Influencing People:

Performance Management

Effective Motivation

Getting others to do something because they want to do it

"It is not ability but desire that creates success."

– Richard Denny

10 Ways To Murder Creativity

• Ensure that highly qualified people do mundane work for long periods... More

9 Signs of a Losing Organization

5. Lack of Initiative: poor motivation and encouragement; people do not feel their contributions make a difference; management fails to engage the organization effectively; people work defensively and not creatively, they do their job, and nothing more.... More

Motivation – One of the Most Important Management Tasks

Motivation is getting others to do something because they want to do it. To motivate others is one of the most important management tasks. It comprises the abilities to understand what drives people, to communicate, to involve, to challenge, to encourage, to set an example, to develop and coach, to obtain feedback, and to provide a just reward.

"Motivation is about cultivating your human capital. The challenge lies not it the work itself, but in you, the person who creates and manages the work environment."³

The Power of Motivation

Success comes through people. For the new manager who knows how to energize people and maintain their enthusiasm, the art of motivating is one of his or her success secrets. If you understand what motivates people, you have at your command the most powerful tool for dealing with them to get them achieve extraordinary results. "Motivation and power are so closely linked together that one can say there is power in a motivated person".²

To become a motivational leader, you start with motivating yourself. You motivate yourself with a big vision, and as you move progressively toward its realization, you motivate and enthuse others to work with you to fulfill that vision... More

12 Major Causes of Failure in Leadership

Inspirational Leadership: 10 Roles

Inspirational leaders create an inspiring culture within their organization. They supply a shared vision and inspire people to achieve more than they may ever have dreamed possible. They are able to articulate a shared vision in a way that inspires others to act.

People do what they have to do for a manager, they do their best for an inspirational leader... More

Six Attributes of Successful CEOs

• Creating, Communicating and Executing a Clear Vision, Goals and Strategy. An executive's success is affected by the ability to communicate a vision for a company's future, helping employees to navigate through change and motivating them to achieve specific goals... More

 Case in Point  25 Lessons from Jack Welch

To Jack Welch, the former legendary CEO of GE, a good leader who can make people feel that they really are contributing members of a team, that is working toward a shared and worthwhile goal can unleash huge stores of positive energy. Welch called them "rewards for the soul," which, he pointed out, also needed to be accompanied by "rewards for the wallet."

25 Lessons from Jack Welch

Motivating Yourself

Motivation is a desire acted upon. The NLP technology of achievement advises that the first and most powerful technique of self-motivation is to visualize your future success and model all feelings you'll experience when you achieve it. You should also walk mentally the path towards this success and model your feelings at different steps on the way.

The NLP art of self-motivation is the art of creating a complete emotional reality of the future success that makes these feelings of pleasure and satisfaction that are about to happen absolutely real.

5 Rules of Self-motivation

1. Motivation is not a product of external influence; it is a natural product of your desire to achieve something and your belief that you are capable to do it.... More

Motivating the Person

You Get What You Reward

The greatest management principle is that the things that get rewarded get done. "You get more of the behavior you reward. You don't get what you hope for, wish for or beg for. You get what you reward."⁷... More

Incentive Motivation

A successful incentive program will not only increase profits but can also raise morale and inspire staff loyalty. Your program should include all the three greatest incentives: empowering people to do the thing you enjoy doing,  recognition - in all its various forms, and money... More

 Case in Point  Canon

The six guidelines of the Canon's Suggestion System are:

1. Use competition and games to arouse interest, such as displaying individual achievement charts... More

Attitude Motivation

Attitude motivation is about how people think and feel. "It is their self-confidence, their belief in themselves, their attitude to life - be it positive or negative. It is how they feel about the future and how they react to the past."²... More

Growth Risk: "The more you measure and motivate based on innovation, the less likely you will have a truly innovative culture." – Stephen Shapiro... More

Creating a Culture for Innovation

The question for leaders today isn’t if culture is important for success but how culture can drive successful innovation – and what, specifically, leaders can do to influence the kind of culture that leads to behavior that’s truly innovative... More

The Jazz of Innovation: 11 Practice Tips

7. Reward idea generation. People want to know their ideas make a difference. Recognition and rewards motivate and encourage people to participate and make quality contributions. They also demonstrate management commitment to the innovation program and to the employees... More