Finally, best way to enter into a motivational relationship with people is not by distant communication but kind of face-to-face speech that has people make choice to be committed to your cause.

Those are descriptions of what motivation truly is. But descriptions alone won't help you meet challenges of UP. You must follow clear imperatives to help you transform descriptions into results.

Here are four that will help you cultivate motivational operations.

ive leadership talks not presentations. The difference between a presentation and a leadership talk is what Mark Twain said difference between almost right word and right word is. "That is difference," he said, "between lightning bug and lightning."

Let's understand basic difference between presentation and leadership talk. Presentations communicate information; but leadership talks have people believe in you, follow you, and, most important of all, want to take leadership for your cause.

My experience has taught me that 95% of all communication in business is accomplished through presentations. However, if 95% of communication were accomplished through leadership talk instead, leaders would be far more effective in getting results.

So before you speak to people, and leaders speak 15 to 20 and more times a day, ask yourself if you are simply providing information or are you motivating those people to motivate themselves to take action for results.

2. Create motivational systems. Most operational leaders are good a systemizing quality initiatives, cycle time, efficiencies, etc. But few understand that some of most important systems they can put into place are systems that help people make choice for motivation.

A particularly effective motivational system is one that saturates operations with "cause leaders."

Unquestionably, people accomplish a task better if they are not simply doing it but taking leadership of it instead. When we are challenged to take leadership, we raise our performance to much higher levels. With that in mind, create systems that identify cause leaders, challenge them to take specific leadership action, and support those actions through systematized training and resource allocations.

3. See results not as an end but as a motivational process. Clearly, you have to get results. But many operations leaders misunderstand what results are about. I teach leaders concept of achieving "more results faster continually" — not by speeding up but instead by slowing down and working less, by putting motivational imperatives into practice. Leaders understand "more results faster" aspect — but they often stumble when it comes to "continually" aspect.

We can usually order people to get more results faster. But we can't order people to do it on a continual basis. That's where motivation comes in. Instead of ordering people to go from point A to point B, say, we must have them want to go from A to B. That "want to" is heart of "continually." When we understand results this way, understand that we must achieve "more, faster" on a continual basis, then we begin to make motivational operations a way of life.

4. Challenge people to be motivational leaders. The imperatives are powerful when you use them consistently. But they are even more powerful when you have your leaders use them and teach others to use them. After all, you alone can't create motivational operations. You need others to help you do it, especially those mid-level and small-unit leaders. If they are not putting imperatives into practice every day, your attempts to raise standards of operations to a consistently high motivational level will falter.

Define success of your leadership by how well your leaders are leading, and you are well on your way to making motivational operations a reality.

Once you begin to institute motivational operations by applying four imperatives, law of Unfulfilled Potential becomes your competitor's worry, not yours.

============================= 2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved. =============================

7. Great Brands have a clear identity! Successful brands know themselves and what they are about. They have become clear regarding their own boundaries and need to position themselves for success considering all possibilities in whole. Sometimes knowing what NOT to do is key to brand identity.

8. Brand building is a marathon not a sprint! In today's world of possibilities and global exchange, only thing is brand. Price has been shown to be superfluous in presence of a strong performing brand. People want dependability...a known quantity that differentiates itself from pack of also-rans. People want to feel important and they leverage that through brand identification. Building a brand is a constant and continuous journey...a long-term approach.

9. Brands are involved! Brand builders consistently show up at right time, in right place and in right way. A knack for great brand building is precisely knowing when to say when. Consider your brands identity, your branding intention and your brand investment and make continuous deposits towards building brand equity.

10. Brands benefit consumer! What is your feature-benefit ratio? If people are not better off having used your brand, you're in big trouble! That takes two loci of action, one being; that you as a brand manager place your brand in a position to succeed or . . . don't do it. Two; that benefits appear to consumer in a holistic way. It's kind of like brand that keeps on giving.

Buckminster Fuller is credited with saying that "when you flush a toilet, it goes somewhere." When people use your products and services, same thing happens. If you sacrifice long-term value in a holistic sense for some short-term gain, you are endangering your brand equity!

© 2003 JSC Marketing, LLC – All Rights Reserved.