Things are starting to pick up more at the agency in terms of leads and sales with a lot of people feeling like they have weathered out the worst of the storm.
The team is going from strength to strength and I am learning a lot as a leader. In particular, the difference between:
- setting a direction vs planning and budgeting
- Aligning people vs organising and staffing
He uses an analogy that really sticks with me:
“If I kick my dog (from the front or the back), he will move. And when I want him to move again, what must I do? I must kick him again.
Similarly, I can charge a person’s battery, and then recharge it, and then recharge it again. But it is only when one has a generator of one’s own that we can talk about motivation.
One then needs no outside stimulation. One wants to do it.”
Essentially, he is saying that outside motivations, whether it be the carrot or the stick, don’t work. Motivation comes from a person feeling a sense of achievement and fulfillment. As a leader you need to see past the billable work the company does and facilitate the teams goals and help them hit those achievements.