Skip to main content

Motivational Value

Motivational speakers are a dime a dozen. Motivational leaders are your friends for life.

Leaders who motivate become your friends because they add lasting value to your work and to your relationship. Think about the most motivational leader you've experienced -- whether it has been at work, at school, at sports, at church, or at some other organization. How did they motivate you? What effects did it have?

I remember being motivated by my assistant track coach in high school, Mr. Hursey because his approach was so different from that of the main coach. While the main coach seemed aloof and bossy, Mr. Hursey was filled with enthusiasm, patience, and yes - love for every athlete on the team. It didn't matter if you were fast, talented, winning, placing or simply showing -- Mr. Hursey gave each of us attention, instruction, and patient support.

You could see it in his smile. You could feel it in his concern. You knew he touched you deeply, with his presence and care. That instruction, patience, and love led me and others to perform far better than we'd ever performed before. We practiced harder. We ran faster, jumped higher, and stayed with the program hour after hour.

Mr. Hursey showed us tricks of the trade we could never learn on our own (for instance, how running up and down the stairs of the stadium could increase your vertical leap). We saw far more of him than we did of the main coach. As a true test of motivation, consider that I think of Mr. Hursey often, decades after his influence, and I can't even remember the name of the main coach.

There have been other great motivators in my life and I'm sure that you can think of many as well. Chances are, it's not what they said that motivated you the most, but what they did.

- Support
- Instruction
- Care
- Patience
- Discipline
- Insights

I've got nothing against motivational speakers - I enjoy many of them often. But it's been the motivational leaders in my life that I remember.

What will it take for you to be more of a motivational leader?

Will you start that today?

-- Doug Smith
http://frontrangeleadership.com
key words:

Comments

  1. Everything CountsJuly 10, 2009 at 2:07 AM

    Motivational leaders help us gain self-confidence by motivating us towards our goals. Not everybody can be a good motivational speaker. The qualities that have been mentioned here are really all that takes to be motivational speaker.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Doug SmithJuly 11, 2009 at 7:40 PM

    Yes. I don't know if Mr. Hursey ever did any motivational speaking, but he certainly motivated many young athletes.

    Thanks for your comments!

    Doug Smith

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Promise or A Plan?

Which would you rather have -- a promise, or a plan? I love promises. When some people make a promise to me I know that it is as good as done. They are reliable, trustworthy, hard-working creative people who keep their promises. I'll take a promise from them any day. Promises can be problematic sometimes, though. Some people are not so skilled or willing to keep their promises. They may make a promise to move forward in the conversation (possibly because the conversation is deep enough to cause some discomfort) and yet have no intention of keeping that promise. That's not helpful. That's not what centered leaders are looking for. That's not how centered problem solvers operate. Promises are great and I'm also interested in the plan. What exactly are they promising to do and when will they do it? What's the plan? Picking a promise over a plan is a risky way to solve a problem.  Problems respond better to the actions completed in a careful and thorough
Post a Comment
Read more

The Benefits of Supervisory Training

When was the last time you had any leadership training? How often do the supervisors in your organization get training? If you are like most organizations, it's never enough. Some teams go without any supervisory training at all and expect supervisors and managers to learn as they go, on the job. Unfortunately, while it is memorable to learn from your mistakes, it comes at a high cost. People get tired. People leave. Important accounts go away. Customers complain. And teams struggle without the skills and knowledge it takes to build cohesive teams that are capable of solving problems, improving performance and achieving goals. Admittedly, I can be expected to support training since I'm in the business. Still, take a closer look at your own leadership career and decide for yourself. Are leaders better off with more training and development or with less? Supervisory training can generate benefits that pay off long after the training is over. Here are just a few of the things sup
11 comments
Read more

Listen to Their Story

 "An enemy is a person whose story we have not heard." -- Gene Knudsen Hoffman Without contrary evidence it always seems like we're right. Even WITH contrary evidence we get stuck often defending our story, our view. The story may not be wrong, but it is surely incomplete. Listen. Ask questions. Understand. Learn. High performance leaders look for common ground. -- doug smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Dump Anonymous Feedback

What's the problem with anonymous feedback? The list is long. When people can say anything they want, without any accountability, they are sometimes rude. The feedback becomes exaggerated. Not knowing what to do with it (who do you try to please?) it frustrates the person receiving the feedback. Anonymous feedback encourages anti-social comments. It opens up a level of venting that is not healthy for either party. And, rather than building relationships, it tears them down. The best place for anonymous feedback is the garbage. It's too easy to be negative when no one knows who you are. Hold people accountable. Teach them that two-way communication is responsible, respectable, and useful. Let's keep the trash talking on the basketball court and build relationships of worth at work. -- Doug Smith
2 comments
Read more

Perception Frames Your Problem

How do you know for sure if something is a problem? If you see it as a problem, then it is a problem. Your perception will tell you -- not reality, but what you consider important about your reality. If you see it as a problem, shouldn't you do something about it? Centered problem solving sorts through our perceptions and checks in with the perceptions of other people who are effected by the situation. Emotions can trigger misconceptions, so centering ourselves and testing our assumptions is key. Then, if it's still a problem, it's time to do something about it. -- Douglas Brent Smith Bring our  Centered Problem Solving  workshop to your location and dramatically increase the problem solving skills of the people who attend.
Post a Comment
Read more

Know Why You Do What You Do

Remember that advertising slogan for a very questionable publication that kept saying "Inquiring minds want to know"? We all have inquiring minds. We all need to know. And what we need to know the most is why. Why do we do what we do. What makes what we do cool, important, necessary? It's never just a job. It's never just an interaction. There is always a reason why. Know why. Figure out your why. Identify your mission. Then roll with it. -- Doug Smith P.S. My good friend David Spiegel has pointed out that Simon Sinek is a great source on WHY. Here's the video where I first was drawn to his thinking on this:
2 comments
Read more

Change Quickly

How are you at keeping up? Change is so rapid that adjusting, and evolving, has become a full time job. We roll with the changes, we drive new changes, we let go of the old. It's not getting easier, and it's getting faster. I work at it. I keep learning. I keep adjusting, and still... By the time I have it figured out it's time to try something else. Instead of getting frustrated, here's how I like to look at it: change is growth. Faster change is faster growth. Getting better is growth, so the more change the better. Are you with me on that? Because the alternative is slow-motion decay, and we don't want that, do we? -- Douglas Brent Smith
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Embrace Criticism

Taking a very long walk. Do you ever feel like simply avoiding some feedback that's headed your way? Sometimes I'd rather have someone keep their opinion to themselves. If they're not happy, if they are sounding judgmental, if they have a frowny face. Wouldn't be easier if they just kept quiet? Easier in that moment. And, sometimes maybe it's even the best thing possible if a harsh critic keeps a damaging opinion private. But I've also learned that sometimes the toughest message is what I truly need to hear in order to learn. Just because I don't like criticism doesn't mean it isn't good for me. I just might need to take a good long afterwards. How about you? Here's how to embrace criticism: Remember, they could be wrong. As my friend Dr. Jay Desko has said, "feedback says more about the person providing the feedback than it does about you." Stay curious. There is probably something useful to learn. Remember that a
Post a Comment
Read more