"The greater our opportunities and privileges, the greater our
responsibilities," is a statement I have shared with sports teams,
businesses, and other groups to whom I have spoken. The statement
applies to team leaders as well as team members.
In business, for example, employees are motivated when they are respected and treated fairly in areas such as pay, benefits, and job security. However, the employees need to earn respect, and they need to treat management fairly by performing the right jobs in the right ways. Employees are also motivated when they can gain pride in individual and group accomplishments. Again, this is a mutual action. It's not all up to management, nor is all up to employees. A third thing that motivates employees is camaraderie, which involves good, productive relationships with fellow employees and management - another mutual action.
Just recently, I was talking with a business leader who said that every time she approaches a certain employee with correction and guidance the employee responds with, "Are you going to fire me?" Apparently, the job security that most people seem to appreciate is not present in this situation. And it probably shouldn't be present if the employee continually has to be corrected to do the thing that is part of her job description.
Another business leader recently remarked to me, "It's amazing how much people contribute to their own miseries." He went on to explain how some employees have an "everybody owes me" attitude. I have seen this in sports. It's the attitude of "it's never my fault." In the minds of such people, their failures are always the faults of others, or of the weather, or of circumstances. We refer to this as having a "victim attitude."
As a leader, one of the greatest things you can do is establish clearly what you expect from the group and from each individual within the group. Let the members know they will be treated fairly and with respect - but not just for being a member of the group. Sometimes, members think they automatically deserve things without giving what they ought to give in return.
On the other hand, if the group and its individuals do not clearly understand expectations, then they should seek clarification. Again, this places responsibility on the shoulders of everybody involved. Another statement I have shared in numerous speeches and previously in this column is, "If it is to be, it is up to me." This is reflected in the lines of an Eagles' song (Already Gone): "So oftentimes it happens we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key."
I admire leaders who want to treat people right and who go the extra mile to help people succeed. I try to be such a leader myself. But sometimes, in the words of an elderly man in the Gatlinburg Arts and Crafts Community, "We get bit when we hand feed people." A business leader told me, "Sometimes the things we have done for employees are used against us by these same employees." She wasn't being bitter, just saying that we need to let people know we expect reciprocation when we extend ourselves to help them succeed. She has thinking similar to the good-hearted businessman who said, "It seems sometimes that no good deed goes unpunished."
One of the thoughts in my Winning Thoughts books reads: "Do I trust you? Do you trust me? Mutual trust leads to victory." Another thought in the same book asks the question: "What kind of team would this team be, if everyone thought, acted, performed, just like me?"
The essence of what I am writing about today is simply that the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have others do undo you" should never be a one-way street in business, sports, family, or life.
In business, for example, employees are motivated when they are respected and treated fairly in areas such as pay, benefits, and job security. However, the employees need to earn respect, and they need to treat management fairly by performing the right jobs in the right ways. Employees are also motivated when they can gain pride in individual and group accomplishments. Again, this is a mutual action. It's not all up to management, nor is all up to employees. A third thing that motivates employees is camaraderie, which involves good, productive relationships with fellow employees and management - another mutual action.
Just recently, I was talking with a business leader who said that every time she approaches a certain employee with correction and guidance the employee responds with, "Are you going to fire me?" Apparently, the job security that most people seem to appreciate is not present in this situation. And it probably shouldn't be present if the employee continually has to be corrected to do the thing that is part of her job description.
Another business leader recently remarked to me, "It's amazing how much people contribute to their own miseries." He went on to explain how some employees have an "everybody owes me" attitude. I have seen this in sports. It's the attitude of "it's never my fault." In the minds of such people, their failures are always the faults of others, or of the weather, or of circumstances. We refer to this as having a "victim attitude."
As a leader, one of the greatest things you can do is establish clearly what you expect from the group and from each individual within the group. Let the members know they will be treated fairly and with respect - but not just for being a member of the group. Sometimes, members think they automatically deserve things without giving what they ought to give in return.
On the other hand, if the group and its individuals do not clearly understand expectations, then they should seek clarification. Again, this places responsibility on the shoulders of everybody involved. Another statement I have shared in numerous speeches and previously in this column is, "If it is to be, it is up to me." This is reflected in the lines of an Eagles' song (Already Gone): "So oftentimes it happens we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key."
I admire leaders who want to treat people right and who go the extra mile to help people succeed. I try to be such a leader myself. But sometimes, in the words of an elderly man in the Gatlinburg Arts and Crafts Community, "We get bit when we hand feed people." A business leader told me, "Sometimes the things we have done for employees are used against us by these same employees." She wasn't being bitter, just saying that we need to let people know we expect reciprocation when we extend ourselves to help them succeed. She has thinking similar to the good-hearted businessman who said, "It seems sometimes that no good deed goes unpunished."
One of the thoughts in my Winning Thoughts books reads: "Do I trust you? Do you trust me? Mutual trust leads to victory." Another thought in the same book asks the question: "What kind of team would this team be, if everyone thought, acted, performed, just like me?"
The essence of what I am writing about today is simply that the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have others do undo you" should never be a one-way street in business, sports, family, or life.
Carl Mays, author and speaker at over 3,000 events, may be contacted at carlmays@carlmays.com.
His books, including A Strategy For Winning, Winning Thoughts, Anatomy
Of A Leader, People of Passion and Are We Communicating Yet?, are
available in stores, on http://www.carlmays.com and other Internet locations.
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