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Motivating others starts with you

“That celebration cake didn’t work either. No one in my team cares about the outcome of the project.” Victor walked up to Manda’s desk. He was so frustrated and moved so fast the papers blew off her desk as he walked by.

“Sorry”, he mumbled as he bent down to pick them up. “Why are you still here by the way? It’s late.”

“We have a bug blocking the delivery. Me and my team are staying until...”

“What have you promised them? Overtime food? Some kind of bonus? I have tried virtually everything but in the end no one will do anything extra unless I order them to.”

“I haven’t ordered anyone anything. But we all know how important it is to get this fixed.”

“Well, yes, I thought everyone in my project knew what was important too. But I just can’t motivate them.”

Manda stopped looking at the screen and looked at Victor as he put the papers in piles on her desk. In the wrong order, but she knew better than to mention that now.

“You can’t motivate others”, she said.

“What do you mean? Your people are motivated.”

“I like my project. You work hard on yours out of obligation. How can you expect your team to be motivated when you aren’t?”


Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

“You can’t add fuel to someone else’s flame if you’re a wet blanket.”
John Maxwell
As always – start with yourself.

Know yourself.
If you want others to be inspired, be inspired.