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Motivation:
For years, people have called me a "motivational speaker. "
On the one hand, I'm delighted that people get fired up
at my programs, but on the other hand, I'm always a little
cautious about that title. After all, my specialty is
peak performance, and I know there's a lot more to peak
performance than a sixty-minute rah-rah speech.
It's like the knight back in the Middle Ages. He was
returning to the castle one evening after a long, hard
day of skirmishes. His armor was dented; his helmet
was askew, and his plume was broken off. Even his
horse was limping.
The lord of the manor saw him coming and went out to greet
him. "What happened? What hath befallen you, Sir Albert?"
he asked.
The knight straightened himself up and said, "Oh, Sire, I
have been striving in your behalf all day, robbing and pillaging
and burning the towns of your enemies to the west. "
"You've been doing what?" asked the astonished nobleman.
The knight repeated his statement louder and slower in case
his old master couldn't hear well.
"But I haven't any enemies to the west," cried the nobleman.
"Oh?" asked the knight. Then after a pause he said, "Well
you do now. "
There's a moral to the story. Motivation is not
enough. The knight was motivated, but that wasn't enough.
You've also got to know what you should be doing.
That's where the learning comes in. As Daniel Kim, a
researcher at MIT, says, "Learning is increasing one's
ability to take effective action. "
If you want to improve someone's performance, it starts
with understanding performance. Dr. Price Pritchett defines
Performance as Capability times Commitment. I think
he's right on target. Capability is all about "know" and
"know how" -- in other words, learning. And commitment
is all about "reward" and "consequence"-- or motivation.
You've got to have both.
That's what I try to accomplish in every one of my
programs. I try to teach people what works and then
motivate them to do it. If you're a manager, supervisor,
team leader, salesperson, or parent, you've got to do the
same thing whenever you want to get peak performance from
others.
For this week's Tuesday Tip, I want to focus on just the
capability or learning portion. What are you doing in your
organization to make sure people are learning? Are you
giving people all the training they want and all the training
they need? If your answer is "no," don't expect miracles
when it comes to peak performance.
The best companies answer "yes" to my question. The
Container Store, for example, has topped Fortune Magazine's
list of the "100 greatest places to work" for two years
in a row. One of their secrets is their massive training
program. They provide 235 hours of training for every one of
their first-year, full-time employees. Compare that to
the national average in the retail industry, where similar
employees are given a mere 7 hours of training. No wonder
the employee turnover rate in retail is about 100% while
The Container Store averages a turnover rate of just 15-25%.
So if you want to get peak performance from others, YOU'VE
GOT TO TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN. John Wooden, the legendary
basketball coach, said the same thing. John led UCLA to
nine NCAA championships, but he never scouted an
opponent. When John and I were doing a program together
one time, he said, "If I can prepare my five men to the
best of their ability, they (the opposition) will never
have a chance. "
Of course, you may be saying, "We have a tight budget. We
can't afford to offer extensive ongoing training. "It
certainly may appear that way. I know it's not easy
to find the funds or the time.
But let me say this, the best companies consistently
find a way to do it. They know it's one of the best ways
to attract and keep the best employees. They know they
can't afford not to train their employees.
Others of you may be saying, "What if we train people,
and they leave? Wouldn't that be a waste of time and
money?" Of course, there's always that chance. But
think about it. Do you really expect a staff of
under trained people to achieve your goals? I would say
that THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN TRAINING YOUR PEOPLE AND
HAVE THEM LEAVE IS NOT TRAINING THEM AND HAVE THEM STAY.
The truth is, trained people are not as likely to leave,
and trained people are more likely to be peak performers.
There's an old proverb that says:" If you want to be
prosperous for a year, grow grain. If you want to be
prosperous for ten years, grow trees. If you want to be
prosperous for a lifetime, grow people. "
According to research by psychologist Dr. Bev Smallwood,
continuous learning is listed at or near the top when
employees are asked what keeps them committed to an
organization. The really good employees want to be on
the cutting edge of learning.
This is especially true if you're managing some of the
40 million American workers in their 20's and 30's. It
may sound ridiculous, but TRAIN THEM FOR ANOTHER JOB.
Younger employees know they won't stay with one
company their entire career. So, ironically, the way
to keep them is help them acquire the skills that
will make them more marketable later on. The more they
can learn in your company, the more they'll want to
stick around.
And for workers in general, Saul Gellerman, author of
"Motivation in the Real World: The Art of Getting
Extra Effort From Everyone--Including Yourself," shares
this secret. Until retirement age nears, he says
workers care more about where their jobs are going
to lead them than whether or not their jobs are
"fair" or "pay enough. "
That's why so many workers are willing to tolerate jobs
that leave a lot to be desired. They'll tolerate
these jobs if they believe it will "lead to something
better. "Are you offering training that meets that
need? I hope so.
Action on Motivation:
Take a look at the training offered in or supported
by your organization. Then see if it passes these three
tests:1)Is there enough training?2)Does the
training educate and motivate? and 3)Does the training
prepare people for their next job?
If you answer "no" to any of these questions, and
if you desire to be among the "best" organizations, it's
time to speak up and ask for what you want. Your
future and the future of your organization depend on it.
More articles:
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