Being consistent is akin to having a good brand. Think of it as part of your personal power. Being a consistent performer at a high level, gives us personal power. This applies to performance teams as well. How can an individual or a team walk the talk if they fail to produce at a high level consistently? Therein lies the rub, what does it take to be consistent, consistently?
Define Your Brand
Most every organization has a mission statement. Teams, too, should have a mission statement as well. Certainly the mission statement should be in alignment with the organization’s, but be clear in representing what your team stands for, the work it produces and the value it brings to the table. Every team member should be on board with the team’s mission statement and live its philosophy each day.
While listening to the radio one morning, two DJs, one male, one female, and the producer became embroiled in a hot debate. The source of the debate came about when the male DJ stated that he was going to “tip” his mailman for all the good work he did during the year. The DJ went on to say that the postman always delivers the mail on time, does it in an efficient manner and calls him and his wife by name. The producer went ballistic arguing the other side of the “reward” coin. The producer felt that it was great that the mailman was doing his job and that he indeed may be doing it well, but that is what he is paid to do and should not be rewarded for doing his job to the best of his ability.
The DJ then responded with, “So I guess if the company gives you a bonus for doing your job well, you will return it.” The producer replied, “Well, it’s not necessary that the company pay me a bonus. But if I were given a bonus, I would not give it back.” This added fuel to the fire and the female DJ accused the producer of “talking out of both sides of her mouth.” And so the reward for motivation debate went and probably goes pretty much the same in many organizations.
Do reward systems always work? Not according to a book by Daniel H. Pink entitled, Drive – The surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. According to Pink, people who are internally motivated as opposed to being externally motivated are far more productive and in much less need of rewards of any type. How does this idea affect the workplace?
Opportunities will abound in 2014. As the title of this article indicates, it is about how we can make 2014 and every year a success by taking advantage of opportunities. Notice though, the title doesn’t have the word “new” in it. Why is this?
As part of my executive coaching business, I offer ESL Business Coaching. As you no doubt know, ESL is an acronym for English as a Second Language. I have the opportunity to view many perspectives from people who are native to countries such as Chile, China, Cuba, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, South America, The Middle East and Romania. Here’s an example of opportunity from their perspectives.
One of my Japanese clients works all day at his job. Once a week, he drives 30 miles to our session from work. Our sessions last from 6:00pm to 8:15pm. When we finish at 8:15, he then drives the 30 miles back to his job so that he can participate in conference calls with his co-workers in Japan. During one of our sessions, I offered that because her works so many hours every day, he is losing the opportunity to see his two children grow up. He agreed, but indicated that he must remain loyal to his employer as the company provides a living for him and his family. Clearly a different mindset than we Americans project. The discussion turned to the opportunity to find another position where he isn’t required to work so many hours. He will be going back to Japan soon and he confessed that he must also remain with this company as the job market is so tight in Japan and the opportunity to switch jobs is not as prevalent as here in the United States.