Minute Motivation

Every week I watch at least a couple of TED Talks. There’s so much to learn, so many topics discussed. This past weekend I watched a fascinating TED Talk interview with Elon Musk. Musk has a way of dreaming big world-changing ideas, and making them a reality. His recent projects include Tesla automobiles and trucks, SpaceX, digging tunnels under Los Angeles for high speed transportation, solar powered homes with amazing batteries, and much more. In the interview, they were discussing Musk’s plan to colonize Mars. The interviewer asked, “Why do we need to build a city on Mars with a million people on it in your lifetime?” I was inspired by Musk’s response: “It’s important to have a future that’s inspiring and appealing. There ought to be reasons that you get up in the morning and you want to live. Why do you want to live? What’s the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? And if the future doesn’t include being out there among the stars, and being a multi-...

There are just a few days left to take the Employee Engagement Survey. I appreciated the thoughts that HR Director Keith Jenkins shared about this at last week’s Leadership Meeting. Keith expressed that the best reason for employees to take the survey is because their leaders have built relationships with them, creating an atmosphere of communication and openness. Taking the survey becomes a response to that relationship. In a Google search on employee engagement surveys, I ran across an article that echoes this same thought. This article is on the website of SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management), and quotes Rajeev Peshawaria, author of Open Source Leadership: Reinventing Management When There’s No More Business As Usual : “’To earn trust [a leader] should have demonstrated all along that he [or she] cared about his [or her] employees, and should not have waited until the survey to find out that there was a morale problem,’ he said. ‘Surveys are a very poor substitute ...

Jamie Livingston took a Polaroid snapshot every day for 18 years. He began his project in 1979, and took a picture of his life every day until his death from cancer in 1997. Each of the snapshots – over 6000 total – was a glimpse of a moment in time, but together they told the story of the last 18 years of his life. Just as a snapshot captures a moment, so does the information our employees give us on the Employee Engagement Survey. The survey results give us a glimpse of this moment, of what our employees are experiencing right now in regard to their engagement with this organization, our facility, and your department. And when we combine each snapshot – the data from one employee’s response – with all the other snapshots, they tell a story. Some of these stories give us reason to celebrate, while some may challenge us to ask how we can help to change the story. The most important thing we can do is to listen to the story. We need to hear what our team is saying about their ...

This past Sunday I participated in the 20 th running of the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. The first marathon I ran was four years ago, and I decided to give it another try this year. Four years ago, I ran most of the race, but ended up walking the last three miles. My goal this time was to run all the way, and improve my previous time. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I didn’t prepare as well as I would have liked, and ended up walking more than last time, and finished with a slower time. I ran across the finish line, but got there slowly. As I ran/walked, I was struck by how many lessons for leadership there are in a marathon. 1 – Encouragement means so much. Throughout the race, the streets are lined with people cheering the runners on. “Way to go!” “You got this!” “You’re doing great!” These words are very motivating. How do you use words to encourage your team of employees? Does your team know that you are their biggest fan, and hear encouragement from you regula...

When we get in our car to go somewhere, driving just comes naturally. We’ve been doing it for years, so we don’t have to think about every act, about how to do it. So when I drove in Australia a few years ago, driving on the “wrong” side of the road, with the steering wheel on the “wrong” side of the car, it felt strange. It didn’t come naturally. I had to think about every lane change, every turn. This morning I had a similar experience. I’ve been playing piano since I was five, before my feet could even reach the pedals. Over the years piano has been a big part of my life, and playing it is as natural for me as breathing. I don’t have to think about how to work the pedals, or what notes to hit. This morning was different. I was playing at the Southview Prayer Breakfast, accompanying Sandy Johnson, who beautifully sang two songs. There was a very nice electric piano that Chaplain Mariya Marton had brought in. When I plugged in the pedal, I found that it didn’t work exactly right...