Tap into the passion and energy you and your team long to feel and get to work. It may be the only work that matters.

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Are You a Former Performer?

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sad-597089_640Just about every workplace has one; that guy or gal who never delivers, but always has an excuse. It’s never their fault. There’s always some external reason that explains why the project wasn’t completed on time or the sales goal wasn’t met or customer satisfaction is down. Despite their best efforts, someone or something got in the way. And it’s too bad, really, because they would’ve hit a home run if not for the obstacle in their path.

But press these people on the details and you’ll find out there really never was a plan for success; just another string of excuses. You quickly start to deduce that they never really intended to perform at all. While others are working hard all around them, their goal is to expend as little effort as possible. They just show up every day doing the bare minimum necessary to collect a paycheck.

It’s always a tragedy when a top performer quits and leaves. It’s worse when they quit and stay. I call these people former performers. At one time, they represented the organization’s best and brightest. They were full of potential and full of passion. Others looked up to them, went to them for advice, and trusted them to show the way. [Tweet “It’s always a tragedy when a top performer quits and leaves. It’s worse when they quit and stay.”]

But something changed. Something caused them to lose their passion. The fire inside died and they’ve grown cold. Without that internal spark, there’s nothing to push them on, nothing driving them to succeed or challenging them to create something new. Now they’ve quit. They don’t perform, they just get in the way and slow things down – like a speedbump. And everybody hates speedbumps.

Some lose the spark following a big letdown. A major project didn’t go their way. They no longer occupy a key position. Someone else has risen up and stolen their limelight. They feel like they’ve fallen from the summit (or been pushed off) and the grapes are sour.

Others just get used to being told “no.” Their ideas have turned down so many times, it feels like death by a thousand cuts. Eventually, they start coming up with obstacles themselves. I guess it’s less painful to recognize a perceived barrier and abandon your idea than it is to have someone else squash it for you.

Perhaps for some, it’s a more natural degradation of passion. Their interests no longer align with that of the organization or the team. Industry changes have sucked some of the fun out of the job. Changes to their life situation has shifted personal priorities. Maybe burn out has set in.

Regardless of the cause, former performers hurt the team. Their passive aggressive approach sucks the energy from a room and steals the momentum from the team. The impact is even more profound when you consider that these individuals typically occupy leadership positions. That’s right, former performers are usually found in management – the perfect place to kill productivity while avoiding accountability.

Former performers talk a good game – in fact, they are often very good at fooling the executive suite – but they absolutely fail the test when it comes to personal accountability. They don’t perform. They don’t take responsibility. They don’t care. And because they don’t leave, others are forced to pick up the slack.

Here’s how you avoid becoming a former performer:

  1. Commit to always doing your best. Don’t give up or give in just because there are obstacles in the way. Remind yourself that the easy road isn’t always the right one and that the tough victories are always the sweetest. Keep in mind that giving yourself permission to stop caring, even for a brief period, is a dangerous step. Don’t go there. Just don’t.
  2. Align yourself with other top performers. Misery loves company, but so does success. If you’re not regularly working alongside people who seek excellence at every turn, then you’re likely hanging out with losers. Stick around too long, and you’ll become one yourself. Find the best and become part of that group.
  3. Work toward a vision. If you don’t have a vision of some better future state, then you are doomed to wander aimlessly. What do you want your job, the team, and the organization to look like a year from now? If you can’t articulate this, then what is it that’s driving you forward? Work with the other “A” players around you to create a vision of what could be and then push each other, and yourselves, to make it a reality.

Are you a top performer, or a former performer? Can you make an honest assessment? If you look in the mirror and see a former performer, it’s not too late for you. It’s not too late to reignite the spark and regain the passion that once fueled your best work. It’s there if you want it. So are the top performers around you. They’re waiting to add your passion and creativity to theirs. All you have to do is decide to join them.

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5 Tricks to Regain Your Motivation

Posted on by Scott

smiley-1041796_640I’d lost it. My mojo, my desire to achieve, my motivation to move forward… was gone.

I had started running in May, a natural progression of the workout routine I’d started a month earlier. I had caught the bug and was going for a run at least every other day. Things were going well – I’d lost some weight and felt better than I had in a long time.

But while out for a run during the last week of July, I somehow managed to injure my left foot. Within an hour of completing my run, I was barely able to stand, a stabbing pain pierced my heel. A quick internet search revealed the most likely diagnosis was plantar fasciitis. Recovery, however, would not be quick. The recommended course of action was rest and reduced activity while the condition resolved itself; but that could take six months to a year.

I tried to convince myself that the pain was temporary, but a couple of test runs proved otherwise. I was grounded. Unable to participate in my new favorite activity, my motivation to exercise plummeted. I started gaining weight again and found myself spending more and more time on the couch.

From time to time, we all suffer from a lack of motivation. Things are clicking along and suddenly, without warning, we hit a wall. Sometimes, all it takes is some sort of setback – a disappointing performance, lack of positive feedback, or even an injury. In other instances, a drop in motivation might result from boredom. Without variation, even the most worthwhile jobs lose their excitement.

Last week I wrote about personal accountability, suggesting ways to keep yourself focused on achieving the goals you set for yourself this year. Accountability is important, but motivation is critical. Think of accountability as external pressure to perform. Motivation, on the other hand, is the internal drive to achieve. Accountability can be avoided and suppressed, but once motivation kicks in it will not be denied.

When motivation ebbs, it can be difficult to regain. I have found there are five things I can do to rekindle the internal fire and boost my motivation.

  1. Listen to motivating music. There are certain songs that instantly boost my energy level. When I started running, I developed a playlist that never failed to keep me moving. Listening to those songs caused a shift in my mentality. I would instantly envision myself succeeding and my body responded. I enjoyed the sensation so much that I started listening to the playlist at other times. No matter what I’m doing, it inspires me to up my game just a bit. Do you have some go-to motivational music?

  2. Look at motivating images. Zig Ziglar used to tell the story of his own weight loss journey by describing how he once tore an ad from a magazine. The ad featured a fit male model, and he taped it to his mirror. Every morning Ziglar would look at the ad and ask himself “Zig, do you want to look like you or do you want to look like the guy in the magazine ad?” Similarly, my son has pictures and videos of successful musicians saved on his phone. He wants to be a musician and looking at them motivates him to practice. Looking at images of successful people can help boost my motivation because I imagine myself in their place and feel compelled to take the next step to achieve that goal. Do you have some go-to motivational images?

  3. Read motivating words. I love quotes. The right combination of words often cuts through the clutter and speaks to my soul so clearly that I cannot help but be motivated to act. For quite a while now, my favorite one has come from Karen Lamb. “A year from now you will wish you had started to day.” Every time I think about that quote, I imagine myself a year in the future and am motivated to get moving. Do you have some go-to motivational words?

  4. Talk to motivating people. Some people drag you down. Some lift you up. Avoid the former. Be the latter. Talking to people who whine and complain does nothing to help me get better. Talking to people who encourage and challenge me does. I’ve found that the best way to find motivators is to be one yourself. In fact, I can turn my own day around simply by encouraging someone else. As I speak uplifting words to them, I hear and internalize those same words. It’s a sure-fire way to remind myself of the goals I committed to achieve. Do you have some go-to motivational people?

  5. Do motivating things. They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. That first step might be difficult, but the second one is easier. Each subsequent step is easier still. The key is to take that first step – no matter how small you have to make it. Lost your motivation to work out? Go for a short walk. Lost your motivation to clean the house? Start by making the bed. One small victory provides the motivation necessary to move me just a bit further down the path. Do you have some go-to motivational activities?

I’m happy to report that I’m back on the exercise wagon. I’m still not running again, but I am walking daily. As of yesterday, I’ve hit my 10,000 step goal for 24 consecutive days. Of course, seeing the visual representation of my success displayed on my fitness tracker motivates me to keep the streak going.

I hope that, as we near the end of January, you are still on track with your personal improvement goals. If you’ve hit a speedbump – if something has caused you to lose motivation – try some of these tactics to regain it. There’s a lot to accomplish this year. You need to stay fired up.

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Winning When You’re Not Ready

Posted on by Scott

Jim-Thorpe
Agence Rol [Public domain] , via Wikimedia Commons
The 1912 Summer Olympics, held in Stockholm, Sweden, proved to be a busy one for American Jim Thorpe. An accomplished athlete, Thorpe was scheduled to participate in four events – the long jump, the high jump, the pentathlon, and the first-ever decathlon. Combined, he was set to compete in 17 different contests, each with potentially multiple heats, over two days.

Born in 1887, Thorpe was a natural athlete. He started playing football in high school; but soon added baseball and lacrosse (along with ballroom dancing) to his resume’. However, it was his performance on the football field that made him a household name. He earned collegiate All-Star honors in both 1911 and 1912. Carlisle Indian Industrial College won the 1912 national championship largely due to his involvement – he scored 25 touchdowns and 198 points during that season.

It wasn’t until the spring of 1912 that Thorpe turned his thoughts to competing in the Olympics and began training. Just a few months later, he now reached for his shoes in anticipation for his first event. There was just one problem, though.

His shoes were gone.

Thorpe’s track shoes – his most valuable pieces of equipment – had been stolen. But there was no time to track them down. The first event was about to start. If Thorpe didn’t report to the starting line quickly, he would be disqualified. The starting gun simply would not wait.

While few of us can relate to the pressure of competing in an Olympic event, most of us can understand feeling ill-prepared for the starting gun. Maybe it’s a big work presentation, an important client meeting, or the start of the next sales cycle – despite your best efforts, you can find yourself feeling not quite ready for the clock to move forward. Numerous times over my career, I’ve found myself feeling like I need a time-out in order to gather myself before launching into something big.

Perhaps one or more of these scenarios seems familiar to you.

  • You’re feeling swamped. Sometimes the pressure of too many things on your plate can make you want to call for a time-out. When the calendar is full and deadlines start getting close, the pressure can be overwhelming.
  • You’re feeling thrown off guard: Sometimes you think you’re ready, but factors outside of your control move against you at the last minute. Family issues pop up, market conditions change, and coworkers let you down. All can leave you feeling off-balance.
  • You’re feeling ill-equipped. Equipment can fail. Supplies can prove to be inadequate. Help can be out of reach. Finding yourself without key resources can be a significant setback to even the best of us.

Eventually, you’ll find yourself between a rock and a hard place; between the need for more time to prepare and an unmovable deadline. Maybe it’s now, at the end of the year with less than a week to the end of one year and the start of the next.

What do you do?

Try following Jim Thorpe’s lead.

  1. He didn’t give up. As tempting as it must have been to throw in the towel, Thorpe didn’t. He didn’t forfeit. And he didn’t spend time worrying about what had happened to his shoes. Don’t waste precious time dwelling on things outside of your control. Focus on what you can do.
  2. He found an alternate solution. Thorpe pulled two mismatched shoes from a garbage can. He put extra socks on his left foot to compensate for that shoe being too big. Don’t let the absence of a perfect solution hold you back. Find a way to move forward.
  3. He ran like a champion. Thorpe shook off any self-doubt he had and resolved to get the job done. More than that, he resolved to win. Don’t just participate. Compete to win; no matter what it takes.

Thorpe won four of the five pentathlon events wearing mismatched shoes and earned the gold medal. That same day, he qualified for the high jump final and took seventh in the long jump. The next day, he placed no lower than fourth in all ten events of the decathlon and received that gold medal as well.

The New Year is upon us. The starting gun is raised. Like it or not, the game is about to start. What do you say champ? Ready to race?

“Jim Thorpe, 1912 Summer Olympics” by Agence Rol is licensed under PD-1923.

Are You Still Hungry?

Posted on by Scott

waiting2-e1450143761943Christmas is right around the corner. The New Year is less than two weeks away. And as you prepare to close the books on 2015, I have just one question for you…

Are you still hungry?

Remember the excitement you felt when you first started this job? Remember the fire that burned deep inside – the one that made you dream big and work hard? Do you still feel the drive to do great things?

Hunger is the most basic of needs. When you are hungry, nothing matters until you sate your appetite. When you are hungry – really hungry – you think of nothing else except satisfying that need. Hunger keeps you moving. It keeps you searching. It keeps you working.

This has been a good year. It’s been a great year. If you haven’t already, you need to stop right now and make a list of all the things you’ve accomplished over the past 12 months. I am shocked at what my team and I have done in such a short amount of time. But with all we’ve done – with all you and your team have done – there’s still more to do.

Is your head still in the game?

Do you still believe there are great things to be accomplished?

Are you still convinced that you have something special to offer?

Is this the team?

Are you the one?

Are you still hungry?

Because if you are, then this is not the end of the year; it’s the beginning. It’s not the finish line; it’s the starting line. And it’s time to get moving.

Everything up to this point has been practice. Everything up to now has been conditioning. Everything up to today has been preparation for our best work. As far as I’m concerned, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

My grandmother used to cook some incredible holiday meals. She would work all day to prepare a feast fit for a king. In the days leading up to a family gathering, she would say repeatedly “I hope you’re hungry. Bring your appetite.” I always did.

I remember one year at Christmas one of my cousins arrived having already eaten elsewhere. He didn’t have much of an appetite and only nibbled here and there. The look of disappointment on my grandmother’s face was unmistakable. Here was a bounty just waiting to be enjoyed. The table was set. The smells were overwhelming. The bounty was within arm’s reach – just waiting to be tasted. But he wasn’t hungry enough to act.

The table is set.

The feast is about to begin and there’s plenty for those who want it.

Are you still hungry?

Knowing When Not To Quit

Posted on by Scott

running

Earlier this year, social media lit up for a few days after a University of Oregon runner, Tonguy Pepiot, narrowly lost the men’s steeplechase event at the Pepsi Team Invitational. It was back in April and Pepiot, well ahead as he approached the finish line, slowed down and raised his arms in celebration of his apparent victory. But while Pepiot slowed down, another runner, Meron Simon from the University of Washington, stepped on the gas. Simon closed the gap and thrust his chest through the tape, winning the event and leaving Pepiot both confused and defeated.

“Run through the finish.” It’s something coaches around the world repeat time and time again.I heard a version of it many time (and shouted it some too) during my son’s time on his school swimming team. It’s a message you’d think would eventually get through – especially to those competing at the elite level. And with video of Pepiot’s faux pas preserved on YouTube, surely nothing like this would happen for a long time, right?

Wrong.

Just ask Ben Payne. He slowed down at the finish of the 10,000 meter Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia on July 4th. As Payne lifted his finger in victory, Scott Overall of Great Britain caught up and stole first place by 9/100ths of a second.

Or ask Olympic hopeful Molly Huddle. At the IAAF World Championships held in in Beijing in August, she had the bronze medal of the 10,000 meter race nailed down. She slowed down to celebrate and teammate Emily Infield blew by her to grab the last spot on the podium.

For some reason, there’s a temptation to coast as you near the end of the race. For those in front, perhaps there’s a desire to conserve energy for the next big event. Maybe those in back have a hard time believing the distance can’t be made up. Maybe everyone just gets tired.

Of course the same holds true for those of us competing in business. . Especially at this time of year, people tend to take their foot off the gas. The holiday season always seems to signal it’s time to coast.

But just like an athlete, there’s benefit to running through the finish. Who’s to say stopping now guarantees a win? Who’s to say it guarantees a loss? The only way to know for sure is to run all the way. Postpone the celebration or mourning until the final results are posted.

Here are a few tips for finishing the year strong:

  • Develop micro-goals. Take the ground you have yet to cover and break it into smaller, more manageable chunks. Need to sell 100 widgets between now and the end of the year? Turn that into a weekly or daily goal and put your energy into achieving that.
  • Focus on behaviors. Identify the specific actions you need to take in order to close the gap and work to execute those. Keep your mind on performing consistently and let the results speak for themselves.
  • Ramp up the motivation. It’s easy to stay energized an excited during the opening laps of a long race; but it’s down the stretch – when you’re tired and ready to give up – that motivation is critical. Give yourself and your team a needed boost of encouragement to keep the pace until the very end.

Last minute finishes are very exciting – as long as you cross the line first. Make sure to find yourself on the top of the podium by finishing strong. Run through the finish. If you need some help finding your second wind, don’t hesitate to call. I would love to help you celebrate a victory.

Stop Motivating Your Team! (Do This Instead)

Posted on by Scott

stop

Over the years, I’ve been asked a lot of questions by managers in a variety of roles across numerous organizations. By far, the most frequently asked question is “How do I motivate my team?” Some are looking to increase sales performance. Others want to improve customer service or productivity. In many cases, managers seem frustrated by an overall lack of engagement exhibited by members of their staff. Energy levels are low, efficiency suffers, and goals go unmet.

So concerned managers wrack their brains trying to find a way to turn things around. They see a problem that needs fixing and go in search of a solution. ”If I can just get people motivated,” they think, “things will start moving in the right direction.”

And therein, I think, lies the problem. Motivation sounds like what we need to get the troops out of the doldrums. But it doesn’t. It can’t. To understand why motivation isn’t the answer, we first need to understand what motivation is. Let’s look at the root word “motivate.”

motivate: to provide with a motive or motives; incite; impel

Motivation is an external action designed to cause an internal reaction. It’s something one person does in order to elicit a response from someone else. Think about the typical actions many associate with motivation. Contests, incentives, awards, raises, and other types of recognition/reward strategies are used to spur a change in behavior. So are things like deadlines, threats, disciplinary actions, and other punitive measures. All can be, and have been, considered motivational strategies.

The inherent problem with these and other external actions traditionally used as motivation is that the behavior shift that results is, at best, temporary. The high from winning a contest or being recognized only lasts so long. The sting from negative feedback or an ultimatum loses intensity as time goes on. And as temporary emotions fade away, so do the changes in behavior associated with them.

As employee behavior slides back into mediocre territory, managers dip back into the box of potential motivators in an effort to stop the decline. The cycle of performance drop/motivation/performance improvement then begins again. Employees settle into a routine of reacting to the temporary external stimulus with a temporary burst of activity sufficient enough to win/satisfy the requirement/get management off my back and then easing up until the next stimulus comes along.

But if motivation isn’t the answer, then what is?

The key to long-term performance is not a short-lived behavior modification, but a long-term transformation of core beliefs. The answer is not externally driven, but internally. The answer is not motivation, but inspiration. Let’s check out another definition.

inspire: to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence.

Do you see the difference? Motivation focuses on the head while inspiration targets the heart. Inspiring someone causes an empty part of them to be filled and the result is change that influences how they approach the concept of work itself, not just a particular task. Motivation can be applied or withdrawn at any time with correspondingly immediate results. Inspiration, on the other hand, becomes part of you and drives how you fundamentally think about things. Inspiration creates a deep-rooted drive to behave differently. Motivation may spark a temporary shift in behavior, but inspiration ignites a long-term change in attitude.

Inspired people are inherently motivated. So, the real question then is “How do I inspire my team?“

Well, if you’ve been reading the past few weeks, you already know some of the basics. How does that old saying go? “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Once you’ve mastered the skill of developing relationships, people are instinctively drawn to you. And that’s important; because it’s only then – when they trust you and want to listen to you – that you can share your vision and ask them to participate in it. If done right, they’ll get on board; not as motivated worker-bees, but as inspired partners.

Inspiration isn’t a one-time action. It results from extended exposure to someone who sees people, not employees. It’s about fulfilling potential, not completing tasks. It’s about contributing to something bigger than myself as opposed to being a cog in the machine.

People don’t want to be motivated. But we all have a desperate, innate need to be inspired. Fulfill that need and see just how far the team will take you. Who will you inspire today?

31 Days of Praise

Posted on by Scott

thank you wordle

According to Meriam-Webster Dictionary, to praise is to say or write good things about someone or something or to express approval of someone or something. Sadly, even with so clear a definition on hand, praise remains a mystery to a great many people. Given the opportunity to provide feedback, we’re much more likely to communicate criticism than approval.

While terms like “constructive criticism” seem to imply that there’s a higher purpose behind offering negative feedback, most attempts fall woefully short. All the recipients hear is that they’ve failed. And negativity only seems to breed more negativity. That’s because we tend to emulate the environment around us. We communicate in the way we are communicated to. We give what we get.

High performing teams use praise to great advantage. In a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, top performing teams were found to have given each other more than five positive comments for every criticism. Low performing teams, those at the bottom of the barrel in terms of financial performance and customer satisfaction ratings, shared almost three negative comments for every positive one. Praise, it seems, goes straight to the bottom line.

If you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. Criticism introduces self-doubt and hesitation. It makes us less likely to take chances for fear of disappointing someone again and revisiting the land of failure. So teams and organizations characterized by primarily negative communication move slower, innovate less, and miss out on opportunities for growth.

Teams and organizations that share a lot of praise, however, benefit from more vibrant working relationships. They enjoy working together and are therefore more likely to collaborate. The positive emotions elicited by praise cause us to work harder, stretch farther, and achieve more. We crave praise, so we tend to repeat behaviors that garner positive feedback.

There’s precious little praise floating around these days, though. It’s bad enough that news and social media outlets feed off of negativity; but so much of what we communicate to each other day to day winds up being derogatory. It’s going to take some focused effort to reverse our downward spiral.

So I’m issuing a challenge.

July has 31 days. I’m challenging you to make a focused effort to praise for 31 days. Each day of July, I want you to identify one individual who has done something good – something praise worthy – and recognize them for it. Choose a coworker, boss, or team member. Pick a classmate or family member. Identify a friend or even an enemy. Just find someone each day of the month and praise them for something.

You don’t have to advertise this. There’s no need to let the world (or even me) know what you’re doing. The best praise is personal anyway. It’s delivered one on one, with sincerity. That said, I would like to suggest a few guidelines should you choose to accept my challenge.

  1. Be specific. Offer more than a “good job.” Praise is most effective when the recipient knows exactly what they did to receive it.
  2. Get personal. Let the recipient of your praise understand why you appreciate them. That means letting them know what they (and what they’ve done) means to you personally.
  3. Let the praise stand on its own. Any positive comments you deliver will be lost if accompanied by criticism. Even if you have suggestions for improvement, save them for another time. Let the good news work its magic.

There it is. The gauntlet has been thrown down. For 31 days, let’s turn the tide. Let’s start an avalanche of positive feedback and see what happens.

Are you with me? Will you step up? Do you accept the challenge?