What is the mantra for the
optimal performance? Day in and day out management theories will talk about how
to optimize performance, and there is a science supporting effective
performance measurement systems. But at the end of the day it all boils down to
motivating the workforce to perform at their best capacity.
One of the key weaknesses that I
see nowadays is the whole practice of bench marking I think we all should agree
with the fact that different people are of different skill levels, different
competencies. In my personal opinion a good manager should not push his team
members to be someone they are not, a benchmark figure. A good manager will
motivate an employee to reach their personal best, and will leverage on his
abilities performing at his personal best. I have been lucky enough to be led
by best managers in my short career span. They have adapted many different leadership
styles to motivate their workforce and all of them were experienced and mature
enough to know motivating the team is the only way to succeed, and they invest
both financial and time resources in building the team with a long term view to
exceling as a team.
But there are instances where
your team is hyper motivated but you feel that your motivational levels are
less than zero. This feeling forced me to do some research on the concept of
self-motivation.
Whether we like it or not life is
a cycle filled with ups and downs. Unless you learn to accept the life cycle and
the cycle of motivation it will be difficult to succeed in the corporate life.
At certain times you will be motivated with challenge and you will seek for
responsibility and it will motivate you. But at times you will not want to take
any responsibility and not face any challenge.
I had a discussion with a life
coach regarding this matter. The simple advice he gave me Sajith accept the
motivation cycle. The other important question he asked me was how bad I wanted
to be successful and he asked me to watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPsnqwmn21g.
Most of us so badly want to succeed;
we have our own interpretation of success. But do we actually do anything about
it. He went into explain many people want to succeed but they do not take any
actions to succeed. Desire to succeed without an action plan can demotivate
anyone, hence it is the small actions that we take will make the difference.
Accept the motivation cycle, have small executable actions which will keep on
pushing you for success. Make things happen, do little changes to your life that will help you to succeed.
