The Key to Success is People who are happy and motivated.
The only way to achieve success is through people, as we have said many times before. By duplicate efforts and forming a cohesive team, managers and supervisors get far more effective results than they would by relying solely on their own efforts. Leadership and communication are two important areas discussed in this article, as well as motivational communication and the principles of successful leadership. First, I want to discuss effective instructions and then effective delegation in this article. It is inevitable that supervisors and managers will have to give other people instructions from time to time.
These instructions may be given at conferences or seminars where senior managers present updated strategies, methods of operation, and in many cases changes in policies or work practices. We will concentrate on how to develop the motivation, enthusiasm, and willingness to grasp the messages being communicated and apply them.
The importance of this is just as significant as the importance of giving instructions or orders themselves. A major UK insurance company once invited me to speak at one of its seminars. It took two and a half years of expensive research and development for the company to develop its new strategy, which they had all gathered together for the launch.
I have never experienced anything as impressive as what unfolded. Prior to the launch date and presentation, every piece of the new plan had been carefully considered – except the people. System preparation, paperwork preparation, and organizational structure were all done, but employees’ reactions were completely ignored. We did not take into account the fear and lack of confidence that the word ‘change’ provokes and the personal development that is necessary for a successful program.
As a result, the new strategy was not implemented effectively because the employees lacked the motivation to do so, and their reaction was negative, not positive. It would have been helpful if managers had realized the importance of personal development training. One of my second examples comes from the food and beverage industry.
Additionally, this company decided to shift from a vertical communication line to a lateral one to improve its operational efficiency. It was announced to senior executives that the new strategy had been adopted. It was necessary to repeat the whole exercise exactly three months later.
As soon as the messages and changes were communicated, it was discovered that they were not being taken on board or implemented as planned. It appears that the strategy was not clearly communicated the first time around, and motivation was also nonexistent, just as it was in my earlier example.
There was no deep-seated drive among the executives to implement changes after the first event. For improved performance, new ideas, strategies, or methods must be motivated, inspired, and sold to people. The purpose of so much of my work is to help people gain confidence, believe in themselves, to motivate themselves to get up and go. Changing work practices is not always the goal of instructions or orders.
No matter what the situation, the manager should be using verbal communication to assign duties or responsibilities that contribute to the achievement of the organization’s goals. Hence the key to success is people of any organization.
