Motivational Management

I've been reading quite a few books on management and personal development recently, partly because I'm interested and partly because you have to when you work in a big organisation that's undergoing a lot of change. I make no bones about the fact that Stephen Covey remains my hero in this field, and I was genuinely saddened when I heard he had died following complications from a bicycle accident earlier this year. It is unfortunate that his seminal work The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People is (like "How to Win Friends and Influence People") so badly titled; it's a very deep tome full of wisdom and good examples and is about character and ethics as much as success and achievement. He understood that the great thing people can do is step back from, and rise above, their circumstances and their own ingrained patterns of behaviour.

The great thing about team work is not scapegoating those that aren't achieving but getting everyone to pull together and helping those that struggle to reach the level that is required, or if that isn't possible, helping them find something different that is within their reach. So by way of an example in the breach, here is a story from the world of sport.

A football manager is giving a motivational talk and explaining the functions of the team using the metaphor of the human body.

"The defence is the guts of the team" he says to his assembled players. "Hard working, always at it, always reliable. The midfield is the pumping heart, distributing the good stuff, brave and never missing a beat." Then he grins. "The strikers - well they're the genitals - they pop up occasionally, give everyone a lot of pleasure and make them feel good for a while". Much laughter from the guys in the higher numbered shirts.

"Now" he says "the manager - well I'm the brain, making sure you all know what you do. And the captain on the pitch is like the cortex, the spine of the team, giving out the vital signals. Any questions?"

A hand goes up at the back from the man in the green shirt. "You forgot the goalkeeper boss" he says. "Is that 'cos I'm the safe pair of hands that takes care of everything else?"

The manager fixes him with a stare.

"No laddie, I didn't forget you, it's just that no-one wants to talk about you. The goalkeeper is the arse at the back who get blamed for all the shit. Now just try and keep a few clean sheets and shut up."

Today was one of those days at work when I seemed to be fitting what I needed to do around what I had to do; some firefighting and some just getting through. Lot of HR stuff inevitably. Stopped at our local Asian supermarket on the way home and bought frozen paratha for the toaster - a kind of Indian pop tart - how cool is that? Otherwise a Monday that conformed to type - tomorrow will hopefully be a brighter day.