Motivation and Negativity

Motivation:  A happy workplace, great environment and social activities bring out the best in most people, social interactions of a pleasant nature always increase motivation levels and buy-in of individuals, try to surround yourself with the positive people in your life and stay clear of anyone with a truly negative outlook, you know the types, the ones that find fault in anything, these people are destructive to motivation and to you.  

 We are controlled by what happens in our surroundings, we feed off our environment and what happens around us changes the way we feel, act and perform.  

 I have seen first hand the destructive capability of an un-motivated individual on a team, they have the ability to changes peoples outlook and force their negative views on the people around them. Which in turn changes peoples outlook and effects the way they see and tackle tasks. 

 Motivation and performance go hand in hand, while working in large teams I could analyze the top performers and the lowest performers, without a doubt and in all instances the top performers were those that were motivated, confident and positive, the bottom of the list were none of these.  

 We know that most people require external forces in order to feel motivated, only a small percentage of people can self motivate, we must be conscious of this and make sure everyone in our surroundings are motivated to deliver. 

 Look for solutions not problems 

 Remember everyone reacts differently to motivational catalysts, know you team, know your colleagues and this will become easier to get right in the long run. The easiest way to motivate is create a positive atmosphere, happy emotions are powerful and generally keep people motivated, negative emotions are generally those that are disruptive. 

 Negativity: Spreads like wild fire, through the minds of all that encounter it, it is powerful because it holds emotion, when you mix a thought with emotion it is 10X more powerful than one without, this is why negativity destroys sales teams quicker than anything else. 

 Humans like to feel connected and like to complain, so when one person complains or becomes negative the others around them like to share and feel a sense of comradery.  Next time you see someone on your team be negative, sit back and watch what happens to the people around them, how they start to interact and behave, watch first hand the negativity spreading and see the power it holds on us. 

 Our emotions can end up controlling us if we let them, when your morning routine is disturbed you are instantly taken to a place filled with negative emotions, you even end up telling yourself this is going to be a bad day, which is madness because how can a change in your morning routine at home effect what happens in the office throughout the day. Quite simply it cannot only you effect what happens by how you change what you think. 

 What I think today I become tomorrow 

 So when you see the negativity strike, nip it in the bud, find a solution to whom ever has the problem and don’t allow any negativity to seep through to others. I always asked my team to take me to a meeting room if and when they were feeling un-motivated so I could coach them back in an environment that wouldn't effect others. 

 Be conscious of Motivation levels of your team, how it effects performance and how negativity disables people. As a Leader it is your role to get the best out of your teams, so use their motivation as a gift to help them succeed.

Solutions create motivation, problems create Negativity, we do not like that we cannot understand and solve