Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

I've been a leader of people for many years across various roles; I believe some are built for it, have natural attributes leaning them towards leadership, and others are followers; the world needs both.

All good leaders will be able to learn from others, evaluate good and bad examples, and apply that knowledge to becoming a better leader. This new series is designed to expose great quotes by various leaders and to investigate how they may relate or apply to myself or others. _{original im src}

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This week's leadership quote

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Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.

_{- Dwight D Eisenhower -}

There's a lot of talk about motivation these days, especially in the workplace; having the motivation to push ahead and chase success is critical to a person who works towards applying success-elements in pursuit of a satisfactory outcome. Conversely, there's much talk about people being unmotivated and, whilst I feel it is mostly the responsibility of the individual to self-motivate, it is definitely the responsibility of those in leadership roles to help that along and to create motivation-inspiring environments for those operating within it; I mean the team he or she leads.

There are many ways to do so and I've applied so many of them. They're situational, meaning some wouldn't work in an office scenario, but may work perfectly in a more dynamic or regimented, situation. Some have been heavy-handed, I mean back a while, and some have been quite passive, those being more suited to office situations. No matter what the situation though, it was my responsibility as the leader to motivate others to action and results.

I like this quote as it aligns with my own thought on the motivation.

A person will be more likely to find success, achieve the mission, meet the deadline, operate effectively within a cohesive unit, if the person wants to do it - but how does one make that happen as a leader?

One way I do it is through empowerment. That's a broad comment though, so let me drill down on one basic example.

In an office-team environment it's easy for leaders to make all decisions then dictate them down the chain expecting the team to simply deploy them in the way they have been directed. It works sometimes, but it doesn't build a team-environment, inspire individual thought, build confidence, the desire to go a little above-and-beyond the minimum or give team members much in the way of job-satisfaction. It demotivates. Sure, there's times it's impossible to do it in other ways, but if the the opportunity exists, it should be taken.

If there was a problem, project or deadline to achieve I used to gather the team, share the objective and desired outcome and work with them whilst they brainstormed possible solutions, developed action plans and applied their knowledge and experience to the task. Assuming it wasn't too time critical, I'd ask them to come up with workable solutions to present me a little later and we'd then discuss which plans would be deployed and how. People would be given assignments, tasks and responsibilities, and I'd send them on with the understanding that I'd be there to support them, but they were responsible.

It's a simple method that worked very well. The reasons? The team were empowered, felt trusted, valued and in control of their own work-flow, decisions (to some degree) and outcomes. They knew they were supported as well. I'd guide things my way if they drifted too far away from my own desired outcomes, but largely I left them to it.

On mission success, I was always complimentary, generous with praise, rewarded them as required and as appropriate and most importantly, never took the accolades for the work done or the result achieved myself. That's a critical element of empowerment in the workplace, and in other places also. I gave credit where it was due and ensured the up-chain above me knew that it was the team who achieved as a whole, not just me as the manager, responsible person or leader.

This is just one simple example of how one might lead a team , individual, to self-motivate and have a better chance to secure mission success; it also carried forward as they knew I'd do the same next time. It made for a solid team in the office and other environments as people wanted to do what was required knowing they would be able to take ownership for the journey to success and the success itself.

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If you have any thoughts on this leadership quote, experiences of your own, or questions and comments please feel free to comment below.

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