Motivation at Work: Feed Your Spirit & Your Bottom Line!

Word Count: Just 384 Short,  but Powerful Words
Time to Read: About 2 - 2 1/2 Minutes

Connect, Inspire & Transform Your Business

How do you motivate people?

By reconnecting with the human spirit that inspires success, and never forgetting that the individuals on your team drive everything.

The predominant beliefs and attitudes of your workforce determine the outcomes of your processes, the quality of your products, your customer and vendor relationships … and of course, your bottom line!

The connection between the human spirit and operating a business is the critical element that is missing in many organizations. It is why employee job satisfaction is at a low point in many organizations in North America today.

How do you reconnect with the Spirit?

By getting to the root of what drives human behavior and letting
that guide your actions in business. At the very core of human nature, we are programmed to avoid pain or move away from what is unpleasant. We more toward what makes us feel good.

You and I will actively seek out opportunities that make us feel good about what we do at work, and we will avoid situations that make us feel bad. Simple.

Who controls this?  Leaders.

The leaders in any organization from the front-line supervisors to the senior executives are the individuals with the most influence over whether people feel good or bad about their work.

There are 7 reasons why people typically leave a job. The good news;
every one of these reasons can be influenced by business leaders.

Consider that most people leave because:

1. The job or workplace is not as expected
2. Poor job fit
3. Insufficient coaching or feedback
4. Not enough opportunities for growth
5. Feeling undervalued and unrecognized (ouch… this one really hurts!)
6. Stress form work life balance issues
7. Loss of trust in senior leadership

Okay, there were no surprises here, right? Oh yes.. the money thing.
Well after analyzing data from 20,000 interviews with exiting employees,
the Saratoga Institute found that money is rarely the real reason why
people leave. Seems it’s just a nice way of saying…

I don’t want to work here  anymore.

So, take a look at the list and know that all of these things can improve
dramatically with the spark of just one person. You can absolutely make
a positive and lasting difference in your work community, and of course, the bottom line!

Just do it and have an awesome journey!

FOR MORE HELP - Check out my book, on this website. We offer quantity discounts to companies and consultants who use our book for leadership development or business transformation programs. Call 757.426.3554 for more details. 

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© 2007 Laura Cardone, All rights reserved. Feel free to use material from
this article in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution,
including live web site link. The attribution should read:”By Laura Cardone of
Profits with Purpose Inc. Please visit her website at www.motivation-at-work.com for more articles and resources.” Please let me know where the material will appear.
Many thanks!

 Consider competitive behavior in business. You can group it into three categories and three different approaches, which determines the quality of your relationships and your growth potential.

1.  External; how you choose to focus on people and organizations that offer similar services

2.  Internal; how you view and interact with others inside your organization 

3.  Individual; your internal dialogue for your own growth or individual performance 

Within each of these three areas: external, internal or individual, competition can destroy, limit potential, or give you opportunities for extraordinary personal and professional growth, depending on your perspective. 

The first view is the traditional win-lose or the “all or nothing” approach. It is based on conflict, animosity and a fear of scarcity.

The second perspective is the win-win approach which tries to make everyone a winner, but is still based on scarcity. So, people “go along to get along”; this approach is frustrating because it limits potential. With this approach, you’re trying to split the same size pie, and everyone just gets a smaller piece.  No one really feels like a winner, but it’s an improvement over the first approach.

Then there’s a more enlightened approach, one that sees competition as collaboration to “grow the pie”. You work together to make it bigger, so everyone gets more. This approach is based on growth, mutual respect and a belief in abundance. It’s transformational and evolutionary and can lead to exceptional growth and fulfillment that goes beyond the bottom line.

The approach we use determines the quality of the results we attract. Many people unconsciously adopt an approach based on what they’ve observed or have been taught. However, by simply becoming aware that you can change your thinking about competition… gives you the ability to consciously choose a different approach, one that helps you transform and grow in ways you may not have imagined.

So, you have a choice about how to grow your business and build your team. You can use the traditional approach - win/lose, or try to placate using a win-win approach, or you can choose to create a bigger pie.

Here’s to an awesome journey!

The graphic, ”Competition” is from The Secret Life of Water by Masaru Emoto    

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© 2007 Laura Cardone, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from this article in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. The attribution should read:”By Laura Cardone of Profits with Purpose Inc. Please visit her web site at www.motivation-at-work.com for more articles and resources.” Please let me know where the material will appear . Many thanks!