40 Business Spotlight 2/2020 BUSINESS SKILLS
- Motivating people (BS 5/2019)
One of the most frequent questions leaders ask
in training courses is: “How do I motivate my
people to perform better?” Discovering reliable
ways to ensure that individuals and teams de
liver the results they are supposed to ... is a key
leadership challenge. Yet the notion that there
are somehow secret techniques to motivate
others may be a false hope. Motivation may be
less an extrinsic phenomenon, and more an in
trinsic one. The aim of leaders may be less about
pushing people to success, and more about ac
tivating their inner resources to enable them to
discover ways to fulfil their own motivations
— and so perform to high standards in their
specific tasks.
QUESTIONS
A. Compared to other, similar organizations,
companies with motivated employees do
what?
- Outperform them significantly.
- Perform slightly better.
- Perform slightly worse.
- Perform exactly the same.
B. What is the best way to assess the underly-
ing motivation(s) of others?
- Listen to their underlying needs.
- Profile them psychologically.
- Observe their performance.
- Challenge them regularly to perform better.
C. If an employee says, “It’s not my job”, what
does this probably mean?
- They don’t want to help others.
- They don’t want to take on more responsi
bilities. - They like to have a clear sense of their own
responsibilities. - They lack confidence in their ability to per
form other tasks.
D. A leader who is often absent and invisible
probably...
- has too much to do.
- does not believe that motivating their team
is important. - trusts their team and believes that showing
trust is the best form of motivation. - lacks feedback skills.
6. Taking decisions (BS 6/2019)
The fact that we live in an age of VUCA (vola
tility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) is
often cited in management articles and blogs.
What is less discussed is the challenge this
brings to bear on a central leadership activi
ty — decisionmaking. If we can’t truly know
our environment and are surrounded not only
by “known unknowns” but also by “unknown
unknowns”, how is it possible to take a deci
sion at all with any confidence? Is leadership
descending into a form of gambling on uncer
tain outcomes? Leaders need to reflect longer
and harder on the nature of decisionmaking,
its limitations in the modern world and the re
ality that being right has become increasingly
difficult.
QUESTIONS
A. Do you agree that the decisions of leaders
determine what gets done and how it gets
done?
- Absolutely right. Leaders drive results.
- Agree mostly. However, leaders act within
complex organizational and economic sys
tems, so they are not in full control of out
comes. - Disagree mostly. Leaders have little influ
ence in a VUCA world. - Disagree totally. Everyone is responsible for
deciding what happens, not just leaders.
B. How would you describe people who take
decisions effectively?
- They are generally very focused on their own
roles and on achieving results. - They align their decisions with others in the
organization before finally deciding. - They are bold and courageous.
- They take time to consider and reflect.
C. What are the best decisions based on?
- data
- feelings
- data and feelings
- data and feelings and doubt
D. When taking decisions in diverse teams,
what is it vital to do?
- Provide enough time to hear everyone’s
opinions. - Use the most experienced members of the
team to guide the decisions being taken. - Follow clear decisionmaking processes.
- Be ready to take full accountability for what
is decided.
accountability
[E)kaUntE(bIlEti]
, Verantwortung,
Verantwortlichkeit
ambiguity
[)ÄmbI(gju:Eti]
, Mehrdeutigkeit
assess sth. [E(ses]
, etw. beurteilen,
einschätzen
bring sth. to bear on sth.
[)brIN tE (beEr Qn]
, etw. bei etw. zum
Tragen bringen
cite sth. [saIt]
, etw. anführen
descend into sth.
[di(send )Intu]
, in etw. absinken; hier: zu
etw. entwertet werden
extrinsic [eks(trInsIk]
, äußerlich; hier: auf
Außenwirkung beruhend
gamble on sth.
[(gÄmb&l Qn]
, auf etw. setzen, wetten
intrinsic [In(trInsIk]
, innewohnend; hier: von
Innen kommend
outperform sb.
[)aUtpE(fO:m]
, jmdn. an Leistung
übertreffen
technique [tek(ni:k]
, [wg. Aussprache]
underlying [)VndE(laIIN]
, zugrunde liegend
LEADERS NEED
TO REFLECT
LONGER AND
HARDER ON
DECISIONS