The power of encouragement is the fifth and final “Lessons From The Geese” When geese are flying in formation, they ‘HONK’ to encourage those up front to keep up with their speed.
For almost five years, I was a member of the CCBuRN Chapter of BNI, the world’s largest networking organization, as well as an Area Director Consultant and a Director Consultant.
I was amazed that each chapter were entirely different. Not just by members, but the energy and encouragement also. There were chapters that applauded for everything – from 30 second infomercial or a 10 minute presentation to a “I have” chapter report section of the meeting. Members also stood up to speak and be recognized,These chapters also did recognition for the most visitors, referrals and most closed business. These chapters were the ones whose statistics were astounding. These were the “Million Dollar” chapters.
Then there were the chapters that did nothing. There was no applause, no recognition, and often the words “I have nothing this week” was heard. You can just imagine how these chapters’ statistics were. . I visited a chapter recently with this kind of silence and in 12 months, they had closed only around $300,000. That is a vast difference from the million dollars or more that other chapters were closing in the same time frame.
I am personally motivated by travel. . It was very clear that when GIA Wellness announced that the incentive trip was to Alaska, I was really excited. I worked for the balcony upgrade and then to qualify for the cruise. I was so stoked and just came back from this amazing week. There was a lot of honking going on by the company and it encouraged me to make it happen.
As you can see in groups and teams where there is encouragement, the production is measurably much, much greater. When I work with the people of my tribe, I make sure that my honking (and their honking as a group) is encouraging. I find that individual motivation and empowerment to excel comes from quality honking. Motivation is something that the individual must do from the inside. Therefore, while I can’t motivate any one to do anything, I can provide the ability for that motivation to be realized. By recognizing the contributions of others, I can help them to enhance their own image and increase their personal visibility. I can publicly acknowledge tribe members on the stage with many to thousands of people or I can recognize them in private through sending a note, or a gift. I just need to know what thrills them. Remember, public displays of praise and recognition can be a good thing; they can also backfire. If the individual being recognized does not find public displays motivational, then it can actually turn a very successful tribe member into someone doing less than quality work to avoid the circus. That is why it is so vital to know what motivates others.
Did you know that lack of recognition is one of the main reasons why people are dissatisfied with their work and quit? It is very common for people’s efforts to not be noticed by subordinates, peers, and superiors in our busy and fast-moving world. Besides, we often just expect a certain level of performance and as long as that is the case, well, it becomes white noise. Rather, we do recognize when someone makes a mistake or forgets to do something because it is an anomaly. You can understand why someone cringes when asked to come into the office of a superior. When was the last time you got a kudos in one of those command performances? Also, in satisfaction surveys, it is usually noted that there was no enough recognition. So if you think you are doing a good job of it, you are probably still not doing it enough.