Understanding how motivators change, and specifically how your motivations in life have shifted over time, is a great way to re-evaluate what you might deem as past ‘mistakes’. It is a great way to understand how you got from then to now, and why you may have made certain choices.
Tag Archives: people
How in Management People Become Things
Speaking at the Dominion Theatre last week I talked about the most difficult thing to deal with in business. The most difficult thing is of course people. Indeed I added by way of a sidebar that people were also the most difficult thing to deal with in life (whilst also acknowledging that they are paradoxicallyContinue reading “How in Management People Become Things”
People Are Different – Business Take Note!
According to Martin Davidson, a professor of business administration at the University of Virginia, business culture can tend to weed out the weird! This can be a big mistake because it is ‘weird’ people or certain kinds of weird people that create potency and innovation which enable businesses to thrive. This can be expressed in a variety of ways, but the most obvious is perhaps in the need to avoid cloning people into the culture they join; a situation in which they have to adapt (and adopt to) the mores and social norms of what passes for normal or even acceptable behaviour. We are not talking here about table manners, but modes of thinking, aspects of deference (so readily leading into the dead-end called group-think), and business as usual, meaning ‘not invented here’ and ‘this is how we’ve always done it’. These ‘norms’ invariably cost businesses, and ultimately lead to their demise.
Improving Productivity
Productivity is a people issue. People make things happen, or not. This seems to be a revelation to some managers, as if merely pushing people around and simply paying them a wage leads to high productivity. The reality is that this approach leads to subtle sabotage and non-vocal resistance: lip-service to the organizations and itsContinue reading “Improving Productivity”
How to Grow Roses and People!
The ancients were wise. They understood that there was no separation between mankind and nature, and that one extended the other; and that all things were part of one verse, the universe. Evidence of this comes in their predilection for fables and proverbs where the natural world has important messages for us. ‘Go to theContinue reading “How to Grow Roses and People!”
Seven Questions to Stimulate Motivation
The issue of motivating staff will not go away; in fact, with the rise of technology and the increasing levels of distance and impersonality, the how-to-manage-them question gets larger and larger. In such a context Motivational Maps are essential since they do supply on-line so much of the information that an effective manager or leaderContinue reading “Seven Questions to Stimulate Motivation”
Lessons will be Learnt!
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!”
Why motivation is NOT often in the work place
It is not an original observation to say that in most work places we look we find that most people are not highly motivated. In many cases they are not motivated at all. They need to work and their commitment to and engagement with their employer extends no further than the next pay cheque. ThisContinue reading “Why motivation is NOT often in the work place”
Three types of people
Someone once said that there were two types of people: people who divide the world into two types of people, and people who don't! A brilliant paradox, but alas not wholly true, because there are three types of people, not two; it is as well to know these types because one of the most importantContinue reading “Three types of people”
Two kinds of people
Somebody once said that there are two kinds of people: the kind of people who divide the world into two kinds of people, and the kind of people who don’t. Beautiful paradox. But I guess dividing the world into two is hard-wired into us : as the Tao Che Ching says. From the One cameContinue reading “Two kinds of people”
The Mapping Motivation Series 