Motivation. Big, Small, Negative, Positive.

In 1969 man landed on the moon. The engineers, construction workers, managers and other people involved were motivated by the big goals that President Kennedy had set for them.

Sometimes goals are so big you are overwhelmed to the point you can't get started. There have been many tasks where you can't see how doing a small part each day accomplishes anything at all. Occasionally that is true. Recently I accidently accepted a task that was huge. The task was too big for me to handle with the resources I had. But by whittling the task down to a manageable size I was able to see and understand the entire task. That is another reason it is important to make at least one permanent improvement every day. The more you understand of the project the higher your motivation. Never keep your employees/coworkers in the dark.

Small goals give you a sense of accomplishment that big goals rarely can. This is why small goals are important. The goal might be to make it to the end of the day without screaming. Every minute that passes gets you closer to your goal.

For some it is the fear of negative consequences that motivate. If I don't do what my boss wants I will get fired. If I don't introduce this new product soon someone else will capture the market. Personally criticism keeps me motivated. I constantly hear the voice of a client asking why I didn't make a feature easier to use. So I re-think and re-edit until I can't find a reason for disapproval before I release a product.

Macy*s motto is 'Be everywhere, do everything, never fail to astonish the customer'. Trying to find ways of doing something for the customer beyond their expectations is a great motivator. Once I've completed what was requested I love taking another hour or so and adding something that makes the product just a little better. Doing this at every opportunity quickly gets you a reputation for excellence. Clients may not know why but they always like what you deliver. This positive feedback gives you the motivation to do it again on the next project.

As a business leader you should be concerned about motivating your employees, coworkers and clients. Everyone is different. Every situation is different. What works to motivate one person will cause another person to slow to a crawl. Despite the differences everyone is similar. What does work is giving people as much information as possible. Without information people will only be able to see the task not the big picture. Nothing can take the joy out of work faster than having no idea why you are doing what you are doing.

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