Why do I have to go to work? Why do I have to get up in the morning? What's the point of what I do?
To earn a living? Pay off a loan? Prepare for retirement? That's a bit short-sighted!
But above all, it's not really motivating...
Not long ago, I attended a welcome speech given by the president of a major construction group to his newly-hired executives. Behind his lectern, the president spoke, and all eyes were riveted on him: their commander-in-chief was addressing them for the first time. Was he going to communicate his motivation to them, like passing on a torch?
Not so...
The audience was treated to a succession of figures, financial performances and objectives expressed in the form of ratios and supported by histograms and three-dimensional pie charts: net asset value, price earning ratio, EBITDA, pre-tax profit on ordinary activities, average productivity per employee, sales by business line, operating profit... The perfect Lexomil-sponsored technocrat speech. I could see the faces of the new recruits, and hear them thinking: "I've been with this company for three years, I'm gaining experience and goodbye!
Who would want to invest in a company to help improve a price earning ratio or the return on capital invested by shareholders?
Of course, the purpose of a company is to make money. Managers are well aware of this. But a welcome speech should be able to convey a minimum of emotion or human warmth.
Read, reread J-F. Kennedy's speech "A man on the moon". It makes you want to work for NASA or its subcontractors. At the very least, it makes you proud to be an American.
Read and reread Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. It makes you want to fight discrimination.
Read and reread Steve Jobs' speech to Stanford students... It makes you want to send your CV to Apple.
(These 3 speeches are appended to the book cited at the end of this article).
(...)
In the corporate sphere, it's up to the manager to specify how the company's project will enable everyone to satisfy their needs, and to remind everyone of their contribution to the company's success. Demagogic? Certainly not, provided you believe in it yourself.
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Another example. The sales profession doesn't get much press. When, at the beginning of the year, I ask my business school students how many would like to go into sales, I invariably get less than 5%. What image do they have? They see the lonely salesman, caught between a never-satisfied and ever more demanding customer, and his management, which puts him under constant pressure. Few see him as the foot-soldier, evangelist or architect of the company's success, without whom no victory is possible. No one really perceives the decisive role of the salesperson. Yet Abraham Lincoln once said: "He who has a good idea and doesn't know how to sell it is no further ahead than he who doesn't." The best product is worth nothing if it isn't supported by good marketing and good salespeople. In fact, if it were enough to design the best products for them to be sold, the Rafale aircraft would equip all the world's armies and the city of Paris would have hosted the 2012 Olympics. But Tony Blair was a better salesman than Jacques Chirac. When reminded of these obvious facts and of the primary meaning of the sales function, motivation is revealed and vocations are born. At the end of the year, four times as many students want to try their hand at sales.
Before I close this chapter, I'd like to tell you a wonderful story, admittedly well-known, but oh so revealing of the need to give meaning when you want to motivate.
A man is walking down a street near a building site. He passes a man stacking bricks.
- What are you doing?" asks the passer-by.
- As you can see, I'm stacking bricks," replies the worker, with a faint look on his face.
A few yards away, another worker is doing exactly the same thing.
- What are you doing?" asks the passer-by.
- I'm putting up a wall," replies the man, his gaze expressionless.
A little further on, a third worker is laying brick upon brick. He looks energetic and works with a sibilance.
- "What are you doing?"
- " I'm building a temple of knowledge. In less than a year, these walls will house a school with 450 children. That's where knowledge will be passed on.
Source: " The Art of Motivation " - Michaël AGUILAR - DUNOD - 2009