Building Attitudes Of Motivation
by Dave M. Doremus Why are some men and women more successful in the automotive business than others? Are they more mechanically skilled? Probably! Are they better at diagnostics? Usually! Are they more skilled in handling people, problems and difficulties? Absolutely!
However, no matter the strengths, skills or abilities, if we are unable to create an attitude that will accommodate the delivery of all these facets of business, customer service and people management, our individual levels of success will be less. We will also discover that it is a lonely world in which we work.
The next point is probably even more revealing. Someone whose skills and tangible business techniques are somewhat less than the best, but who can address daily tasks with a more positive attitude, can achieve the same or greater levels of success as one of their more skilled peers.
Probably more than anything else in your life, it is your attitude that controls your measure of success. What is an attitude? On the surface, attitude is the way you communicate your mood to others. When you are optimistic and anticipate successful encounters, you transmit a positive attitude and people usually respond favorably. When you are pessimistic and expect the worst, your attitude often is negative and people tend to avoid you. Inside your head, where it all starts, attitude is a mind set!
Bob Conklin, the author of a world-famous program titled "Adventure in Attitudes," quotes a Harvard psychologist, William James, providing us with a tremendous insight into life and its potential for success and failure: "The greatest discovery in our generation is that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives!"
This is a powerful statement and a very prophetic one. Still, if this is so, why do so many of us have difficulty adhering to the prospects of that theory?
I believe it's because of the complexities of our being. Those of you reading this article that have achieved the goal of controlling your thoughts and attitudes have found real success and true meaning to your lives. Many of us are still wrestling with the control we must exercise of our minds to achieve that same level of success.
As each of us go about our daily tasks -- possibly a difficult diagnosis, a confused customer situation or a troublesome employee -- the circumstances of our activities and the eventual outcomes are founded in our attitudes toward them. When your attitude is positive, you have the ability to select and choose conclusions and solutions that might otherwise have been hidden from you because you lacked an effective attitude.
We create our own attitudes for life with another very powerful facet of our being -- thoughts. James Allen wrote a classical philosophy many years ago titled "As A Man Thinketh!" It was based on the biblical quotation, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he!" Attitudes are created by thoughts and thoughts are created by each of us. Therefore, if we can regulate our thoughts toward any circumstance, we can control our attitudes. Pretty simple, wouldn't you say? Control your thoughts, improve your attitudes and life becomes a "bowl of cherries!"
Think of attitude as your mental focus on the outside world. Like using a camera, you can focus or set your mind on what appeals to you. You can see situations as either opportunities or failures; see a cold winter day as either beautiful or ugly; see a day in the shop as either exciting and challenging or stressful and impossible. Perception, the complicated process of viewing and interpreting your environment, is totally a mental phenomenon. It is within your power to concentrate on selected aspects of your environment and ignore others. Quite simply, you take the picture of life that you want to take!
Attitudes Affect Motivation
A very important aspect of your business that is affected by your attitude is the concept of your personal motivation and the motivations of others. Five important considerations toward motivation are:
- We will work for rewards -- primarily money.
- We will work for a leader -- a person.
- We will work for something in which we believe; a cause, an activity that satisfies our purpose in living.
- We will work for things that satisfy us, such as recognition, security, friendship or fulfillment.
- We will almost deliberately keep from working if the activity is unpleasant and has things about it that are difficult, such as poor working conditions, physical discomfort, irritating people and long hours.
I think you'd agree with the above list and its priority of order. However, in the workplace we see shop owners wrestling with productivity improvement and profitability using only the first item as a means of motivating people.
Are you motivated solely by money? Of course not! You are until you reach a certain level of security, then your attitude toward how much more money you want will determine to what degree it will motivate you. Money is a powerful motivator, but not the only one.
Everyone can be motivated by a good leader. As an independent entrepreneur you are your own leader and the leader of others. Your attitude toward your leadership and its affect on your staff must be recognized as the powerful tool that it is.
However, your belief in what you are doing as a business and a source of provision is one of your strongest motivators. Belief like that can also control the motivational juices of your staff. To be motivated in the way you spend your day, you need to believe in those activities and you need to give those who work for and with you a reason to believe also. Your attitude toward this end will provide you with a large return on your investment.
It has also been proved that when the "juices of belief" are allowed to flow, the effects of the last motivational factor (deliberately avoiding unpleasant work) can be lessened. People have been known to work against all odds for a cause or situation in which they believe. In fact, people have risked their lives for such causes. Your attitude toward motivation will offer your staff a belief and a cause for improving productivity, morale and the general synergy of the workplace.
I hope I am encouraging you to adjust your attitude toward your own personal motivation and the motivation of others. This is but one example of how your attitude, when it is changed internally, drastically affects the outer aspects of your life and your business.
Think about your attitude toward customer service levels, problem-solving, staff, personal relationships, achievement, goals and objectives, and every other activity of your personal and business life. There is a lot to be done and so little time in which to accomplish it. With the right attitude, success will be yours!
Attitude And Leadership
With the proper attitude toward your leadership strategy, you can also gain productivity and profitability from your staff. In addition to utilizing belief as a motivator, improve your attitude toward these four items.
- Expect others to be successful. There is great power in your expectations on the behaviors of your staff. It is an awesome responsibility, but one that can enable you to help your people reach their fullest potential.
- Look for ways to praise. Studies reveal that the No. 1 reason people leave their job is because they don't feel appreciated. William James claims that "appreciation" is one of the deepest drives of human nature. Get into the habit of being "praise-minded."
- Give security. People need more than financial security. Your staff looks to you for psychic security. Provide them with fairness, integrity and values that they can support. Give them a foundation upon which they can stand and be comfortable.
- People need you. If you will give people what they need, they will give you the opportunity to achieve your needs, goals and objectives.
However, adjust your attitude toward what must come first. You must first give to receive. If you withhold in expectation of receiving first, you will be greatly disappointed. When you give people what they need first, they will give you 10 times over what you seek and need.
Motivation is not something you do to people, it is something they do to themselves. You give them the stimulus, the reasons, for motivating themselves and that makes you a motivator, a person who gets things done through others.
In the end, it's not the motivating, the doing or providing the stimulus ... it's the adjustment in your attitude toward motivation and people that will provide you with success and achievement.
Dave M. Doremus has 30 years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience, including a former executive position with Esso Standard Oil Company. He is an Automotive Service Association Management Institute (ASAMI) instructor and president of Doremus & Associates, a consulting firm that offers success skills training and workshops to small business entrepreneurs and their management staffs.
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AutoInc. Magazine ®, Vol. XLIV No. 9, September 1996