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My mentor sent this too me this morning, so I figured I'd post it here to allow you all to think about it. Feel free to post your thoughts and feedback.
MOTIVATION.....think about the word and what it means. Have we overused the term to mean nothing? What are the actions behind the word motivation? Why is it frowned upon or at least board members want to know more than just your Soldier is motivated when you're sponsoring them to the promotion board?
My Response:
I don't believe that we have overused the term to mean nothing. However, I can agree that there may be other Individuals or those in leadership positions that have overused the term. Motivation to me is driven by action, you can only say so much. We may be able to motivate ones and twos verbally, but we have the ability and potential to motivate the masses by taking action, and practicing what we preach. When I look at the last question about the board, I've always thought of it this way, a lot of Soldiers motivation comes and goes, just because I've been verbal about being motivated for a few months doesn't mean I'm ready to wear stripes and lead soldiers. It goes back to that key word you had mentioned action, looking at it from the MRT realm and that intrinsic motivation, do we truly believe in what we are doing, as well as value it. If both of those are not true, then I believe its false motivation. I really appreciate you sharing this. I forwarded it along to a couple of my NCOs and am interested to see what feed back they have.
MOTIVATION.....think about the word and what it means. Have we overused the term to mean nothing? What are the actions behind the word motivation? Why is it frowned upon or at least board members want to know more than just your Soldier is motivated when you're sponsoring them to the promotion board?
My Response:
I don't believe that we have overused the term to mean nothing. However, I can agree that there may be other Individuals or those in leadership positions that have overused the term. Motivation to me is driven by action, you can only say so much. We may be able to motivate ones and twos verbally, but we have the ability and potential to motivate the masses by taking action, and practicing what we preach. When I look at the last question about the board, I've always thought of it this way, a lot of Soldiers motivation comes and goes, just because I've been verbal about being motivated for a few months doesn't mean I'm ready to wear stripes and lead soldiers. It goes back to that key word you had mentioned action, looking at it from the MRT realm and that intrinsic motivation, do we truly believe in what we are doing, as well as value it. If both of those are not true, then I believe its false motivation. I really appreciate you sharing this. I forwarded it along to a couple of my NCOs and am interested to see what feed back they have.
Leadership
Sergeant Audie Murphy Club (SAMC)
Motivation
Mentorship
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 13
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Motivation is a buzz word that is very often misconstrued in our environment. It really needs to be broken down to intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Ultimately, it's the break down of "why we do things".
The board question is easy, an individual that is just "motivated" to go to the board, hasn't looked internally to see why they want to be, or should be promoted. To me it shows that their reasoning is based on the position, the prestige associated with it, and more often than not the jump in pay.
What would I prefer to see a Soldier say? "I want to be in a position to make a positive impact in my organization. I've experienced leadership in many different forms, and feel that I can contribute to not only our common goal, but to help my subordinates and junior Soldiers better themselves."
It's all about the why, and when we break motivation down to it's core, that's what it represents. Why do we do things? I want to see a Soldier get promoted because they want to be a force multiplier, wants to be a Leader. Not just to put stripes on their chest ;)
EDIT: A lot of times we tell our Soldiers and junior Leaders they need to be motivated about something, or lack motivation. Can we really say we are actually explaining our intentions, do they know what we are talking about? Do WE know what we are talking about?
It's more than just a word, and like I iterated above, it's all about the WHY. Why is this important to a Soldier? Why should it be? What are we doing to convey it's importance and why this matters so much? All things that need to be taken into consideration.
The board question is easy, an individual that is just "motivated" to go to the board, hasn't looked internally to see why they want to be, or should be promoted. To me it shows that their reasoning is based on the position, the prestige associated with it, and more often than not the jump in pay.
What would I prefer to see a Soldier say? "I want to be in a position to make a positive impact in my organization. I've experienced leadership in many different forms, and feel that I can contribute to not only our common goal, but to help my subordinates and junior Soldiers better themselves."
It's all about the why, and when we break motivation down to it's core, that's what it represents. Why do we do things? I want to see a Soldier get promoted because they want to be a force multiplier, wants to be a Leader. Not just to put stripes on their chest ;)
EDIT: A lot of times we tell our Soldiers and junior Leaders they need to be motivated about something, or lack motivation. Can we really say we are actually explaining our intentions, do they know what we are talking about? Do WE know what we are talking about?
It's more than just a word, and like I iterated above, it's all about the WHY. Why is this important to a Soldier? Why should it be? What are we doing to convey it's importance and why this matters so much? All things that need to be taken into consideration.
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I don't believe 'motivation' as a term is over used. However, this is a results-based Army... We can not be judged by our level of motivation, or how motivated our troops are. We are judged by our actions and results as well as that of our troops.
I could see how some dismiss motivation as a benchmark. It's not the performance measure evaluated.
But, it is one of the top contributing factors to mission success and shouldn't be cast aside. Motivated troops make the world spin! As leaders, we have to ensure the proper levels of motivation are there and guide them to spin the world in the right direction.
I could see how some dismiss motivation as a benchmark. It's not the performance measure evaluated.
But, it is one of the top contributing factors to mission success and shouldn't be cast aside. Motivated troops make the world spin! As leaders, we have to ensure the proper levels of motivation are there and guide them to spin the world in the right direction.
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To motivate people one must show courage to push through times of adversity. Its all good to say you are gung-ho and motivated but that isn't enough. Your actions will speak louder as to why you are motivated to carry on. Then you will instill the fight in your people to push on and have the motivation to tackle what lies ahead. Motivation is literally the desire to do things.
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