motivation

Do you see yourself as a successful person?

A very interesting technique on motivation. Self and team members.

picA friend of mine is a very successful sales manager. After he had carefully interviewed and then selected a new salesman, he would take to the salesman to a Cadillac dealership and insist that he trade in his old car for a new Cadillac. The salesman would usually balk at the idea. He would be frightened of the cost of the car and the huge monthly payment involved. But the sales manager would insist that he buy the Cadillac as a condition of employment.

What do you think happened afterwards? First, the salesman would driven the car home and wife would most have a heart attack when she saw that he had bought a new Cadillac. But after she had settled down, he would take her for a ride around the neighborhood in the new car. The neighbors would see them driving in a new Cadillac as he waved on the way past. He would park his new Cadillac in front of his house or in his driveway. People would come over and admire it. Gradually, imperceptibly, at a subconscious level, his attitude toward himself and his earning potential would begin to change.

Within a few days, he would begin to see himself as the kind of person who drove a new Cadillac. He would see himself as a big money earner in his field, one of the top performers in his industry. And time after time, almost without fail, the sales people in this organization became sales superstars. Their sales performance jumped and they earned more than they had ever before. Soon the payment of the new Cadillac was of no concern because their incomes were so much greater.

What gives you the motivation to start over after a hard knock?

Often life has a way of giving you hard knocks. It happens to all of us. It’s important not just to start over but start over with the right attitude. I hope the story helps.

pic (4)It was one of those days I did not wish to live again. I had been working for weeks to secure a deal that would give me a nice provision. Everything seemed to go perfectly and I had already been joking with co-workers what would I do with the extra income.

I picked up the phone and called to the customer to get the deal finalized, only to hear that the depression had hit the company. My customer told half the staff had been let go and that all purchases were put on hold.

I had so concentrated on this deal I had not worked much on my other customers and knew that instead of getting a big fat check I´d be having one of the smallest ones I had ever received.

I just couldn´t stay at my desk but got up and went to get some coffee.

The cleaning lady was just washing the vending machine. I slumped to a chair and felt awful.

Bad day?

I startled and looked up. The cleaning lady was looking at me.

You could say that again… I sighed.

What is the matter? she asked.

She was a motherly type of a woman with kind eyes. I had seen her around for years but never said a word to her really. And yet I suddenly found myself telling the whole pitiful story to her. She listened intently, finished cleaning the vending machine and nodded.

Your situation brings to mind my own father. He was also a salesman, but not lucky enough to be able to sit in one office. He was a travelling salesman. You know: big suitcases and all. Vanished for weeks sometimes and came back with an empty bag, pay check and a big hug for us kids and mother.

I looked at her, not knowing where she was going with this.

There was a time when he also lost a big sale. It was just before Christmas and he had to tell us children that there would be very few presents. We were disappointed, but he gathered us around him and told a story. I shall always remember those inspirational words. First he asked us which animals we liked best. My answer was cats. My older brother liked dogs and my younger one loved ponies. Then he asked if we wanted to know which animals he admired the most and of course we did. The bees, the ants and the spiders, he told us.

I lifted my eyebrows. The cleaning lady smiled.

Now we of course did not agree with him, but asked why ever would he like such nuisances. Didn´t they bite or sting or just look plain ugly? He explained us and these inspirational words have been my guideline ever since.

He said he liked the bees because if a bear breaks their nest and steals their honey, they keep on building their honeycombs, making more honey. And he liked the ants because if the same bear destroys their nest, they also immediately start building their nest anew, working together for a common goal. And the spiders he liked because if their webs are destroyed, they start repairing the damage right away – or building a whole new, better one.

He said the lesson he had learned from these little insects was that the world may surprise us sometimes by destroying even our most carefully built plans, but if we choose to be ready to start all over again no matter what, eventually we shall achieve great results. We shall just have to start again, one step at a time.

At that the cleaning lady nodded to me and pushed her cart out of the room.

I sat there for a while, thinking of what she had said. Then I got up, walked back to my desk and started to build my next pay check, one customer at a time.

What Motivates People?

We need to tap into people’s deeper motivation. Ask them: Why are you doing this work? What moves you about it? What gives you the satisfaction of a job well done? What makes you feel good about yourself? Money might not turn out to be the biggest motivator.

downloadI was walking back to our apartment in Manhattan, the hood of my jacket pulled tight to keep the rain out, when I saw an older man with a walker struggle to descend the slippery stairs of his building. When he almost fell, I and several others went over to help.

There was an Access-A-Ride van (a Metropolitan Transit Authority vehicle for people with disabilities) waiting for him. The driver was inside, warm and dry, as he watched us straining to help his passenger cross the sidewalk in the pouring rain.

Then he opened the window and yelled over the sound of the rain coming down, “He might not be able to make it today.”

“Hold on,” we yelled (there were five of us now) as we helped the man move around the back of the van, “he can make it.”

Traffic on 84th street had stopped. We caught the man from falling a few times, hoisted him back up, and finally got him to the van door, which the driver then opened from the inside to reveal a set of stairs. The man with the walker would never make it.

“What about your side door, the one with the electric lift?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” the driver answered, “hold on.” He put his coat over his head, came out in the rain with the rest of us, and operated the lift.

Once the man with the walker was in safely, we all began to move away when the driver opened the window one more time and yelled, “Thanks for your help.”

So, here’s my question: Why will five strangers volunteer to help a man they don’t know in the pouring rain — and think about the electric lift themselves — while the paid driver sat inside and waited?

Perhaps the driver is simply a jerk? Perhaps. But I don’t think so. Once we suggested the lift, he didn’t resist or complain, he came outside and did it immediately. And he wasn’t obnoxious either. When he thanked us for our help, he seemed sincere.

Maybe it’s because the driver is not permitted to leave the vehicle? I checked the MTA website to see if there was policy against drivers assisting passengers. On the contrary, it states “As long as the driver doesn’t lose sight of the vehicle and is not more than 100 feet away from it, the driver can assist you to and from the vehicle, help you up or down the curb or one step and assist you in boarding the vehicle.”

So why didn’t the driver help? Part of the answer is probably that for him, an old man struggling with a walker isn’t a one-time thing, it’s every day every stop, and the sight doesn’t compel him to act.

But that answer isn’t good enough. After all, it’s his job to help. That’s when it suddenly hit me: The reason the driver didn’t help might be precisely because he was paid to.

Peter Bregman (HBR, Feb 2010)