The Stage - Personal impact part 1
General
Some big Hollywood stars perform in minor theatres for little money.
Why would they do that?
For their motivation there must be very personally satisfying reasons over and above money and fame.
Benefits
In the same way you have to seek your own personal reasons for committing yourself to your business.
If you don’t feel that you ‘own’ a part of what you are doing your performances will not peak.
When you consider how you fit in some aspects may appear greedy and others more altruistic.
For example try to answer some of the following questions.
- What are the benefits for me?
- How do I relate to the rest of the team?
- Will what I do have an effect?
- Am I free to express my opinion?
- Will my life style improve with this company?
- If I were rich would I resign?
- Will success bring career advancements?
Without being able to answer some of these questions or aligning your efforts to your own personal values you won’t feel like giving of your best.
While it is nice to work with people that appear to have our values and think in a similar manner it’s not good for the organisation to have ideas generated by similar thinking processes. Variety is the spice of life.
Certainly, team work will suffer if all are like minded individuals and motivation will drop.
When you feel like tackling any problems as they appear, you are more likely to feel happy with your own commitment to the organisation.
Making a difference
When you contribute to anything you would hope that it makes a difference.
If it doesn’t you will feel alienated from the rest of the organisation.
If you have control over some aspect of the company then you are certainly able to make a positive contribution.
You may be able to make decisions at a particular level or control budgets.
In a play there is no such thing as a small part. Everyone’s contribution must be valued to make the overall production a great experience. In a similar fashion you must believe that all your own efforts make a difference. If you are a manager then you must convince all of your staff that they in turn can and do make a difference which will increase their motivation.
Try asking yourself the following questions:
- Actually ask, “do I make an impact?”
- How does what I achieve contribute to the whole?
- How much power do I have to change things?
- Do you feel proud of any of your achievements?
- If I resigned would the company be affected in any way?
- What levels of company success do I contribute to?
- Can you think of a particular event that suggests you have already made a contribution?
An actor can receive immediate feedback of his or her performance.
Before you can have an impact on others and the organisation you must be comfortable with your own efforts first.
Only when you are happy with yourself will you contemplate taking risks which may lead to exceptional performance.
You can only contribute if you have necessary skills for the environment in which you exist.
Consider your personal skills and how you use these in the organisation and what effect they have on the company.
Truthful approach
Why not carry out an amusing exercise to accentuate the problems that could be faced with ‘management speak’.
Two people are involved.
The first tells us the management comment and the second tells the practical popular interpretation.
Person A: “Your jobs are completely safe”
Person B: “Your jobs are completely safe until we receive the right offer to sell the company”
Person A: “People are our best resource”
Person B: “People are our best resource until we need to cut costs and then they may be first to go” etc.
Doing this type of exercise allows you to face up to issues which everyone knows exists.
The next step is to consider actions that may eliminate or alleviate these problems.
The usual method of using a brain storm is as good as any.