Your team has the plans set for 2016. If you’re the average leader, you now insert the rah-rah, “you can do it!” motivational speech. Which, of course, will resonate with a small population (the same group as the year before), leave another group skeptical, and still a third bunch of people thinking “it’s never going to happen.”
What do you do? Research says that we can learn from a cartoon character, Bob the Builder. Rather than the “We can do it!” positive declaration, it’s actually best to ask “Can we do this?” (Bob is famous for saying, “Can we fix this?”)
With the question comes a discussion that better frames a shared reality, and assessment of the facts (some of which are likely brutal). Interestingly, achievers, when given the opportunity to conduct such an analysis, will determine – on their own – that, indeed, they can prevail. Importantly, they’ll have identified why they can win.
This internal decision and motivation activates a greater potential – one much closer to the authentic self.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
