Why we don’t need motivational speakers
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2019 16:16:06 +0000
IF you’re clueless, I’ve to tell you four major reasons: One, external motivational speakers are too expensive and offer poor return on investment. In the Philippines, organizations pay as much as P100,000 for few hours of exclusive talk. Many of them rely on their “leadership” programs peppered with Christian values and punctuated with humor stories. So, how can you argue against that?
But that’s not the beef. The issue is how these external speakers can bend the spoon in our real life. Check it for yourself. After listening to a live presentation by a speaker, even if he gave his services for free, what was the result, say after three months? How about after six months to one year? Are you successful in translating what you have learned to become a peak performer in your organization? Think about it.
Chances are, you may not even remember what your over-hyped speaker had told you before. You may remember only the jokes that kept you awake during the entire proceedings.
Two, motivating people is job number one for line supervisors and managers. You can’t delegate it to others, much more to external speakers, no matter how good they are in public speaking and entertaining. If your line executives can’t inspire and motivate their own people, how much more if it’s done by an outsider?
The best motivational speaker is your own boss. Never mind if he’s not good-looking, stammers a lot or if he looks like your tight-fisted uncle from the province who boasts of his humble beginnings by working his way up to college. What’s important is his time-tested wisdom shared in an informal set-up where you can talk things easy and comfortable with each other.
Also, motivating people is not to be done as a one-day affair or several hours in an expensive hotel. Zig Ziglar (1926-2012), a popular American author, consultant and salesman said: “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” This is an excellent reason for line supervisors and their managers to do the job of motivating their people on a daily basis. Yes, that’s right – daily, not weekly, not monthly, not quarterly, not even during the annual performance review. Or that would be too late.
Three, intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic. You can bring a horse to a river, but you can’t force it to drink. A person who is motivated intrinsically can do more than what is expected of him because of his innate desire to achieve something as a personal goal, rather than the goals of other people. This is why you should hire for one’s attitude in life, rather than his skills.
Even if your people attend weekly or monthly sessions with an external motivational coach , or receive daily nuggets of wisdom via email or text messaging from the most popular motivational speaker on the planet, it is still the concerned person who can decide whether to follow such wisdom and use it to propel his goals in life.
And last, there’s no proof that speakers are the reason for an organizational improved sales revenue, rejuvenated labor productivity, higher product quality, low attrition rates, among other things. “(M)andating motivation is one of the seven most worst mistakes leaders make in their attempt to motivate a workforce,” according to professor Bobby Hoffman of the University of Central Florida in his book “Motivational Murder: The Seven Worst Mistakes Leaders Make” (2017).
That’s assuming that the boss is equally motivated. If not, then he’s part of the problem. I’ve tested this countless times before several groups of supervisors and managers attending my “Superior Supervision” program. I would often conduct an anonymous survey of what motivates people. The results between line supervisors and managers are compared with those of their workers.
Ninety percent of the time, the management team is not fully motivated or not ready to motivate their respective teams. It’s a revealing case of “you can’t give what you don’t have.”
Think about it. Isn’t it our own job is the best motivator? If you’ve a high-paying job, then how could you afford to slack off? But even if you’re a minimum wage earner, you should be motivated enough to do a better job to secure high pay and perks in the future. In a high unemployment set-up, no one is better motivated than by having a job, regardless of one’s employment status. In the land of the blind, a one-eyed person is king.
If you have a job, the best motivating factor is to prod yourself up so that you do a better job, be recognized for it, and be given challenging work assignments you can be proud of.
So, would you still hire external motivational speakers to do the trick for you? Why not if you can afford it. I would be partial to the likes of Nick Vujicic, the famous Australian missionary who was born with no arms and legs and yet living his life to the fullest. If you’re a woman, be energized by the story of Muniba Mazari, a wheelchair-using Pakistani activist and artist who admonishes the downtrodden with a powerful statement: “Don’t die before your death.”
If you can’t afford Vujicic and Mazari in person, then read stories or biographies of other successful people in its digital version. Internet is your best friend. You can choose to read or watch many inspiring stories from YouTube that you can view anytime at your own pace and convenience. In fact, the phrase “inspiring stories” when googled can give you 1,540,000,000 results in 0.48 flat seconds.
So, if you’re offering me a motivational speaker who is complete with well-functioning arms and limbs and in good health and wealth, you better go to another place.
Rey Elbo is a business consultant on human resources and total quality management as a fused interest. Send feedback to elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.consulting
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