Field notes

The success of any organization depends on team members working hard and making the necessary sacrifices to get the job done. Leaders know that a highly motivated workforce delivers more effort, quality, and output, so they do their best to light a bonfire of inspiration and motivation to propel them forward. By asking themselves what people work so hard for, they attempt to find just the right mix of praise, responsibility, influence, challenge, status, compensation, competition, and higher purpose to ignite the hottest flame. But the best leaders rely on an additional insight. They not only ask what team members work so hard for — but also for whom. They never forget this: Underneath the trappings, recognition, and rewards that motivate them to do their best work, team members sacrifice most for others in their lives. They work hard for the people they love. First and foremost, team members work hard and sacrifice for their children, their partners, and their families. That’s the real reason they dedicate themselves to the work and make the sacrifices they do.

The age-old idea of Tryouts can serve an important but enjoyable role in the workplace. Absent the threat of being cut from the team, a tryout gets people’s juices flowing. The test of showcasing one’s skills in front of peers and leaders compels team members to bring their best game. They practice, rehearse, and compete to display to everyone what they are capable of. Anyone who ever played on a sports team, acted in a play, or performed in a band during their school years remembers the elevated focus produced during tryouts. At the end of a tryout, the best performers stand out.

Team members naturally raise problems to be solved. They bring needed decisions to the attention of leaders. Team members describe the risk/reward of the issue and presume, from their perspective, that a solution will make matters better or easier. Leaders are tasked with deciding whether this problem is worth the time and resources to address, and who should be tasked with reaching a solution or decision that resolves it. However, the best leaders and decision-makers do something else once they learn of a problem or issue. They test it.

Great presentations have a backbone. One idea or message serves as the foundation for everything that gets said. By tying every fact, illustration, story, data point, anecdote, and example to this hub, the presentation is easier to follow, becomes more memorable, and is likely to be more persuasive. Presentation experts call this central message a THROUGHLINE.

The problem is that trillions is so much bigger than billions that people have a hard time understanding how to appreciate the difference. To illustrate this point, consider this. One million seconds equates to 11 days. A billion seconds is equivalent to roughly 32 years. But a trillion seconds is on a different order of magnitude altogether. A trillion seconds is equal to roughly 317 centuries. Think about that for a minute. That’s 317 centuries compared to 32 years or 11 days.

There’s a controversy brewing in parenting circles, and it’s all about changing the way authority figures, like parents, give praise. The debate has implications for leaders of all varieties, including corporate leaders. The argument that experts are making suggests that parents should never tell their children they are proud of them. At least not in the way everyone has traditionally been taught to.