Inspire Me, Big Boy . . .

Please enjoy the thoughts and musings of our friend, supporter, and long-time contributor Art van Bodegraven Jr., who passed away on June 18, 2017. Art was a prolific writer and had amassed a collection of unpublished blog posts he had planned to run well into the future. To honor his memory, we will continue to post these remaining blogs as he had intended. If you’ve been a fan of The Art of Art blog, check out our tribute.

 

There is a school of thought that posits that one of the major jobs of leaders and managers is to inspire teams and the workforce, with motivating elements of intimidation, team play, and hands-on  work of functional example.

Here's what can actully be done to inspire others - not a damn thing.  The notion of motivation and inspiration is largely an illusion.

What can be done is to enable the circumstances that promote individuals to inspire an motivate themselvs, create an environment of high performance, and remove obstacles to team  success.  Otherwise, forget it.

That said, for those inclined to attempt inspiration, a few things that might be tried include, if motivation is to be attempted nonetheless.

Make connections that stick, with people who you could help.

Meet others, and brng others together; create ad hoc networks.

Expand yoiur own network by assembling those with common interests.

Believe in the goodness of people; act accordingly.

Welcome, embrace, those who disagree with your points of view.

Adopt a cause, and dedicate yourself to it; get behind a core belief.

Act without fear, even when afraid of the unknown.

Give to the community.

Be grateful; show empathy; celebrate successes.

Be responsible and dependabe; show others that they can count on you.

Tell a good story; create lessons from life; relate stories to people's ability to inspire and motivate themselves.

These are as close to motivation as you'll get.  

So, teach teams and wokers to motivate and inspire themselves - now.