Recently I did a 20 minute talk at a University for the RSA Fellows in the area (of which I am one). This had been initiated by a friend who has the foresight to realise that with the imminent shut-down of quango-business services there may be an opportunity for organisations like the RSA to fillContinue reading “Lessons will be Learnt!”
Author Archives: mappingmotivation
Motivating our People
Aside from using my product, Motivational Maps, people ask me: how best do you motivate staff? Inshort, what tips can you offer? This is great because in a way it’s an acknowledgement that motivation is really critically important even when leaders don’t always want to pay attention to it, or invest in it. What, then,Continue reading “Motivating our People”
Motivation and Hercule Poirot
Laughter, they say, is the best medicine; and I find in the last few months my tastes have changed considerably in terms of the kind of films I want to watch: much less action and more gentle humour and thoughtfulness. I have discovered, to my surprise, the wonderful TV series of Hercule Poirot, starring DavidContinue reading “Motivation and Hercule Poirot”
Being a Champion
It’s strange to say this; it is counter-intuitive. But I often now get asked: how did you cope with your illness? The assumption is always, how did you cope because it must have been awful? And in one and very true sense, this is correct: having had two major operations for bowel cancer and justContinue reading “Being a Champion”
The Question of Humility
Humility is a much neglected virtue in the modern world; everyone wants to be a ‘winner’ and the implicit assumption is that nice people finish last, that understating yourself is a strategic mistake, and that humility, basically, is for wimps. Like the virtue of ‘meekness’ it is perceived as a negative virtue for those lackingContinue reading “The Question of Humility”
The Right People Need No Motivation
Jim Collins, the world famous management guru, has said that “if you have the right people on your bus, you don’t need to worry about motivating them”. As a friend of mine said, “Does this mean that employee motivation programs are useless?” It would seem so – if only we could get our recruitment right,Continue reading “The Right People Need No Motivation”
The Beautiful Disgrace of Burn’s Night
Sometimes one has to admit that something so beautiful can be a disgrace. We have just passed just such a moment for the English. I am referring to Burn’s Night, of course, that marvellous invention of the Scots, celebrated on the 25thJanuary! To digress a moment, I think it would be true to say thatContinue reading “The Beautiful Disgrace of Burn’s Night”
Homer’s Odyssey and Personal Development
‘Narrative may be regarded as a primary act of mind’, as someone once said, and so it proves true in all great stories: they tell us the primary truths about ourselves, and often what seems to be only an objective narrative is also an internal account of what is going on in the soul ofContinue reading “Homer’s Odyssey and Personal Development”
Do We Really Believe in Teams?
One of the mantras of most managers is that teams outperform collective individual performance. There is lots of research that substantiates that, and in any case it is summed up in that well-known poster acronym: T.EA.M., or Together Each Achieves More. Put another way: teams produce a synergy in which the net output is notContinue reading “Do We Really Believe in Teams?”
The Antidote to Fear: Trust
I read an ancient Arabic story the other day about a merchant traveller with his caravan on his way to Baghdad. Half way to his destination the merchant encounters Pestilence who informs him that he too is on his way to Baghdad. Pestilence’s reason for travelling there is to kill five thousand people. Having deliveredContinue reading “The Antidote to Fear: Trust”
The Mapping Motivation Series 