Motivation provides the energy and emotion for us to take action, but did you know that motivation has two directions?

Effective motivation occurs when we are mobilised to move away from what we don’t want and are strongly drawn to what we do want. Motivation is like a rocket with a strong propulsion system to escape gravity and a guidance system to direct it to the target.

If we only want to move away from what we don’t want but do not have a clear picture of our destination we are likely to make bad choices, and if we have an idea about what we want but are still comfortable doing what we are doing, nothing will change.

To build a strong motivational propulsion system requires tapping into your mind’s powerful ability to visualise.

Start with creating a strong image of how you would like things to be, imagine anything is possible, and clearly see yourself has the person who you want to become. Fill in all the details, “what will you look like? what will you be feeling? what will you be saying? Who will be there with you?Where is this happening?” Invest your energy in this thought experiment so that you can actually smell and tast what this future will be like.

Now ask yourself, “do you really want this?” The answer must be a categorical “YES!” for effective motivation.

Now build the ‘Away From’ propulsion. “What will happen if you don’t get your desired future? How will you feel if nothing changes? What if things stay the same for another 5,10, 15 years? Are you ready to do something about this now?”

If you ask yourself these questions you should feel a strong enough force to start taking action towards your future which you will find pulling on you. This creative tension is what has propelled athletes, scientists, entrepreneurs and business people to greater levels of thought and performance.

Once you have completed the visualisation and feel the motivation you must plan; “what steps or  stages are required to reach your target? What resources do you need? Who do you need to talk to? What mindset or attitude must you adopt?”

What you have experienced here is coaching, because coaching directs a person to consider what is possible for them and co-creates an action plan to achieve it.

To your greatest success!

It is a bit like if you were in a boat and have set your course, but the boat springs a leak and you spend your whole time bailing water and have no time to steer.

William Bridges created a model of change and transition that is highly relevant in today’s financial readjustment. When the collapse of Lehman Brothers started the domino effect of the global crisis, many of us would have experienced first shock, then denial, anger and fear. If you lost money or a job you might then experience grief, frustration, confusion, stress and loss of control.

As an executive coach and leadership consultant I have often witnessed this spiraling down into paralysis that Bridges calls the ‘neutral zone’. Symptoms of the neutral zone include ambiguity, anxiety and the absence of motivation. The cure for this paralysis is a new vision of what is possible.

Einstein said that, “A problem cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that created the problem.” When in the neutral zone, we are in a dark place and our ability to think optimistically and see possibilities is severely limited. What is required is a little magic, the magic of imagination. All of human achievement started with imagination, from running a mile in under 4 minutes, to imagining what it would be like on the top of Mount Everest to imagining walking on the surface of the moon.

A vision will inspire, motivate and engender creativity and it starts with using imagination to travel to the future when things will be better. The Executive who asks him/herself, “What is possible?” “What will we be doing when things are better?” To do achieve this we must take time to stop bailing the water in the boat and look to the shore. Most executives find this extremely difficult as they leave themselves little or no time to stop, step back and think strategically.

With a new vision of where you are going, you and your people will become more optimistic, think creatively and start planning actions that will move you towards success.

It was no surprise that Barack Obama beat John McCain; Dr Martin Seligman in his book ‘Learned Optimism’ talks about his analysis of US elections based on the number of positive or optimistic comments made by the candidates. Obama clearly offered a more optimistic view of the future and thus captured the popular vote.

Obama is being called a transformational leader because he:

1. Created a vision that inspired the American voters (and the world) to believe that there were new possibilities.

2. Stimulates people to think, to re-examine their ideas and find creative alternatives. Such an environment breeds imagination and innovation.

3. Treats people as individuals making people feel valued and encouraging them to contribute. He recognizes that people have unique talents, strengths and weakness and allowing for these differences without judgment.

The transformational leader must have what I like to call ‘realistic optimism’ which is a practical and pragmatic approach that is ideally suited to the current climate. Realistic optimism is the mindset that we can make the best of any circumstance; it is the acceptance that bad things do happen but with a healthy self-esteem and the confidence in our abilities we can overcome adversity, learn from the situation and be even better for the experience.

Optimism without right actions and following sound principles will not be enough. Lehman Brothers failed because of over-optimism and the senior management not being in alignment with their own company’s vision and values.

In the current climate it is tempting to focus on immediate need and make tactical rather than strategic decisions; I urge you to step back for a moment, get in touch with your personal or company vision and ask yourself, “Is this decision the right one for the long term?”

Andrew Bryant is the Director of Self Leadership International and is based in Singapore but travels extensively as an executive coach and leadership consultant.

Well, if the answer is yes to any of the two questions, you have probably fallen in the same trap so many people fall every day…the trap of Procrastination!

But how bad is it to procrastinate anyways?

Well, The Procrastination Research Group (so it even has its own research group!) made a survey on 2,700 individuals and asked them how much negative impact does procrastination have on their happiness? 46% said that very much and 18% said that an extreme negative effect.

Pretty bad, don’t you think?

So let’s explore what are the most common reasons of procrastination:

• Care Too Much About What Others Think

It happens that sometimes you want to impress others so much that when given a task you feel so much pressure that it delays your work.

• Striving For The Perfect

It sounds weird, but perfectionism can be what causes procrastination. You may want to strive for perfectionism so much that you feel disheartened even before you begin. This is because a goal that seems unachievable (and who can ever be perfect, anyway?) can be demoralizing.

• Doing Things Totally New To You

You need to embark on a totally new project and you have no idea at all on how to tackle it. The first reaction is to procrastinate. The uncertainty of the result of this task causes you to delay commencing the project.

• The Task Isn’t Meaningful And Motivating

This is another main reason what causes procrastination. The task at hand isn’t motivating to you, as it does not match your aspiration. It is not meaningful to you and therefore you drag your feet in completing the task.

• The Lack Of Confidence

Another common cause of procrastination is the lack of confidence in completing a task. It can be real that you lack the skills but sometimes it may be a perception that you lack the skill. Because of this you may totally avoid completing the task.

OK, but enough with the causes, here are seven solutions:

1. Give up being Perfect! (Nobody is and nobody will ever be!) It is much better to do a task 80% good, rather than wait until you are 100% satisfied and never actually manage to deliver it.
2. Just as most people can’t eat a whole birthday cake in one bite, some jobs cannot be done all at once. Some people come to realize that it is harder to put something off if they slice a job up into manageable pieces and do the task piece by piece, little by little. This might mean breaking down the time required to-do a task into smaller chunks that are spaced over several days or weeks. Some people don’t like large doses of something distasteful. They find that smaller doses spaced over time makes things easier to do and less procrastinatable.
3. Another way some people have reduced procrastination is to begin with an easy, an enjoyable, or the least distasteful piece of a job to get started.
4. Many ex-procrastinators have realized that working with someone else makes it less likely that they will put something off. Perhaps this would work for you.
5. It could be that you will come to realize that making a commitment to someone or setting a deadline for completing a task is one way to make procrastination more difficult. It is known that for many people, setting a goal results in motivation. For this to work, ex-procrastinators have found that the goal must be something they want to achieve.
6. Maybe you will discover that doing a job in the least distracting environment makes putting off work a little harder. For many college students, homes, dorm rooms, or apartments have many distractions and potential distractions. Perhaps you will find a place like the library to study where it is quiet and is going to stay quiet until you are ready to leave.
7. Like many non-procrastinators, you may find it enjoyable to reward yourself for doing a part of a job and for completing a task. Some examples of rewards are treating yourself to some delicious fruits, going to a movie, visiting with friends, or just doing something that you enjoy.

These are perennial questions in the field of leadership development and the answers vary depending on who you talk to.

The concept of a leadership pipeline is that as we start supervising/managing we will be more transactional (performance management) and as we move up through the organisation we will become more transformational (visionary/inspiring).

In reality the modern manager must be adept at both transactional and transformational leadership and the the earlier s/he can do both the more successful they will be.

Transactional Leadership is classic management – organising people and resources towards agreed corporate goals. The four elements of transactional leadership are:

1. Goal Setting – creating specific, measurable, acheivable targets that focus effort in line with the corporate vision.
2. Monitoring Performance – making sure goals are achieved. Providing regular performance reviews either in a structured or fluid fashion.
3. Providing Feedback – letting people know how they are doing relevant to the target/benchmark. Good  feedback must be understood, believed and accepted.
4. Developing Careers – By demonstrating genuine interest in others needs, interests and desires. Being able to connect individual aspirations with the needs of the organisation.

Transformational Leadership style  is where the manager engages with others in such a way that the leader and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and purpose. The three elements of transformational leadership are:

1. Creating a Vision – motivating, inspiring and influencing others to see a new possibilities for themselves and the company. A clear vision creates passion, commitment and focus.
2. Stimulating the Environment – creating a positive and challenging work environment that causes people to think, re-examine their ideas and find creative alternatives. Such an environment breeds imagination and innovation.
3. Treating People as Individuals -making people feel valued and encouraging them to contribute. Recognising that people have unique talents, strengths and weakness and allowing for these differences without judgment.

Burns (1978) first introduced the concepts of transformational and transactional leadership in his treatment of political leadership – and I wonder what you think of the graphic I chose and the difference in style between former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama?

At Self Leadership International we use the transactional/transformational leadership concept with it’s seven competencies as part of executive coaching and leadership development programmes. We are based in Singapore but work in Australia, Malaysia, India and the Middle East.

We have a public workshop - Critical Skills for Senior Managers in Singapore, October 2011.

A large part of my work is in teaching managers the art of people leadership. People Leadership is getting the best from people by connecting their intrinsic motivators with the goals and vision of the organisation.
The good people leader understands that they must develop both performance and potential. Performance is usually a more tangible measurement in terms of output whereas potential (how ready is this person for increased reward and responsibility) is more challenging to judge.

HR Practitioners are fond of using a 9-box grid with performance as the horizontal axis and performance as the vertical. High potential talents are those people in the top right box (high potential + high performance) and these persons are usually selected for a high potential program.

The challenge for people leaders is how to develop potential and performance for the other 8 boxes and this is particularly relevant in the current climate when layoffs are common and promotions are rarer.
Performance is best managed by setting clear objectives, giving regular feedback and encouragement. A good match of person to task is essential and good leaders are on the lookout for barriers to performance such as internal conflict and systems that do not support the individual or team to stretch.

Potential is capacity plus mindset. The person can take on more responsibility and is ready and willing to do it. The question facing managers is whether potential is fixed or can be developed?
Did you have a teacher at school or college that believed in you more than you believed in yourself? Chances are you excelled in their class. People leaders know how to see the potential in people and bring it out. So how do they do it?

Firstly People Leaders engender trust, they make it safe to grow, develop and learn from your mistakes. This trust encourages people to try new things and to take on new responsibilities. In the absence of trust people play it safe and don’t take risks. The current climate has put a strain on trust; people no longer trust the banks or the financial institutions and maybe not even their own company! Being aware of this the good people leader will do everything in their power to be trustworthy, by telling the truth as they know it, and be consistent and congruent in their actions.

Secondly peeople leaders have and unwavering belief that people are more than their actions and that people perform at their best when what they do has meaning and significance to them. The younger generation, the so-called Gen Y, in particular need to know that what they do is meaningful and will not perform optimally unless we show them the big picture.

In positive psychology the belief in people’s potential is known as the Pygmalion Effect after the book by George Bernard Shaw and is a form of ‘self fulfilling prophesy’. If you believe you have potential and act as if you have potential you will have potential. So do you have the potential to be a better people leader?

(This blog is copyright Andrew Bryant. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

According to Henry Mintzberg, if you ask a manager what s/he does they will most likely tell you that they plan, organise, co-ordinate and control; however if you watch a manager the truth is very different.

Managers rarely plan, numerous studies show that managers work at an unrelenting pace on activities that are brief, varied and dicontinuous. Planning which is a leadership function takes time to step back and reflect, a study of 160 British managers showed that they worked without interuption for half an hour or more only about once every two days.

Managers and Leaders both require information, it is a myth that this information comes from some kind of formal management system or written documents. Managers strongly favour verbal media, telephone calls and meetings over documents (one study showed managers spend 66 -80% of their time in verbal communication). Managers cherish “soft” information, especially gossip, hearsay, and speculation, why?  – Because the managers prime use for information is to identify problems and opportunities and to build to build mental models of how the business is working.

This heavy reliance on soft information means that the effective leader must develop excellent listening skills and the ability to sense people’s intentions. Research by Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones suggests that inspirational leaders are good situational sensors and can “sniff out” the signals in the environment and and sense what’s going on without having anything spelled out for them.
So based on just these two qualities of leadership, planning and the interpretation of soft information, can a manager who want to be a leader develop their self-awareness and forward-thinking.
The answer, from my experience, is most definitely “Yes”.

How you use your mind and how you use your body have parallels. The more your use a particular muscle the stronger it gets (in the presence of correct nutrition) and the more you use the thinking processes of “stepping back”(self-awareness) and “forward looking”(planning) the stonger they get.

The advantages of stepping back and forward looking are that we become aware of our own assumptions and prejudices and are able to move from being reactive to actively creating behaviours that will lead to success. CEO Grant Halloran says, “I have grown enormously as an executive: my relations with managers and staff are far more harmonious; I have been able to coach my team through significant personal development; I am more understanding and accepting of my broader responsibilities as a leader; I have much more energy and am able to motivate myself more easily. Most importantly, I have grown my company’s revenues and profits significant.”

So how can a manager develop their self leadership and the ability to step back? They must be engaged and challenged to become to the realisation that the way they see the world is filtered by assumptions and expectations and that their decisions become self-fulfilling prophesies. Here are some questions that encourage managers to exercise self leadership.

• What criteria am I using to assess this employees/proposal/decision?
• What am I assuming to be true about this situation?
• What have I not yet considered that may be relevant?
• What is the outcome of this decision and what is the outcome of the outcome?
• If I look back on this decision from five years in the future will I say that it was in alignment with the vision and mission of the company?

(This blog is copyright Andrew Bryant. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)