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”
Author Archives: mappingmotivation
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”
How Nothing Creates Performance and Beauty
I was with some friends the other day, including Ginny Richards, and she had just played the piano superbly well. We were discussing how it is that some people play the piano – or instrument or sing – so expressively, and others, who may be technically proficient, make it all sound so dead. There isContinue reading “How Nothing Creates Performance and Beauty”
The Real Meaning of Christmas
I love Christmas, and I am especially looking forward to it this year because, as some readers of my articles may have deduced, I have been seriously ill and in hospital for three months. At one point it looked as if I wouldn’t make Christmas at all; and then as if I’d still be inContinue reading “The Real Meaning of Christmas”
Pedagogy and Motivation
I was asked an interesting educational question recently about motivation and pedagogy: to wit, what pedagogy is used to create classroom strategies that each motivator prefers? Pedagogy is a word that one doesn’t encounter as frequently as one did, say, in the Seventies; what does it mean? Pedagogy is the science of teaching, of instruction,Continue reading “Pedagogy and Motivation”
Visiting the Underworld with Orpheus
When I was a child I was fascinated by myths, and especially those concerning the underworld, what we sometimes call journeys into hell. It is difficult to account for why these sort of stories appeal, although now – at the later end of my life – it’s all very clear: having been to hell –Continue reading “Visiting the Underworld with Orpheus”
Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
As we passed a church on the way to Bournemouth Rail Station the other day I saw a fantastic advertising poster. It said: “The B.I.B.L.E – Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth! What a concept, what an acronym! In today's Western society there is – despite the relentless barrage of bad news, war and mayhem –Continue reading “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth”
