Motivation and Inspiration: Powerful tools

Motivation and inspiration are two important tools in the leadership tool belt. Much like the hammer and screwdriver, they can be used to build or destroy. A strong leader is continually reading and researching to learn how to become a better leader. One of the topics you will find a lot of information on is motivation.

There are many motivators in life. Here are a few of the good, the bad, and the ugliest of them:

The Fear Factor -Managers and supervisors with weak leadership skills often resort to fear as a motivator. Fear of losing their job, fear of being berated in from of their peers, fear of being retaliated against...There are many fears that can be used to motivate a team like a sledge hammer.
 Fear is undeniably effective in the short-term, but it will cause the strongest team members, or thoroughbreds as Dave Ramsey calls them, to leave and you will be left with donkeys (the weakest team members). Donkeys will take the abuse and continue to churn out mediocre work Ultimately the stress of working for one of these leaders results in high turn over and lack luster performance from a team of Eeyores. You can probably imagine the work environment surrounding that team with that kind of leader...

Money Talks-Only a fool would deny that money can be a motivator. A competitive pay is important to keep a team of thoroughbreds, but throwing money at them will not keep them for long if there is not good leadership in place. If a team member is more interested in the all mighty $ than what kind of work they will be doing, the company's values, and the team environment, then they will always be looking for the next big check. Caution to leaders: there is no loyalty in an employee that lets you know money is the route to their heart.

Recognition- Recognizing both the good and the bad performance of the team creates a framework for the team. It tells them what is expected and what is not acceptable. Openly recognizing both consistently helps your team trust that you are being honest and real with them.

Being heard-Your team needs to know their requests, complaints, praises, etc are not falling on def ears. Give them feedback. Letting them know you hear them, even if you are not able to give them the answer they want makes them feel valued. They feel respected and valued when you give them a voice in company decisions.

Autonomy- (The quality or state of being independent, free, and self-directing.) If you have worked for a micro-manager you know it can be very demotivating. A team that is given the ability to manage their work without constant supervision has job satisfaction and it quickly separates the race horses from the Eeyores.

Shared Vision-In my experience, shared vision is the greatest motivator and the best tool in a leader's belt. It is the golden Swiss-army knife multi-functional tool of all tools! Thoroughbreds want to follow strong leaders that communicate the vision and are capable of getting them excited about the vision.
A team environment is a happy place to work. A team pulling together to reach the same goal is a powerful force. The excitement and energy spreads through the team and creates its own momentum. Leaders should invest large amounts of time and energy into creating a shared vision the team can get motivated about.

Inspiration is a little harder to nail for a leader. You can find ways to push people to work but using inspiration to get them excited about it is true artistry and requires being very intentional.

Think about all the things that inspire you. This is an emotional reaction, which should tell you as a leader that it requires a genuine heart-posture from you. It cannot be done from a place of manipulation or deceit. Inspiration is where persuasion and passion meet to create an emotional response. In the hands of a good leader the power of inspiration takes motivation to the next level.
First, leaders should recognize that you cannot truly inspire an audience that does not care about you. Talk to any writer in Hollywood or on the New York Times Best Seller List and they will tell you that the audience has to feel something about the character before the story can resound with the viewer/reader. Your team will not be inspired if they do not see something in you that they respect and care about. Be intentional about being someone that they see:
                        *They can trust.
                        *They want to follow (lead by example. Do what you want them to do.)
                         *They know cares about them.
                         *They respect and they know respects them.
                       ****They know is excited about the same vision they are being asked to be excited about!
Simply seeing you fight for what is right, looking out for them, and being a good person has their attention and can be inspiring in and of itself. Seeing you own your mistakes and work to correct them can be inspiring to your team when they struggle with their mistakes. It is powerful.
Your mission statement as a company, as a department, as an individual should speak to who you are and what you are here to do and can be used to help inspire the team. Tell your team the story of where the company came from, what it has gone through, and where it will go. Your story is an inspirational tool. Celebrate victories, small and big, every chance you get. This is inspiring to your team and it motivates them to be the next victory to be recognized.
Please feel free to comment ways you have inspired and motivated others! Challenge yourselves to motivate and inspire someone this week. Be intentional!!!

Scriptures

Thessalonians 5:11        Ephesians 4:29        James 4:6    Hebrews 10:24-25       Proverbs 12:25

Introducing Our Third Party Team Lead

We are pleased to introduce Daniel Gibbs, our Third Party Biller and Team Lead. He brings creativity, a zen calmness, and humor to our team. Please read his story, as written by him, below:

CASE FILE #7, TOP SECRET - Daniel Gibbs

 

From birth to age 15 Daniel was raised in the wilds of Wyoming by a pack of wolves. He grew to become their alpha and pack leader, learning to communicate via a system of howling and grunts. At age 15 he left his wolf family and headed for Texas, spurred on by his drive to compete in professional eating competitions. At age 17 he joined a traveling circus and performed as a strongman under the stage name "Thock the Barbarian." After spending 3 years traveling the country, he left the circus and resumed his journey to Texas. On his 21st birthday he awoke to find that he had grown a beard overnight. That day he found a wild mustang and broke the steed, fashioning a saddle from tree bark and his own hair, and rode for 30 days until he arrived in Fort Worth. After acclimating to his new city life, he took on a job offer from Dallas Life Support Systems with practically no real world experience and conquered his new profession. Within 9 months he had been promoted to Team Lead of the 3rd party billing department, further cementing his role as pack leader. In the evenings and on weekends Daniel takes to the streets, dealing out vigilante justice to criminals. Since his arrival in Texas, crime rates have plummeted 33%. Some say that if you listen closely at night, you can hear him howling to his wolf pack, instilling fear in those who may seek to commit unscrupulous activities.

Throughout the course of our leadership program I have taught the others involved the following things: 1.) Never trust a man who won't look you in the eye, 2.) Always be prepared to fight a bear to the death, and 3.) Do not throw watermelon at others. I have learned to disregard all emotion and rule with an iron fist.

 

As you may have figured by now only some of those things are true. What I've really learned is to always lead by example, never approach an obstacle with a negative attitude and to take an interest in those around you. Building a strong connection with your team allows everyone to work much more closely and be pre-disposed to want to pitch in and help whenever an issue may arise.

 

Personal mission statement: I strongly believe that I should always be a better person than I was the day before, whether that means to learn something new, do something better or be stronger mentally or physically. I try my best to put others needs before my own both in my personal and professional lives. In life, my ultimate goal is just to be a good person despite what others may think.

 

About me: I'm engaged to my closest friend and a truly wonderful woman. We have a Great Dane named Jax who spends his days laying around doing approximately nothing whom we love as if he were our child.

 

Interests: I love exercising and lifting weights, hiking and spending time outdoors, playing the occasional video game, spending time with my friends and family and making others laugh.

 

Motto: What you do when no one is looking defines you as a person.

Manager vs. Leader: A Stellar Conflict

Not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far far away...okay maybe it is not that dramatic but the struggle is real. Managers are challenged with the task of making sure processes run smoothly and the team is effective. Good managers can be not so great leaders. We want our team to be leaders in life. Han Solo is exciting and snarky but would you really want him as a boss? A manager without leadership skills can end up being a real Darth Vader, trying to mentally force work out of you with the only means they have available, bully tactics. We want Yodas! We need people who are calm and cool under pressure but can throw down with the giants if needed. Their mere presence makes the dark side tremble in fear.

Okay, Okay I may have geeked out there but you get my point. Leaders are intentional and intelligent about building a team and developing them to also be leaders. Dave Ramsey points out in his Entreleadership series that leaders are also servants to their company and team. So my padawans let's talk about the differences between leaders and managers and why it is so important to know them.

Managers

To put it in simple terms: the title of manager defines a role in which someone is responsible for a group and the work they do. This person is also responsible for using incentives and corrective actions to keep the group on task and meeting the basic functions of their jobs. 

Not all managers are leaders, and not all leaders are managers. A manager is only as successful as their ability to lead the team. Not all managers are bad. A good manager can meet the functions of their title but be a poor leader. The best managers exceed expectations in the functions of their role by leading their team well.

When I asked the team to tell me what words they would use to describe a manager here are a few things they threw out:

Task-oriented           Boss               Responsible            Implementer

If you go on the Internet and look for articles about management versus leadership (which I highly encourage you to do and it was my teams first assignment) you will find more descriptions like:

Managers exercise power over others, tell people what to do, react to situations, make decisions, take credit for the good stuff and give discipline for the bad. 

Leaders

I found a great definition of a leader on this website http://www.vtaide.com/gleanings/leader.htm which is "a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal.." A leader can be anyone. There are influential people in every team and not all of them are put into management roles. A good manager/leader knows the value of having these people on their team. 

I asked the team to describe leaders as well and these are a few of the responses:

Inspirational    People-oriented   Motivator    Passionate

Again, if you go onto the Internet you can find great articles that go deeper into defining a leader. Some more of the most defining qualities of a leader to me is that they are mentors, respected, create unity, lift others up, and they are servants. Leaders do not seek power but often earn it. They know the true burden of it because they know they carry the team and the responsibility of the team's success or failure. Leaders recognize the passion in others and inspire it. They do not take the light out of their team's eyes. 

We started our leadership classes to help our team develop into Obi Wans and Yodas and to avoid the traps of falling into the dark side of micromanagement. We need managers to get the work done, but we need leaders to help us serve our patients, our team, and their families. We take our role as servants with pleasure. We may not really be Jedi Knights but we are just as serious about mentoring our team to be good people and incredible leaders. 

Scriptures:

Philippians 2:3       Luke 6:31     Psalms 78:72      Proverbs 29:2      Luke 22:26

Introducing...The Mentor

This week our leadership training will be "So...What's the story?" where we will discuss how our actions and words create a story about us and how we should be intentional about the story we tell. In the spirit of leading by example here is an introduction to my story.
My name is LaDusta Robinette and I have been the billing center manager at DLSS for two years (next week). About four months ago the general manager and I started talking about a mentoring and training program for the supervisors and team leads. About the same time he and his family had invested in a membership to Entreleadership with Dave Ramsey. (I highly recommend managers and business owners look into it! https://www.entreleadership.com/ It is a great tool for business owners and leaders who want to build a positive corporate culture.) After running the idea through all of the proper channels and submitting lesson plans for a vote, I was given the opportunity to work with our leadership team. The results have exceeded my highest expectations. The leadership team has humbled me with their desire to learn and grow as leaders.
My faith, my family, being able to express creativity, finding ways to improve myself inside and out, finding something to laugh about every day, being inspired daily and being blessed with the opportunity to inspire and help others are the things that make my life amazing, exciting, and keep me moving.
While I cannot claim to be an expert in leadership, I am grateful that I have been given the privilege to share what I have learned about leadership through experience and education. I look forward to our weekly meetings and the great feedback they bring each week. They push me to be a better leader and a better person daily. I look forward to sharing our journey with others through this blog!

About me: I am married with 3 kids and a crazy golden retriever that doesn't know he is a dog.

Interests: Love to read, write, paint, play sports, and spend lots of time with my family!

My motto: A good person tries to do what is right no matter what anyone else is doing and who else is or is not watching.

Leadership @ Life Support...It's what we do!

At Dallas Life Support we have recognized the potential for inspiration through a mentoring program for our leadership team. Our team is our greatest asset and they impress us daily with their desire to learn and grow as individuals and as leaders. Investing time and training into helping them develop as leaders in the office and in their life was an easy choice. The results have been exciting and have been instrumental in developing a positive corporate culture that continues to allow us to develop as a company and serve our patients and referrals with the best service.
As we go through this training we want to share what we are learning and spread the positive momentum we have found in this focused training by documenting our progress.
Here are some of the training topics we have already gone through with our team on Leadership:

*Leadership as a servant
*Motivation and Inspiration
*Communication is Key
*How to work with different and difficult people in a positive way
*Leadership thinking vs. Ithoughts
*Easier ways to make hard decisions
*Time management tips & tricks
*Presence & presentation
*Stress management

(We will elaborate on each of these in future posts.)

Leaders are important in creating a positive work environment and corporate culture. We hope to continue developing our leadership team in a way that creates a team of leaders throughout the company. As a company we have the opportunity to serve the community, our patients, our referrals, and even other companies by doing something that matters and impacts people's lives. This leadership training has given us the same opportunity to do something meaningful and impact the people that serve with us everyday. We are very thankful for our leadership team and cannot wait to see how they develop and grow!