Leadership and Motivation

Leadership and motivational qualities are excellent to have not only among management in a business, but among employees as well. Many individuals tend to have a propensity to be leaders, while same learn successful leadership behaviours and go on to be effective leaders. Leading is the ability to influence others in a group. Being a good leader takes understanding of what motivates others. Leaders want to influence things to continue or create change. Either way it takes a person with certain skills to do the task.

In order to be a leader, it is important to understand what motivates the employees around you. It is necessary to discover the fundamental needs that employees, co-workers, and bosses have. All people have a need for a basic income and necessities. Another large category of human need is the need for growth and challenges. A worker lured to a job by high salary may find their job dissatisfying if they are unable to have friendships and connection with other people at work. It is much easier to lead and motivate if you understand what people’s undeniable needs are.

Leadership enhances the motivation, morale and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the mission and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that optimize their performance.

There are countless factors that make a person a good leader, but it depends on a group of people that they are leading. There is a common misconception that leaders are always outspoken, flamboyant people, and this just isn’t the case. Less articulate individuals with other combinations of skills are quite successful as well.

Leading is used to channel motivation into practical use. There are many factors that play into keeping employees motivated. A factor in motivation is the type of work that the employee is doing. When employees are given a job with varied tasks and ability to grow they tend to stay more motivated.

Many people are goal oriented once a leader shows where their efforts should be focused. They respond well to deadlines and planning. It is a good feeling to have a concrete goal to shoot for. In organizations usually there may be specific planned goals. As a manager, it is important to make sure that the goals are reasonable. The effect of having a goal that is impossible to attain has reverse effects and can cause discouragement rapidly. When goals are eventually accomplished, many people like to be rewarded. Rewards work so well for some as motivating tools.

The work atmosphere in general has a lot to do with employee motivation. Typically managers that treat employees in a friendly manner are apt to get more of a positive response. We always prefer to work at a business with individuals that enjoy their work and like their surroundings. Employees always compare themselves to others to make sure they are being treated in a way that they perceive as fair. If an employee feels that they are not being treated fair, they will lack the motivation to work hard. Everyone likes to have a little independence and to be useful while they are working. Some control is always needed, but flexibility is appreciated. It is very important to be ethical and considerate of others at all times.

In order to achieve leadership and promote motivation there are an assorted variety of skills that anyone in an organization can use. In fact, one of the best ways to be a leader is to be a good example for others to follow. People with different personalities and approaches are able to be terrific leaders. Concentrate on developing interpersonal skills and you will be able to lead others more effectively.

This is a topic talks about leadership. So, leadership means how you motivate others and in the same way motivation is how you are lead by others. You may be asking yourself why there is a discussion on how to be a good follower. So, let's start with a simple statement “you nor I cannot be a good leader unless we are or can be a good follower.” There are people who may be good followers who do not make good leaders or even want to be leaders, but there are no good leaders who are not good followers. The skills that make for good followers also make for good leaders.

Successful followers come in a wide variety of personal characteristics. For the most part, all of us are followers at one time or another. There are some characteristics or traits that make for being a better follower. Just as with leaders, motivation is the most important single factor. Which is most important your ego or getting the job done? If you focus on the goals to be achieved and are motivated, you will a good follower and, perhaps, even a good leader.

Second in this list are such characteristics are reliability and loyalty. These are also important for leaders. Very few of us have all of best characteristics to be a good follower to the limit, but the most effective follower and leaders regardless of which role will have most of them well developed. Improvement is limitless. Remember, changes in the personality traits take years of consistent work. We can and should start today, but don't expect instantaneous results.

The equation of success for a follower is very similar to that for a leader. The more of these traits you have successfully developed the greater the probability of your success either as a follower or as a leader.

I have a strong belief that you can be a winner as either a leader or a follower!