Motivation !!

This week i had a discussion with the CEO of the company. The interaction was to know and understand what was happening with us, what we were up to, are our expectation being met, so on and so forth. As expected, the discussion revolved around our current assignments, how r v faring, what are the expectations, etc. Then there was a bit of management gyan. Well, if u interact with the top mgmt, you cannot escape the gyan sessions. I don't know whether it makes sense or not, but as i see it now, it doesn't.

Then came the topic, which is the inspiration for this post, well it was about self inspiration and self motivation. The CEO wanted to us to be self motivated and not try to imitate any of the existing employees. If one is interested in the project and he/she sees it as his/her own brainchild, then the inspiration and the motivation comes to get up everyday in the morning and go and give it your best for the work. There will be no boredom. One has to look "inward" for all the inspiration and the enthu.

Well, i would have brushed this off as yet another gyaan, but what stopped me from doing so was the imitating part. It didn't seem to be logical, hence an objection was raised by yours truly.

My ideas and thoughts about motivation are different. To start with, most of us do not have much clarity in what we need to do or want to do. Without this clarity, one falling in love with the project or the work is not possible; if it is possible, it is not sustainable. Therefore this route towards self motivation doesnot work with us.

Years back, i had seen a movie called "Enemy at the Gates", yes, this is the Jude Law one. In this movie, the reporter says to the general that if you need civilians to fight for you, you cannot do so by pushing them on to the battle field. We need heroes who will inspire them to go and fight. Thats what i am talking about here.

What we need in an organisation are heroes. People who are excellent at what they do, people whom others want to imitate. By looking at these people, one gets the desire to be one among them. Once the desire sets in, it will give rise to rest of the things. Others start looking at the qualities the heroes possess. They look inward and assess the qualities they have. They see the difference and try to cultivate what they lack and fine tune what they already have. Through this process, they know more about themselves, they will be aware of their limitations and their talents. Then the rest will be history.

Essentially the point being, one needs heroes for inspiration, with this inspiration, motivation follows. Once you start looking inward, slowly self motivation will follow suit.

I dont hav much clarity about lots of things, but here and there i hav a bit of clarity on the rest.