100 Ways to Motivate Others: How Great Leaders Can Produce Insane Results Without Driving People Crazy

by Steve Chandler

A true leader has the courage to represent upper management, not run it down. A true leader says we. 6.

Good leaders continue to seek creative input from their direct reports. This practice is not only good for the business, it’s also highly motivational for both parties to the conversation.

owners are people who take full responsibility for their happiness, and victims are always lost in their unfortunate stories. Victims blame others, blame circumstance, and are hard to deal with. Owners own their own morale.

Question: How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Answer: Four; calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg. —Abraham Lincoln

Unconsciously, managers without leadership habits will often seek, above all else, to be liked. Rather than holding people accountable, they let them off the hook. They give non-performers the uneasy feeling that everything’s fine. They are managers who seek approval rather than respect.

But whenever possible, see if you can match up your prime biological (emotional, physical, mental) time with the big job or big communications you have to do.

The answer is easy. The way to be enthusiastic is to act enthusiastic. There isn’t a person in the world who can tell the difference if you put your heart and soul into your acting. And about a minute and a half into your acting, the funniest thing starts to happen: the enthusiasm becomes real. You do feel it. And so does your team.

The leader focuses on people; the manager focuses on systems and structure. The leader inspires; the manager controls. The leader is his own person; the manager is a good soldier. The leader sees the long-term; the manager sees the short-term.”

The trust of your people is not difficult to obtain. You can win it. And because it’s so important for motivating them, you must win it. So you must never, ever be late to your own meetings. Ever. Such a thing will destroy all trust you’ve built up with seven out of 10 people, because it means to them that you cannot be counted on to keep your word.

“You must do everything you say you’re going to do for your people, when you say you’re going to do it. If you say you’ll call tomorrow, you must. If you say you’ll get them the documents by Friday, you must move heaven and earth to do that. It’s everything. Trust is earned, not just by the big things, but even more so by the little things.”

People don’t want you to sell them on your idea, they want to sell themselves. They want it to be their idea to do the thing, not yours. That’s the secret to motivation, right there.

This human push-back dynamic challenges marriages, it slows down careers, and it makes a manager’s life a misery. A manager can ask gentle questions and let the people she leads think and speak and make their own fresh commitments. That’s how motivation happens.

Put your requests into a time frame. If there is no pressing time frame, make one up. If you want a report from someone, finish your request by asking, “And may I have this by the end of our business day Thursday?”

Leadership requires that your logical, problem-solving left brain be in charge of your right brain. It requires a fierce intellect willing to hang in there against all your people’s complaints (real and imaginary). It requires a thrill in finding a new route to solutions.

I’m deliberately going to build a culture of acknowledgment here—where people feel recognized for every little thing they do. They will feel visible, and they will feel as if they’re appreciated and acknowledged. I want them to know that what they do is being seen, is being thought about, and is being celebrated. That is the culture that I will create to grow productivity.

That’s the reason why CEOs are the most important people in the organization, because they can choose not to make things happen as well as to make things happen.

Managers who apologize for any and all changes the team must accommodate are sowing the seeds of low morale and discouragement. Every time they introduce a new policy, product, system, rule, or project, they apologize for it. They imply that change is harmful to the well-being of the team and that change is something we would hope someday to not have to suffer so much of.

A leader continuously communicates the benefits of an ever-changing organization. A leader endorses an organization that is continuously reinventing itself to higher and higher levels of productivity and innovation.

Change will not be apologized for. Why apologize for something that will improve the strength of the organization? Every change is made (every last one of them) for the sole purpose of strengthening the ultimate viability of the organization. That’s why you advocate the change. That’s why you sell it to your team.

Either now or on your deathbed, you’ll realize a strange truth: There’s no excuse for not being great. If you are a leader, a leader it is what you are. If you are still just a manager, just managing to manage, well, maybe you’ll manage, but how fulfilling is that? How proud is your subconscious mind of you? How proud is your family?

And if you are honest with yourself, you will someday realize the truth for yourself, either now, or on your deathbed: There was no excuse for not being great.

Beliefs about other people’s opinions of me are poor motivators. All those beliefs will not allow it to happen. Those beliefs will have you not do something, thinking you should. But thinking it would be cool, fun, and that you would love it—now we’re talking motivation!

The good news here is I can change my perception. I’m in charge of my perceptions. Circumstance has nothing to do with any of this. I can consciously change my perception of small changes in the organization or even large changes, such as a recession.