Leadership and Employee Motivation
They tell us, remember, that we don’t leave a job, we leave a boss. So, when looking for work, you should find out who your boss is going to be and ask for references about him/her. Of course, the brand of any company is super important for your CV so that your resume stands out in the crowd. Moreover, you yourself are likely to learn a lot more from an established and well-known organization than from a small and unheard-of entity. Or do you? And where is your “future’ boss now in all of this? The answers to these questions really depend. In fact, it depends on how egocentric you want a job experience to be. The word ego-centric is usually used with bad connotations; however in this case I am using it literally to signify the extent to which you want to build your career based on YOU and not on external factors.
Motivating employees and the power of a healthy corporate ecosystem
Introduction
A lot of literature has been written and continues to be written on team leadership and how this impacts on the motivation of our people. That’s undoubtedly true, but it is not the full story. Find out why.
Now, that in turn may depend on the exact stage of where you are at in your career: whether at the beginning, middle or perhaps towards the end – as well as on your personal attitudes and values, which identify YOU irrespective of your specific stage in your career journey.
Here are a couple of ideas….
Both of those scenarios are common but they are not ideal. What you want is a great boss as well as a great ecosystem. That’s the ideal happiness. What do I mean by ecosystem? I don’t mean the environment per se, actually; although it is possible that a healthy ecosystem is likely to create a pleasant work environment. By healthy ecosystem, I mean a place wherein all (or at least the majority of) the business-critical departments work effectively and efficiently both within themselves and in relation with each other. A place where leaders are infused by a belief in and therefore a practice of business excellence in everything they do as individuals and as teams, for the benefit of customers and employees alike.
Team Leadership vs. Corporate ecosystem which one works best as a motivational engine?
I’ve known of many situations at work where either the Boss has been “horrible” but the rest of the ecosystem has been superb; or vice versa, where the Boss has been an amazing leader, competent, supportive, visionary, a true coach and a listener, a team builder and generally a great source of learning; but the ecosystem around him has been infected by all the opposite attributes of those listed above. So, where do you draw your inner motivation from in either scenario? And how should you act and behave in either of those circumstances?
“By good ecosystem, I mean a place wherein business-critical departments work effectively and efficiently both within themselves and in relation with each other”
We’ve said before that the ideal scenario is hard to find. So where should you find your motivation from? As individuals, the majority of us get up in the morning to go to work to do a good job. We feel satisfied, fulfilled, and content at the end of each day when we give our best, having contributed to the greater good of the business, with our own personal efforts. If the ecosystem around you is ineffective and inefficient, if your efforts fail to produce the expected results you’d anticipated precisely BECAUSE of such a malfunctioning ecosystem, then you can have the best boss in the world but in the long run you will feel like wanting to move on to find a Company with a culture of excellence, one that is better capable of valuing your contribution. This in turns will make you achieve your expectations thus owning those achievements, enriching your CV and adding to your personal career accomplishment. In short, a healthy ecosystem enables and curates your personal brand.
Conclusion
You should always look for a job in a Company with a culture of business excellence and a healthy ecosystem because it is there that your contributions and efforts will shine and actualize in great products, services or output that will benefit its intended end-users. If your boss is not a nice person, that’s secondary to the ecosystem and – after all – that’s his problem and not yours to worry about.