Archives for April 2012

Leaders are born, they aren’t created- This is a saying that has been heavily modified to suit the needs of today’s world. Nowadays, everyone who believes in himself is thought to be capable of being a leader. Leaders of the contemporary world are defined as: passionate, creative, optimistic and willing to take up challenges. There are, however, certain tips that you would have to keep in mind in order to ensure that you climb to the top of the leadership ladder.

• Set out your goals and objectives: You should be crystal clear in your mind about what you are set to achieve. Map out the answers to questions like: How do I define myself? What is the purpose that I am set out to achieve? What is one characteristic of mine that can give my personality a whole new definition? Remember-Great leaders are also great revolutionaries. Your innovation and determination can twist the world around.
• Stay within the bounds of your values and morals: You can never achieve something unless you really feel for it. Choose to do something that you would not regret later on; something that really gives you the gut feeling to ‘Go for it!’
• Gauge out the strongholds in your personality and capitalize on them. You will see then that the world follows you like a shooting star!
• Make it a ‘wholesome’ experience. If you are a leader, you will keep everyone in the loop hole and will ensure everyone is on board while you are set on working on a project or a task. Include them and give them challenging tasks to fulfill and you shall see the boom that entails.
• Get rid of the ego: Just because you have an upper hand does not necessarily mean that you are the best of the best. There are times where others can have better ideas and tactics to go about a problem: Listen to them, accept where you are wrong and take in the criticism positively. We learn best through mistakes- keep no hard feelings and keep the word ‘ego’ out of your dictionary
• Keep the learning cycle rolling: you will come across millions of people (Read: millions of varying brains) and will hence be in a continual learning process. Don’t reprimand any positive aspect just because it was projected or taught by a junior of yours.
• Make sure you develop effective communication skills: You may have out of the world ideas but if you fail to put them in the right words, consider them to be useless!
• Positivity, positivity, positivity! Avoid the word ‘never’! Be optimistic about what you are set out to achieve and motivate others to do so too.
• Lastly, revisit your goals off and on to evaluate your level of success and then plan out accordingly. If you need more efforts and feedback, plan that in lieu of the analysis too.

So, what are you waiting for? The sky is the limit, set out to achieve it!

Be it a company, an institution or an organization, motivation is a crucial element in driving the work force towards achieving its targets. It is an established fact that the work force of an organization is the lifeblood of the system and without them they won’t be able to prosper. Thus, having a congenial, healthy and motivating environment is a prerequisite. First we need to understand the basic definition of the word motive. Motives are factors which lead to the willingness to exert a high level of effort for the achievement of organizational objectives. Therefore, a major consideration these days for managers and supervisors is getting their employees to work in such a way so that they achieve its goal; in other words, an employee must be motivated.

In order to motivate your team, you need to be a part of them and understand their needs and motives. Moreover, If the organization is able to figure out the ways that would induce people to produce an excellent output, it can implement this knowledge within their own their own work force.

Theories on motivation:

There are number of theories regarding motivation, the most popular given by Maslow, Alderfer’s ‘ERG’ theory, David McClelland’s the theory of motivation and last but not the least, Herzberg’s two factor content theory. While the first three people mainly focused on the fact that every human being has certain basic goals and requirements in his life. The Physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and at the top self-actualization needs. Once the lower hierarchy level needs are satisfied the employee is motivated to the next level of hierarchy. Thus, for the managers it is necessary for them to identify these hierarchies and keep an eye on the level of motivation.

Herzberg’s hygiene and motivator factors:

The most significant work in the field of motivation is done by Frederick Herzberg in his book ‘Work and the Nature of the Man’. Herzberg identified two factors; hygiene factors which caused dissatisfaction at work and motivator factors at work which encourage the employees to work more. Hygiene factors include, company policy and administration, the quality of supervision, salary, working conditions, job security etc. Some of us must be little surprised to see salary as a dissatisfaction factor. Well, the truth is that salary let alone can’t motivate your team; increasing salary will make your team happy for the time being but not in the long run since inflation will mitigate the effects of increase soon. All the above mentioned factors need to be replenished over a certain period of time in order to keep your team happy. It’s like an endless task which is necessary but somewhat thankless. It will only keep your team happy for a short period of time. On the other hand, motivator factors, will keep your team motivated and goal oriented. You need to work on these factors if you wish to have a healthy and happy working environment.

Seven ways to Motivate

Status: Giving them a status in the team will help them feel a sense of achievement and promotion.

Public recognition: The second tip is giving your team members public recognition; praise them in front of others. Remember the ecstatic joy that you felt when your teacher praised you for a good grade or mannerisms in front of your whole class? That feeling of exhilaration is still a great motivating factor and is not age-bound.

A Challenge: The third way to motivate your team is to give them a challenging task. However, be careful not to give them an impossible task, since that will only discourage them. This will not only make them feel like the ‘chosen ones’ but also stir a sense of self-confidence in them.

Democracy: Another way is to be democratic and give them the freedom to explore new vistas, give your employees an opportunity to move ahead and polish their skills. You could perhaps go with the doctrine ‘there’s always room for betterment’.

Sense of Position: The fifth way is the provision of necessary resources and the allotment of certain positions. This will stir up a sense of responsibility in the workers and they will feel accountable for the outcomes.

Another important way to motivate them would be by offering bonuses; many people are driven on the fact that they will earn some extra money and recognition on completing a certain task. However, last but not the least, motivate your team by getting in touch with them, create a hospitable environment in the office, encourage them, advise them and help them out in their problems. A team spirit is a motivational factor in itself!

There is no doubt that every team member is equally important like all others, so equal opportunity and respect should be given to all members. Be friendly, but do not breach a certain barrier between an employee and a manager.

In conclusion, If your team members like you as their boss, and feel that you are an accessible leader, not only will they enjoy working in your team but they will avoid upsetting you and focus more towards achieving the expected goals !