The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of Motivational Leadership (Part One)



Learn Management Articles on management-info.biz. The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of Motivational Leadership (Part One) article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

Word count: 770

Summary: Motivation is a critical aspect of leadership. But most leaders fail to realize practical processes to motivate people consistently. Here is a motivational-leadership tool to greatly increase your leadership effectiveness.

The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of Motivational Leadership (Part One)
by Brent Filson

Decades ago, as a rifle platoon commander in the Marines, I saw leaders who could motivate troops to do extraordinary things -- and leaders who couldn't get the troops to do much at all. I wondered what was the difference between the successful and unsuccessful leaders; and if that difference be taught.

Those two questions have stayed with me throughout my civilian life as I have worked with thousands of leaders worldwide for the past 21 years.

Now, at last, I can say I've answered those questions. I've cracked the code.

The difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders is the successful ones are able to engage in deep, human, emotional relationships with the people they lead, the unsuccessful ones don't. It's as simple as that, yet it's more complicated than you think.

The power of those relationships has been demonstrated since the dawn of history. In all cultures, whenever people needed to do great things, one thing had to take place: A leader had to gather those people together and speak from the heart. In other words, deep, human, emotional relationships had to be constituted for great things to be accomplished.

Look at it this way: Leaders themselves must be motivated, that's an absolute truth. If you're not motivated, you shouldn't be a leader. But the burning challenges in leadership are, Can you transfer your motivation to others so they are as motivated as you? And can you translate that motivation into great results? Great leaders successfully meet those challenges.

There are three ways to transfer your motivation to others. Give them information, make sense, and make your experience their experience.

The most powerful is the latter, having your experience become their experience. One way to make this happen is with the 'defining moment' technique.

This entails having the leader's experience become the people's experience. It can be the most effective method of all, because when the speaker's experience becomes the audience's experience, a deep sharing of emotions and ideas, a communing, can take place.

Generally, people learn in two ways — through the intellect and through experience. In our school system, the former predominates, but it's the latter that is most powerful in terms of inducing a deep sharing of emotions and ideas, because our experiences, which can be life's teachings, often lead us to profound awareness and purposeful action.

Look back at your schooling. Which do you remember most, your book learning or your experiences, your interactions with teachers and students? In most cases, people say their experiences made the strongest impressions on them; they remembered them long after book knowledge had faded.

This is where the defining moment comes in. Its function is simple: to provide a communion of experience with you and the people you lead, so those people will be as motivated as you are to meet the challenges you face.

The process of developing a defining moment is simple, too: put a particular experience of yours, a defining moment, into sharp focus, and then transmit that focused experience into the hearts of the audience so they feel the experience as theirs. Out of that shared feeling they can be ardently motivated to take action for results. It's easy, and it's a game changer.

But if you don't get the defining moment right, it can backfire. In fact, you could wind up having people motivated against you. So follow carefully as I show you the precise steps in developing and transmitting defining moments.

Take the first step in mastering the defining moment. Review experiences from your past. Don't try to figure out how to use them or how they relate to developing and communicating a defining moment.

They needn't be wrenching, shattering experiences; everyday experiences will do. They don't need to have taken place recently; you might want to look back upon experiences from your youth. Finally, they don't need to have taken place in an organizational context. Look at every aspect of your life. Any of your experiences, at any time, anywhere, can make a good defining moment.

Make sure, however, that it is your experience (I'll say more about this in Part Two.) and be aware of the difference between personal and private experiences. Usually, our personal experiences are those we can share with others, and our private experiences are those we want to keep to ourselves. The dividing line between personal and private is embarrassment. If you would in any way be embarrassed talking about the experience with others — don't use it.

In Part Two, I will show you how to put together a defining moment to communicate.




Affirmations Software - Sculptor3. - Affirmation goal setting motivational software, for improved mental/physical health, personal growth.
TakeAction! Motivational ScreenSaver. - Motivational screensavers get you working towards your goals and feeling the satisfaction of accomplishment.


Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81



More Articles:


1. What Every Manager Should Know About How to Enhance the Motivational Climate of the Workplace By Etienne Gibbs
It has been well documented that employees' productivity and job quality increase when we are made to feel welcomed at work. In other words, when the motivational climate is enhanced to meet their needs they produce quality work at the 100% rate.The factor that caused them to produce at such high standards is their employer enhancing the motivational climate. As a result, they came to work, not because they had to, but because they wanted to.By listening to your employees, they will tell you w…

2. Seven Ways to Enhance Organizational Culture
As a young employee I was transferred to work in an office tower in downtown San Francisco. I wasn't the only person to arrive in this new office space - the group had changed significantly due to reorganization and many of us were working together for the first time. My boss, the Marketing Manager, asked me to help him with some unusual projects. First, I organized an ugly tie contest. Next, we created a puzzle where everyone told me their fantasy identity (who they would be if they could be a…

3. Setting Direction Within an Organization By Andrew E. Schwartz
FINDING DIRECTION: An organization can’t succeed without direction. Direction means having clear goals and guidelines; set goals and guidelines for staff to follow. When staff direction is needed, you must provide effective procedures for everyone to follow. Have guidelines and goals firmly set to keep the gray areas to the absolute minimum. It’s up to you, to keep the departmental goals and that sense of direction so that it is not allowed to be buried beneath the workload.UNDERSTANDING AN OR…

4. Electronic Document Management By Amit Khemka
Electronic Document Management has been widely accepted as the practice of creating and storing documents. What lacks common acceptance is the need to retrieve, archive and sort documents as per requirements. With real estate costs climbing feverishly, and businesses process becoming more and more complex and demanding, the need to implement an integrated electronic document managementsystem is growing by the day. Realizing this opportunity, several global software vendors have come up with th…