Motivating Followers

Motivating Followers

This is in response to the following article:

An Effective Leader Gives People a Cause in Which They Can Believe http://businesstimezone.com/?p=8838

My Response:

Leadership is defined as "Guiding Intent with Integrity" towards a goal.  The article speaks of two aspects of leadership, guidance and goals.  Studies on followers motivations, intrinsic or extrinsic, where discussed in, "Why motivating people doesn't work" by Susan Fowler. She argues that tapping into peoples intrinsic motivation is stronger than extrinsic motivation.  A shared motivation.

From this perspective, the statement, "The leader’s vision is often so compelling that followers put their requirements second to that of the organization. " is false.  In that, the followers don't put their needs second, it is that their motivations fall in line with those of the company.  

Millennials were told repeatedly, "You can do and be anything you want!".  The problem though is that everyone expected them to follow the same old work ethic that their forefathers did.  Which was, "Work hard and you will be rewarded". Millennials grew up with the fallacy of this statement.  Working hard, only rewarded the investors, while wages and living conditions continued to deteriorate.

With this mindset in place, Millennials, feel that the following statements are false, because they break the social contract of integrity.

- "It basically has to be something that gives the reasons why everything that they do each day matters and contributes.",

- "Wise leaders ensure that every single sacrifice made by followers are noticed and receive individual appreciation.",

- "The job of the leader in this case, is to inspire people to make difficult choices to support the vision, but also to inspire them to continue to repeat them."

If the motivation doesn't lead to a reward that is in line with Millennials motivations, no amount of discussion on the aspect of the larger picture will motivate them to help your company succeed.  Which is evident in the support that Bernie Sanders is receiving from the Millennial generation.  Basically, more Millennials than any other generation are saying, "NO, we won't help the company become rich at our expense!  We want a fulfilling opportunities that allow work life balance and help both the economy and ecology."

Tuesday - Jujitsu Practice

We had a great night with 8 people on the matts.

Tonight we studied take downs - Single Leg, Ankle Pick, 1/4 Nelson, Firemans' Carry, Baby Fireman's Dump, Under Arms Spin to Knees, and Double Leg Take down.

Hope to see more people on the matt soon

Difference in Political Opinion

It is possible to have a difference of political opinion when discussing how to solve a social problem. However, when a politician believes that the best way to solve a problem is to blame someone else, and take away their rights, thats no longer a debate or a discussion, thats a label and an attack.

Labels are the opposite of understanding problems. They create unnecessary fear and hate at groups who are .. as you probably are .. trying to live your life.

This behavior is not considered proper social behavior, and thus why many people are upset with 45. He examplifies everything that is wrong with social debate and discourse. And, instead chooses to label groups of people, attack those that dont support him, and create as much fear and panic as he can over nothing.

And, while this causes the general populus to engage in a discussion about the issue he is attacking, it doesnt equate to a debate or a difference in political opinion. Because, no one is talking about how the issue affects them, their friends, their loved ones. Instead, they are using the labels and sound bites fed to them to fight each other with.

Again, a real debate discusses how to solve a social problem.

Monday - Grappling

On Monday night, a student wanted to roll for an hour. He has a lot of upper body strength and energy, so I didn't quite wear him out, but he did enjoy being rolling around.

University of Michigan researchers have revealed an incredible prototype technology - a braille tablet. Current designs only allow for one line of braille, but the new prototype displays full pages of text. Find out more and watch the project leader, Dr. Sile O’Modhrain, discuss the developments at BGR. Pair with our eReader cheat sheet.

Democratic Leadership

I’ve been watching a strange phenomena though my life where people always want to give others the right to vote.  Everything decision has to be voted on, and if the majority feels that the decision shouldn’t be carried out, then opportunity that presented the choice is dropped. But is that what is really needed, fair, or even appropriate in a business context?

Politics

I define politics as:

The ability to insure that your voice is heard.

Politics doesn’t mean that your opinion, reasons, or facts will be taken into account when the final decision is made, but that you are given a platform to insure that you are heard. There is, however, an inherent problem with the understanding most people have concerning the right to vote, especially in a business environment.

Business / Managers

Businesses have been forced to adjust to employee demands for managers become better leaders.  On the face of this, it is an important growth step to keeping workers happy and productive.  Where, it has been found that micro managing employees, their work and how they do it, tends to cause highly creative people to leave. Reducing the overall productivity of a small company or a companies department. 

Most employees have understood that a managers role was to distribute work and monitor metrics. Now a manager must negotiate how the work is to be done. Managers allow employees to decide how they want to do the work, and only enter into the fray when a tie needs to be broken. But, what most employees have forgotten that managers also represent them to their superiors.

This aspect of management, the representation, doesn’t allow for the employees to vote on the direction of their work or working group. And, in turn causes employees to demand more transparency into the decision making process that affects their daily work schedule.  While, at times this can be good, it also has it’s downsides as well.

Having a right to vote in a business means that a business could miss strategic opportunities to invest or capture market share, as employees vote against these opportunities. This method of voting, means that companies have to spend more time engineering campaigns to explain to employees how an opportunity will affect the business and their work.  And, maybe even their employment.

For example, in one instance, the company may decide to buy a division or startup to add a product to their existing mix.  Complementary positions may become redundant, and thus employees who are not needed would vote “NO!” on the proposal in order to secure their job.  However, other employees who see the potential for growth and future investment would vote “YES!”.  But, if the nay’s out way the yay’s. then the companies ability to grow and prosper for all involved, withers and dies.

A companies ability to strategically move assets throughout it’s business life cycle would be seriously hampered if democratic voting were allowed at this level.  The sheer amount of bureaucracy would unduly burden the companies ability to swiftly take advantage of any opportunity that came along.

Personal Democratic Relationships

Which brings me to the point of my article on this topic.  I’ve recently had the opportunity to see every decision be nit picked through the democratic process.  And, I’ve come to the realization that it’s F*cking Annoying.  Here’s why ...

As I pointed out above, when the minority needs the majority to vote on a decision it slows the decision making process down. And, it also gives the minority permission to be upset with the decision of the majority.  

This however should not be construed that the minority don’t have a voice. They most certainly do. And, require advocates to help them be heard.  A recent example is GerryMandering - where a professor finally found a formula that allows the Judicial System to review GerryMandering to determine if Vote Wasting is actually happening.  This in it’s worst form disenfranchises a population from being properly represented, and allows a minority to remain in power, even though they don’t represent them.

But this example is at a macro level, and I’m discussing a problem at the micro level.  A group of 3 to 10 people, vs 3,000 to 1 million people.

At the level of 3 to 10 people, a form of leadership that allows everyone to be heard is needed, yet the decision to act needs to be executed by one person. Why this method of democracy?  It’s just like the version described in a business environment.  There may be an opportunity that the minority wants to take advantage of, while the majority doesn't.  But if the minority is constantly excluded from group participation, then the minority begins to wonder why they joined the group to begin with.  Thus the leader has to balance the competing desires and help everyone feel included.

And, the person who makes the decisions doesn’t have to be the same person all the time.  There is a commercial playing where 2 kids, a mom and dad are all stating what they want for dinner.  Dad says, “Taco’s it is!”, which was not one of the options listed by any of the other participants.  Yet, everyone seemingly agrees to go along with the decision.

Conclusion

In a personal democracy, I’m not advocating that there be a czar or authoritarian in control all the time, but that 1 person be selected to hear the arguments of the group ... pros and cons, alternatives, or other information ... and then make a decision.

In my case, I am usually soliciting ideas for places to have brunch, and then mediating between different factions vying for where we should go.  And, in most cases, all I want is bacon and eggs, scrambled with cheese, onions and green peppers, and pico degio spooned on top. =)