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As a professional speaker, I am often confused by audiences who want to understand the secret to motivating their employees. Most professionals, including financial advisors, aren’t constrained by workers who lack motivation. Their challenge is harnessing their employees’ pre-existing energy and drive, and directing it toward a common goal.
Earlier in my career, when I managed a professional orchestra, I had this second problem. The people that I hired were already highly motivated, in some cases obsessed with achieving the highest standards. My biggest worry was how to not mess up as a manager and de-motivate my charges.
I knew only too well how easy it was to squander individual potential. Sadly, when I was a musician, conductors, personnel managers, and other people in authority often did rude or offensive things that deflated my enthusiasm, at times dissipating it into nothingness. When I became a manager of these hyper-motivated people myself, my biggest challenge was to avoid doing any of the many things that might de-motivate them. I took great care to maintain the pre-existing motivation that these people brought to the job each morning.
The most important lesson I learned was to be constantly respectful of the emotional fragility of these highly motivated individuals. You can’t really separate the two concepts; people who are committed to their absolute best work are that way precisely because they put their heart and soul into what they do. If they sense that management does not respect or appreciate their added effort, they will eventually cut back out of sheer emotional necessity, and by then it’s too late; no motivational speaker can resuscitate their drive.
Here’s an example of how this worked. For several years, I managed an orchestra‘s recording sessions. I had an established group of four French horn players, who were ideal in every way. They played beautifully, both individually and as an ensemble. They got along, they all respected each other, and there were no simmering conflicts among them, like who should be first and who should be second. The pecking order was established and everyone was happy. They were a team.
One year, my client wanted to record “Jupiter” from Holst’s “The Planets,” a piece that calls for six horns. I asked my four horn players for recommendations. This was much easier than auditioning, as every horn player knows the exact capability of every other horn player. It also gave them responsibility over who would be added to their little group – yet another display of respect for them, which always pays off down the road. Unfortunately, out of all the people they recommended, I could only find one horn player who was available for the gig. I asked for more suggestions. Finally, one of them said, “Why don’t you call Frank Johnson?”
