Motivation and Buy-In as a Competitive Advantage

“Motivation and Buy-In” are like everything else in life, always cycling up or cycling down; there is no static position. So that means that energy and effort must be applied continually and consistently to create and maintain a high performing organization with the momentum needed for Motivation and Buy-In.

The cornerstone to successful Motivation and Buy-In is trust. The level of trust that exists within your organization will determine how hard and how long you will have to work to get your organization fully motivated and completely committed. These four simple ideas used everyday will generate the results you want:

#1. Trust: To build trust you begin with a more honest, open and inclusive communication style and more being trusting of others.

Trust is the pipeline through which all good business practices flow. Trust instills a sense of confidence without the presence of worry or suspicion. Without trust, people move at the speed of don’t screw up or in other words, the speed they can move without getting into any type trouble. That is not the speed you want for your organization. If people feel their input is unwanted or their mistakes will be met with criticism or possibly dismissal then mood and morale will be bad, turnover and absenteeism will be high, motivation will be low and buy-in will be nonexistent. The cycle is heading down.

Trust is maintained by the consistent achievement of personal and organizational goals. With trust, workers move away from a self-protection, begin to take risks, look for new ways to improve workflow and exceed expectations. When goals are achieved and exceeded, management’s trust and confidence in the whole process is strengthened.  The way to achieve Motivation and Buy-in is through trust and the key to building trust is the willingness of management to assimilate the next three ideas.  The cycle is heading up.

#2. Transparency: Allowing people, at all levels, to have a clear understanding of an organization’s overall goals and objectives, as well as an understanding of the importance of their own personal and departmental roles in the success of the organization.

When times are tough, making sure you have transparency in your management becomes even more critical to the success of your business. When employees understand the issues that owners face on a regular basis, they are more invested (buy-in) in the solutions. And when organizations encourage frequent two-way communication, at all levels, they generate a level of positive energy (motivation) making it easier to find new ideas and/or solutions.  Change is much easier to implement with open communication, support and trust. Very quickly employees do more than buy-into change, they own it.

As management willingly opens up its thinking and decision making processes, the organization becomes more transparent and "same side of the table thinking” begins. . Everyone begins to understand the issues and complexities of decision-making. The entire staff knows what is expected of them individually and collectively and they will be much more supportive of any changes that are necessary to ensure the success of the organization. With transparency, employees are more motivated and they feel an increased sense of self-value and self-worth that is directly related to their own efforts. It also becomes much more likely that their wages will go up because profits will go up and stay up and levels of absenteeism and turnover will go down. And that’s a good start.

#3. Treat Everyone the Same but Differently: Offering praise and rewards based on individual personality style.

Treating everyone the same is a no-brainer but often times it is forgotten. Consciously or unconsciously all of us connect better with some people more than others. And while it's just human nature, making that kind of mistake can ruin morale, interfere with productivity and occasionally create some discrimination issues. The most effective way to communicate and reward people is to base it on individual need and personality style. The rewards for comparable work must be of the same value but not necessarily the same. For example, one person may need public acknowledgement of their successes in order to be motivated while another may be embarrassed by that method and instead require some one-on-one time for personal recognition. A good manager or management team needs to know their people. They need to understand what motivates the individual and respond accordingly. It may seem like a lot of extra work, but believe me, the dividends are worth the effort.

#4. Change the people or Change the people: Providing training and support to improve and update the skills of your people or recognizing when the time comes to let someone go.

Good management is focused on making sure that everyone in the organization has the necessary training and support to maximize their ROI. However, once it becomes obvious that an employee is not living up to his/her potential, a good manager will make the necessary change. Do everything possible to change or improve the people but if that isn’t possible, then change or replace the people.

Change takes time and how long it will take depends on the shape you’re organization is in when you begin this process. Remember, the way to achieve Motivation and Buy-in is through trust and the key to building trust is the willingness of management to assimilate all four ideas; Trust, Transparency, Treat Everyone the Same but Differently, Change the People or Change the People. So make the commitment and don’t give up. You and your organization are worth the work. 

One of my favorite phrases is:

Small Changes, Practiced Consistently, Create Dramatic Results.

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My Mother Taught Me Willingness

Mothers try to help and guide us as we grow.  I truly believe they do the best they can with the skills they have.  For some of us those lessons were a wonderful learning experience
and for others, not so much. My mother always wanted me to try new things. 
She didn’t necessarily care if I was comfortable, she just cared that I try.  And when she thought it would be a good new habit she wanted
me to keep practicing until the new behavior became permanent.

Mother’s teach us many things. I hope your lessons were the
 ones like:  love, support and unselfishness but no matter the 
lesson’s they became ingrained into our psyche.  As adults 
we need to take the lessons we learned as kids, keep and 
enhance the good ones and discard the negative ones.   We now know if we should eat our brussel sprouts or always wear clean underwear.  We make decisions everyday that can and will take us to 
new places and help us become the people we always knew we could be.   Good, bad or indifferent, for most of us, it was our Mother’s
 that first saw our potential and helped “guide” us, in some way, toward our greater good.

I don’t normally do this but a friend sent me this, I thought this was really fun.  
I don’t know how many of you can relate but on a couple of these 
I can actually hear my mom saying some of these same things to me from time to time.

Enjoy! - Don't miss my note at the end.  Have a great week!

My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.

"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside.  I just finished cleaning."

My mother taught me RELIGION.

"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

My mother taught me LOGIC.  

"Because I said so, that's why."

My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.

"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

My mother taught me FORESIGHT.  

"Make sure you wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident."

My mother taught me IRONY.

"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.  

"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.  

"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

My mother taught me about STAMINA.   

"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

My mother taught me about WEATHER.    

"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.  

 "If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.

"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.

"Just wait until we get home."

My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.

"If you don't stop crossing  your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

My mother taught me HUMOR.

"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

My mother taught me GENETICS.

"You're just like your father."

My mother taught me about my ROOTS.

"Shut that door behind you.  Do you think you were born in a barn?"

My mother taught me WISDOM.

"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

My Mother taught me ESP.

"Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"

My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE.

"What were you thinking?  Answer me when I talk to you... Don't talk back to me!"

MY Mother taught me PATIENCE.

"Sure, you can do that. As soon as you're 21 and leave the house!"

My Mother taught me DIPLOMACY.

"I don't want to hear who started it, It takes two to fight."

My Mother taught me SHARING.

"Play nicely with that or I'll just take it away from both of you."

My Mother taught me ETIQUETTE.  

"Use your fork! If I see that hand on the table again, I'll slap it!"

My mother taught me about ENVY.

"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

My mother taught me about RECEIVING.

"You are going to get it when you get home!"

My mother taught me TO THINK AHEAD.

"If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job!"

My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.

"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

My mother taught me about JUSTICE.

"One day you'll have kids and I hope they turn out just like you!"

But most of all, my mother taught me LOVE.

"You know that whatever you do or whatever happens, I'll stand behind you because I love you."

Common Sense Laws of Leadership

Leadership skills are must to have thing for successful entrepreneurs, managers and executives. The success or failure of my department, division or business depends on the quality of my decisions. Everyday business leaders need to rely on excellent management and leadership skills to drive the business in the proper direction that leads towards success.

It is all about how you handle the people and react to the problem situations.Leadership skills help to support yourself and your employees and help them stay focused to achieve the organization objectives. A great leader sets the goals and prepare appropriate plan to achieve those goals.

Leader must have these skills to lead the organization in a better way.

Here is my list of fundamental but very effective skills that every leader should master.  I call them, the common sense laws of leadership.

Empathic Detachment – the ability to listen and connect with someone is a critical leadership skill but as critical, is the ability to then learn to detachso their problems don’t become yours 

The Rock in the Pond – Our understanding of the importance of and power of each leader’s mood. And how they determine the success or failure of every department or division each day. 

Model the Behavior You Expect – requires managers to reflect on the behavior they exhibit each day and realize this is the behavior model others will begin to assimilate.

Be a conduit to their Success – helps leaders and managers to move from telling to teaching, help others realize you are the path to their success and they will follow you anywhere,

Change the People or Change the People – support, teach, encourage and develop your people but then be honest with yourself, are they getting what your teaching, no? then get different people.

What you Allow you Teach – teaches the importance of consistency everyday in the lives of leaders.

Set Expectation and Hold People Accountable - the importance of creating the expectations of all people and the importance of accountability in the development of the expectations.  

You can’t over include and you can’t over communicate – addresses the two critical issues of willingness to include others into the management process and open up communication even when it is uncomfortable.  This will make management more transparent. 

Hopes and Dreams aren’t’ achieved with Hoping and Dreaming–but from the fine balance between action, planning and implementation.

We don’t know what we don’t know – to find out ask !
The realization that we may be wrong about what others know and understand and what they don’t can be the recipe for the downfall of leaders.

Everyone Wants to Be but No One wants to Become – the importance of daily movement toward a goal and not to let failures and problems hold you back. 

Clairvoyance is not part of the job. -  The importance of communication in the leadership process, and the effective delivery of goals. How well we get and give directions and suggestions will determine how well we maximize productivity.

Strategic Leadership

Moving from the “Strategic Planning” to "Strategic Thinking" is the key to a successful organization.

 How do we get out people to think?

Strategic Thinking studies help leaders and individual contributors find balance between meeting today's expectations and requirements and tomorrow's possibilities. To be successful, everyone must learn how to keep an eye on the opportunities, issues, and concerns that may affect future business results.

In the world of work, “hard skills” are technical or administrative procedures related to an organization’s core business.

Examples include machine operation, computer protocols, safety standards, financial procedures and sales administration.

These skills are typically easy to observe, quantify and measure. They’re also easy to train, because most of the time the skill sets are brand new to the learner and no unlearning is involved.

By contrast, “soft skills” (also called “people skills”) are typically hard to observe, quantify and measure.

Soft Skills or People skills are needed for everyday life as much as they’re needed for work.

They have to do with how people relate to each other: communicating, listening, engaging in dialogue, giving feedback, cooperating as a team member, solving problems, contributing in meetings and resolving conflict.

Leaders at all levels rely heavily on people skills, too: setting an example, teambuilding, facilitating meetings, encouraging innovation, solving problems, making decisions, planning, delegating, observing, instructing, coaching, encouraging and motivating.

Today’s global environment is both dynamic and confusing. We need leaders of all types who can use strategic thinking differently on a daily basis as strategic thinking is a necessity for successful change and business growth.

It is not enough to build a Strategic Plan or have a long-term vision or, conversely, to just give up and muddle through the complexities around us and hope for success.

A disciplined way to think, to plan, to act, and to rethink and re- plan all over again on a daily basis is needed to grow your business. Strategic thinking is needed to grow your career as a leader as well.

(Narrow Vision – Segmented Management)

One who focuses at predetermined times on the needs of the department or operation, guiding through managing systems and maintaining the focus on process not people.

Strategic Thinker

(Broader Vision-Holistic Leader)

One who focuses daily on the needs of both the department and the organization as a whole. Guiding through leading people using the key leadership skills of flexibility, consensus building, open communication, inclusion and mutual success

• › Acknowledge the reality of change 
• › Understand the Strategic Plan 
• › Understand how to think, analyze, and communicate 
• › Question current assumptions 
• › Build clearer understanding of systems 
• › Envisions possible futures 
• › Generate new ideas 
• › Consider the fit for the firm

Learn the three questions that every effective Strategic Thinker should ask, everyday.

Strategic thinking is more focused on what the business is trying to accomplish rather than following a plan of how to accomplish the goal


Where Leaders practice Strategic Thinking, Strategic Intent and Strategic Momentum are created.

Strategic Intent – Is the component that shows the organizational how it will achieve its strategic plan. Strategic Intent clarifies the vision, creates focus and enhances self-motivation.