{"id":47,"date":"2012-02-01T08:28:44","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T16:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/encouragement.com\/blog\/?p=47"},"modified":"2012-02-01T08:28:44","modified_gmt":"2012-02-01T16:28:44","slug":"high-point-1-motivation-and-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/encouragement.com\/wordpress\/?p=47","title":{"rendered":"High Point #1 \u2013 Motivation and Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of my seminars last year, we did an opening ice-breaker on the topic of, \u201cWhat
\ninteresting or extraordinary person have you met?\u201d I was expecting answers
\nlike, \u201cI stood next to Robin Williams at a bike shop \u2026 ,\u201d or something along
\nthose lines. To my surprise, we spent the next hour-and-a-half listening to
\nsome remarkable stories.<\/p>\n

One of the very first people to speak set the tone.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t talk about anyone who was rich, or famous, or had celebrity, but instead,
\nshe spoke from her heart about a person she knew who had made a huge impact on
\nher.\u00a0 And from then on, everyone thought a bit more deeply about the real people they admire. Emotion began to come out, as we heard stories about friends, spouses, autistic children, acquaintances, and coworkers.<\/p>\n

These were ordinary people who had an extraordinary impact. But how?<\/p>\n

Since this is the first article in this years\u2019 series on the \u201cHigh Points of
\nLeadership,\u201d we\u2019re looking at the Top-10 things that managers most want to know
\nabout leadership. The study revealed their most common question was about
\nmotivation and inspiration. \u201cHow can I get employees engaged and excited about
\ntheir jobs? What really motivates? How do I inspire them when morale is so
\nlow?\u201d<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s go back to the seminar for a moment.<\/p>\n

It seems to me there were two common denominators in these stories that morning.<\/p>\n

First, people inspired others by the way they approached their lives. Oftentimes, it
\nwas in how they faced difficulties. They were the ones who stayed positive, overcame
\nobstacles, and met life\u2019s challenges with amazing grace. They were persistent,
\nand met adversity head-on. Problems didn\u2019t slow them down or get in their way,
\nbecause they had things to get done. They knew their purpose in life.<\/p>\n

These people showed a certain \u201cinner strength.\u201d Or \u201cresilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secondly, their impact came from doing things for others, not for themselves. They showed great compassion and caring for people, and went out of their way to do
\nsomething tangible. Oftentimes, these weren\u2019t great individual achievements,
\nbut the outcome of many small, meaningful acts repeated on a regular basis, which
\nbecame big.<\/p>\n

My thought is this. Your ability to motivate and inspire comes directly from
\ninside you. Who you are, and what you\u2019re doing. It\u2019s a measurement of your
\nwillingness to serve others, and how well you extend an invitation to join you
\nin doing something significant.<\/p>\n

This is not the rah-rah approach.<\/p>\n

You can Google \u201cimproving employee morale,\u201d if you just want some little tips, and
\ntechniques. There are some good ideas, don\u2019t get me wrong. But if you\u2019re
\ninterested in the real stuff \u2013 invest your effort in the long-term process of becoming
\na person of substance \u2013 someone worthy of admiration. Be humble. Be good.<\/p>\n

Then you won\u2019t have to try to\u00a0inspire anyone \u2013 you just will.<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0Jerry Strom<\/p>\n

For more information about our leadership development programs, please visit www.JerryStrom.com<\/a>. New subscribers receive notice
\nof new articles automatically (see the \u2018Register\u2019\u00a0link in the right hand
\ncolumn).<\/p>\n

*\u2018The High Points Survey: What Managers Most Want to Know about
\nLeadership,\u2019 copyright 2012, by Jerry Strom & Company, Inc. Download the
\nWhite Paper at: http:\/\/www.jerrystrom.com\/js_high-points.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one of my seminars last year, we did an opening ice-breaker on the topic of, \u201cWhat interesting or extraordinary person have you met?\u201d I was expecting answers like, \u201cI stood next to Robin Williams at a bike shop \u2026 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership-articles"],"yoast_head":"\nHigh Point #1 \u2013 Motivation and Inspiration - Encouragement for Leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/encouragement.com\/wordpress\/?p=47\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"High Point #1 \u2013 Motivation and Inspiration - 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