Motivation

Motivation

Jul 18, 2021 | Strategy

We have all heard it. “If I were you, I would…“

Is such a statement meant to motivate, or is it instead a strategy by which we assert our position in life? Is it motivation at all?

What is our positionality? Positionality is the idea that one’s personal values, views, and location in time and space influence how one understands the world.

In the context of motivation in an organizational setting, one way to think about ‘the other’ is to simultaneously recognize and balance the idea that he, she, them possess as much reality and/or validity as you. ‘They’ are you insofar as they are nothing other than themselves, which is an ontological idea with a specific, although loose, claim on the nature of existence.

What is ontology?  One of the longest standing ontological questions in philosophy concerns the existence, or not, of God or some sense of a higher being.

This seems abstract except when we frame this concept within our social, shared reality. Does reality exist independently from an observer, or is it something to be negotiated with others?

How we answer the above question is important, because it will inform how we think we should motivate those around us. If we believe there is an objective reality, we may not feel we need to understand another’ s positionality in order to advise them. If, on the other hand, we believe reality is a construct, one created with others, our belief in our ability to motivate others will be shaped by whether we think we understand their position in life.

The extent to which we feel the need to understand others is a reflection of a worldview, one that informs behaviors. Our worldview is often hidden from us. We often react, act, make statements, and conduct our affairs as if there is a bottom line that supports our rationale.

When we seek to motivate others in the workplace, it may behoove us to consider what it is we think we know and feel before we lay claim to what is needed to perform in a particular role.

“If I were you” could be reframed into something like, “I’m not you, but here is what has worked for me. Would you like to hear my view?”

There is a direct correlation between the effort we can make to consider the thoughts and feelings of others and what we receive in return. Is that statement a fact, or just the opinion of the writer? Does the writer believe what he/she/them writes?

What is their motivation? What is yours?

Objectives

Objectives

Jun 29, 2021 | Strategy

Interpretation, though, can be dangerous, in business. Isn’t this why managers seek to control the variables in any equation?

Without measurable objectives, our staff may end up achieving any number of goals, none of which, however, may be the ‘right’ one. Perhaps, though, there is a way to reframe such discussions about objectives.

Is an objective a truth, or is it relative to the understanding or perspective of the individual (manager) who has conceived it? The very word, objective, implies something truthful. What if we hit all our objectives along the way toward a goal? What if we achieve our goal only to discover that what we envisioned as success does not work?

Whereas it may be easier to dictate the objectives to others, such a rationale reinforces the limited ways of thinking that plague not just business, but thinking in general.

When managers hatch their proverbial plans, there is an underlying assumption that the goals and objectives therein defined are somehow true. More than that, these goals and objectives are viewed as (the) truth.

Is there such a thing as truth? Perhaps a better question is whether there can be more than one truth at one time.

One possible answer to this question could be found in the perspectivist view of science, which Alrøe H. F. & Noe E. (2014) indicate implies there are many scientific truths about any complex problem. The question for them is not how to select the correct one, but how to appreciate and use what Longino says is “the nonunifiable plurality of partial knowledges” (2006).

The next time you enter a meeting — virtual or in-person — pay close attention if the conversation veers toward the predictable ‘goals and objectives.’

The Isolation

The Isolation

May 18, 2021 | Social Media

For those of us who sometimes feel isolated and alone, social media can tend to make us feel worse about ourselves. We are not part of the scene that is social media. We don’t have as many “likes,” “shares,” or “follows.”

Whatever social media is measuring, we don’t have enough of it. We are always missing out on something. Did we see the latest tweet or Instagram post of whoever is trending at the moment?

Honestly, do any of us really remember the most impactful Facebook post of our lives? When was THE moment we saw THE post that unlocked THE answer? There was no such moment.

The world is not a static image that one may ‘click’ at one’s leisure. It is a world of loss, tragedy, murder, rape, love, hope, deception, hunger, homelessness, awful humans, and much, much more.

Social media enables us to look outward so we can avoid looking within. It is not all bad. There is beauty in it, too, but there is also something very isolating about the experience of it.

Social media packages reality into sound-bytes and pictures that show others what we want them to see. It is a carefully, although often thoughtlessly, curated experience that does not reveal the fact that our lives are lived in our own heads.

How do we capture the reality of reality in a format that primarily reveals the lives of others through images and/or videos that capture very limited points in time? There is no context for what we are seeing, no before and after, which is real life.

Do you have “friends” on Facebook that in fact have no idea who you really are? Were they high school friends that you have not seen in 20 years? How are we using the term “friend” now? Are you our friend?

There is something subtly quite isolating about social media. We can connect with the world without ever leaving the screen of our handheld device. No, that is simply and utterly false.

Regardless of one’s age, we make time to physically meet the people that matter — and that number may be in the single digits. Social media allows us to participate in something without really being part of it at all.

Perspective

Perspective

May 15, 2021 | Strategy

If we are to understand an organization, we must ask certain questions first, right?

What are your job descriptions? What is your employee retention rate? Do you offer benefits? Are you profitable? What is your mission?

These and so many other questions are most definitely important, but does it make sense to jump right into an analysis of an organization before, in fact, we take a step back?

We are talking about perspective, which we define here for our purposes as the ability to see something in its largest context.

What are you as an organization now? Where were you before? Where are you going? Is it working well? Are there problems and/or challenges you would like to overcome? What connects all staff with one another? What might be driving them apart?

This line of questioning entails that we observe as well as reflect on what we see and hear before we jump into the kinds of questions that have binary sets of answers. If A, then B. If not B, then A. It is more complicated than that, of course, but answers to questions like, “Do you have benefits?” are easily answerable.

To gain perspective, we need to go into the gray areas of an organization in order to uncover clues to the ‘how’ and/or ‘why.’

Perspective of an organization does not begin or end within its proverbial walls. Rather, we must also consider the actual lives of the people who work there.

Are they motivated? Is this their first job? Their last? Are they parents? Grandparents? 

The roles we play outside the office have a direct bearing on how we conduct our behavior within it. Whether our staff work within an actual office or virtually, organizations operate by unwritten rules of behavior.

“This is the way the handbook says things work, but this is how it really works,” an incoming new hire might hear from a well-intentioned supervisor. Is this something we really want to hear?

Perspective is the ability to see things from many angles. It seems like an art, but it is a science, one grounded in philosophic inquiry.

If we spend actual time each day thinking about the ‘how’ and the ‘why,’ there is a better chance we will gain insight not just into a business operation, but our very selves.

Ever work for a boss who was unable to offer you perspective? There may be nothing more uncomfortable in work, or personal, life for that matter than individuals unable to contextualize to any degree the behaviors around them…

Looking Back

Looking Back

Dec 3, 2020 | Time

We are what we were.

That statement seems obvious, but society encourages all to have no regret, look forward, soldier on, and display a fierceness that is not only questionable but disturbing. Why can’t we look back? Why can’t we take the time to examine who we are in the context of what brought us here?

The future is not a fact. It is a theory

There is no such thing as destiny or anything that had to have been. Rather, everything results from everything else, a progression of circumstances, events, ideas and feelings that eventually somehow led to now. Today did not have to be this way.

The value in looking back is directly proportional to the amount of time we question ourselves.

This is not a questioning that takes place on Facebook or in the tinny light of an overcrowded coffee bar. This is a questioning that takes place when no camera is rolling, no buttons are pressed and no evidence will ever exist that it took place except in the content of our character.

If we do not know who we were, how can we appreciate what we are?

Looking back is sad, often laconic, generally bittersweet. It is indeed a mixed bag of “stuff.” Easier to let that stuff stay in the corners of our selves, right? Why dredge up memories that may still hurt us today? Why look back?

If we look back far enough, we can see our future selves.

There is a tremendous sense of place that can arise when we dig into our past–for better or worse. Ultimately, we are slaves to our pasts unless we take the time to place it in its proper perspective. It is not an easy process nor is it necessarily going to yield anything tangible.

Are our lives random, isolated moments? Do they connect? Where are we going?

Look back and find yourself, all your selves. They are all within us, waiting, watching in space-time. Look back far and hard enough and you just may be the one looking back at yourself.

The song of ourselves may be faint, but the melody lingers on…