Thursday, October 14, 2010

The mirror reveals what you're up to...

Motivate, connect, leverage…

Words you’ll never find carved into a tree or an ancient wooden table at a frequented local pub and yet these three words serve as the missing keys to making a busy business life happen in 2010.

Common law relationships on the workday front are fed by over the limit expectations with two maybe three employees responsible for meeting the constant demands of decision makers just trying to make a buck.

Admit it! Failure has become more popular than Christmas; its the new acceptable. It’s just that we keep it decorated in Halloween costumes.

Where do we fail? When we physically allow enormous loads of work to reach out and bite our dreams, we give permission to vacations no longer being wild childlike adventures in nearby historic cities and skyscraping mountains; time is taken off to run away from reality inside the comforts of home or the nearby mall because the sight of your house no longer inspires a willingness to accept it as a safe zone.

We are forgetting to lead.

Constantly I’m told to back off my energy; nobody’s in the mood for it. People take the time to reroute their journey through offices so they don’t have to connect with me in the hall. How much energy are we talking about? The heart doctor refuses to take me off blockers because the system can’t handle the overload. I’m not going to change and I never expect anyone to take anything less than the long way home.

Motivate, connect, leverage isn’t an Arroe term; it grows from the writing instrument that was laid next to a clean sheet of paper sitting in front of author Seth Gobin. He was hired to mastermind a plan to generate a video game with sight and sound, which seems easy until the due date is Christmas and your staff stands three people strong.

Twice a week Seth motivated the other departments with nothing but incredible news about the progress of the project. Through his words he connected to masterminds of computer geeking who couldn’t keep away from participating. It gave Seth leverage therefore he met the demands ahead of schedule making the entire company and not him come out a winner and not the typical 15 to 35 minute late employee just getting by.

The Pyramid effect of the business plan only works if the single most important thing you want to succeed in is failure. Being on top sets you up to fear everyday that those below you are coming after your job.

We’ve been forced to accept smaller paychecks with fewer team players. One time business offices were flooded with talent whereas today you’ll find professional atmosphere’s blanketed with individuals doing whatever it takes to get by. Why aren’t they motivated? Where is the heave ho and the gung dee dung dee that once made being part of a team unstoppable? Due to the lines constantly drawn in the sand, your job versus my job, their job and our job has stolen from the American scene the equal right to create as a company. We’ve become an ear of corn…a lot of little kernels hidden behind the husk.

The invitation has almost never been extended. You can’t take on the world and expect to make a national monument.

Motivate, connect, leverage…

Seth says, “Stop managing and start leading…getting by is no longer the hip cool thing to accomplish.”

Outsourcing has proved one thing…they can do it cheaper, faster and sometimes with better quality. We became addicted to going places and forgetting faces. Stand up! Wipe the dirt off your pants and get motivated about connecting. Put yourself in a position of leverage and start making a difference.

Schools and libraries are closing. Nobody seems to be questioning the amazingly high amount of money superintends continue to make or where the educational lottery money is going…its almost like doing the Electric Slide, its four to the left then to the right, four to front, four to the back, rock then rock, turn with the rest. Lemming is a disease.

Motivate, connect, leverage…or get caught on the dance floor doing the Chicken Dance.

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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