Nurture to motivate
It’s important to tap the potential of your team, writes Sunita C Gomes


About understanding….
It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
— Oliver Wendell Holmes

The key to motivating people, to harnessing the energies of a group of people who are pursuing their individual goals and dreams, is to listen to them, one by one. And that means understanding each one, as a unique individual. They are already motivated: your only question is, by what?

People are like plants. To bloom and thrive they need to be rooted in the rich soil of a nurturing environment. Yet we find many a manager rich in knowledge and unskilled in the art of human horticulture — listening, understanding and communicating.

Understanding others is not like understanding facts. Understanding others engages both the head and the heart. Generally, true understanding comes with time and does not happen overnight. Yet, there are exceptions to this rule. If you and I have shared interests, or if we have had similar life experiences, understanding comes more readily.

Abraham Lincoln lost his third son during the Civil War. His wife took to her bed and was never the same thereafter. In other words, with his son’s death, Lincoln lost his family. Thousands of families lost their loved ones during this War — and Lincoln understood in his heart, and with empathy, the magnitude of this loss.

Some people are like water in a faucet. It is already motivated to flow, but it doesn’t have the opportunity until you open the tap. Your team member may be bursting with energy and waiting only for you to provide her the opportunity to use it constructively.
Others are like mountain streams, which flow swiftly but follow their own courses. If you want them to turn your wheel, you have to provide them with a channel.

Remember people do not do things for your reasons. They act for their own reasons. Your challenge is to open up inviting opportunities that will focus their energies on your collective goals.

Cultivate understanding via communication
“The more elaborate our means of communication the less we communicate.” (Joseph Priestley). Fair or not, communication with people under our watch — whether by e-mail, cell-phone or face to face — sets the tone for the entire staff. Regrettably, employees generally view bosses through a distorted lens; this gives them an opportunity to downplay the good side and exaggerate the bad. When job frustration hits critical mass, they can feel justified in checking out emotionally.

Unfair as it is, too many managers perpetuate the stereotype. Let go of the notion that signs of emotion or fallibility are unprofessional. Hand out all-access passes. Make yourselves available to your team when they need you to. Their appreciation will show up in the simple metrics of productivity and turnover.

View mistakes as opportunities
The story goes that Thomas Edison and his crew worked 24 hours straight to complete the first working light bulb. Exhausted, Edison placed the precious orb in the hands of his young assistant to carry upstairs. The nervous boy was shaking so badly that he dropped the bulb on the way up.

The team spent another 24 hours making a second bulb. When the time came to carry it upstairs, Edison smiled and again handed it to the boy. Confidence restored, the kid ferried the bulb upstairs without incident. The simple gesture earned Edison the boy’s loyalty for a lifetime.

The Platinum Rule
We all know the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. This is good advice, but those who understand it effectively use the Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they want to be done unto.

Often, the best way to determine how people want to receive your message is to take a look at how they communicate their own messages to you. The more your communications are able to mirror back to the recipients their own likes and preferences, the more likely they are to ‘vibe’ with you and respond quickly and positively to your understanding.

As we plunge ever faster into a sea of change, leaders will be seen more and more as problem solvers in business, politics and education. Leadership will go beyond the academic concept to a paradigm that is born in service, contribution, stewardship, courage, listening and understanding. So, get ahead of the curve. Encourage your children to study it, practice it and pursue mastery in communication and understanding.

The writer is Country Manager of British Airways in Oman & Yemen. (The views of the author are independent and do not reflect the views of the company she represents in Oman)

- Learn to manage your uncertainties properly