When I ask myself what it is that has had the most positive effect in my career, both in terms of career progression and in terms of enjoyment, that answer is easy. Its reading. Its ongoing learning. Not only have I learned to become a better salesman and marketer, but I have enjoyed it. Reading keeps fresh ideas in my head, and keeps me motivated. It keeps me ENJOYING my job!

 Lots of people say to me “I don’t have time to read. I just never sit down”. Oh really? You never sit down? Well, sorry to be a bit crude, but everyone sits down on an oval seat every day. Read just a couple of pages a day (wherever you are sitting!) to keep getting better at your job. And to keep enjoying it.

What do you read to keep you stimulated?

Kieran Bird

We both looked at some work on motivation done by Karl Duncker and Sam Glucksberg, recently reexamined by Daniel Pink. But according to the Economist article Pink’s argument that “There’s a mismatch between what science knows and what business does” “depends on a highly selective reading of the academic literature”. The Economist article goes on to mention four studies and discusses two in particular. It states that a study of an American glass installation company found that shifting from salaries to incentives increased productivity by 44%. It also states that research on workers at a Chinese electronics factory confirms that performance-related pay is an excellent motivator. But the article misses the point. What the experiments show is, with a simple set of rules, a single, clear solution, and a narrow focus – extrinsic motivators do work. And when only mechanical skills are needed, incentives work. But when cognitive skills are required, a larger reward equals poorer performance. And similarly, when real thinking needs to be done, higher standards equal poorer performance. A glass installation company and workers at an electronics factory. Surely this is mechanical work? As I say, the Economist article appears to miss the point. When setting incentives for work that requires cognitive skills, be wary. Bankers please take note.

 Kieran Bird

This really sad and bitter lady who claims to have carried out scientific research on the subject does a great disservice to scientific research which is used as bedrock for credibility.

Ms Ehrenreich claims that positive thinking is a tyranny, it is a quack theory, it creates a cult like culture and positive thinking has made the world miserable. The book goes even further to denigrate motivation.

Positive thinking and positive communication needs defending. I don’t know of any successful individual in sport – in business – in parenting – in relationships – in human conflict or in any field of human endeavour who would not attribute positive thought to be a major contributor towards their achievements or happiness.

Being positive is a state of mind and a healthy one at that. Just a visit to the Selly Oak Hospital to the ward where our seriously wounded soldiers are being treated will demonstrate the power of positive thinking.

The medical world has for years never understood but willingly embraces the psychosomatic power of healing.

Hear me loud and clear, the most evil, disastrous and catastrophic attitudinal behaviour is negative thinking and negative communication. This is ten times more powerful than positive thought or communication. No claims here based on scientific research but just a wealth of experience in life’s laboratory.

If you think you can you are more likely to, but if you think you can’t, you won’t – cliché! Yes but so what.

Here lies the balance – REALISM. Positive thinking does not move mountains but does move people.

Richard Denny
Author of Succeed for Yourself and Motivate to Win

Kieran Bird

Kieran Bird

Retail is not an easy business. Low wages and high staff turnover. Because of this retailers are historically poor at staff training. And doesn’t it show! (Would someone PLEASE sell me a pair of shoes, I have been trying to buy a new pair two weekends in a row, with little help from salespeople!)

So, when we see a retailer investing in staff training, we should be thankful.

I repeat. Three cheers for Tesco!

Have you seen the email describing their “SELL THAT!” competition? It’s a great idea.

The competition works like this. They have listed a few items that, to put it mildly, don’t belong in the “these products sell themselves” category.

So, how would you sell:

• An acre on the moon
• A yellow ‘87 Ford Capri
• Your colleague
• An unwanted Christmas gift
• A timeshare in your hometown

Take a look at the website, and the video entries. Did I mention the prize is £2,000? Might be worth a pitch yourself!

And while you are thinking about your pitch, why not make a list of the questions you might ask a potential buyer of that product. Have fun with your pitch.

And remember, it’s the questions you ask before you pitch that will allow you to close the sale.

Let’s take a step back from the emotion of political rhetoric for a minute and look at this rationally. Strikes hurt customers. By hurting customers, they hurt the company, which loses market share. The hurt company then has no choice but to lay off workers.

So strikes hurt customers, companies and workers.

Is there a better way? Perhaps you have heard of cases of unions in (mostly Asian) countries around the world asking their workers to “strike” by going to work wearing black armbands. They made their point. The armbands were a direct insult to the management for not having solved the workers issues. The managers “lost face”. But, the unions did not hurt the customers, nor the company. And so no-one lost their job.

OK, you might say. But what if the current management at the Royal Mail don’t care what the workers think? What if they couldn’t care less about workers wearing black armbands?

Well, that’s a different story. It is the responsibility of leaders to care. Notice I said “leaders” and not “management”? So what’s the difference?

Management is making people do what the managers want them to do. Leadership is making people WANT TO DO IT.

Let’s go back in history and pick out two really great leaders, Sir John Harvey Jones of ICI and Sir Ernest Shackleton the great explorer, both would be highly visible 18 – 20 hours a day talking, mixing and working with their people, certainly not hiding away from the action.

If the staff trust and believe in their bosses and the bosses in turn earn the workers’ loyalty every issue can be resolved. Without strikes.

P.S. Note to Royal Mail management. We teach leadership skills. Our phone number is 01608 653 868. Please call. I’d give you our mailing address, but the mail might be late!

The feel good factor for the majority of people got up and went walkabout some 15 months ago and in the intervening months some business have disappeared, some people in work have been on reduced salaries or working part time, and some have even been made redundant, (not good for staff motivation). Values and expectations have changed but here lies a really big opportunity and challenge. Our staff and our people must also change, the skills of winning business (selling) must be improved. If companies are actually going to reap the rewards, management and leadership styles must also be improved and then there is the really biggest opportunity of all – customer care and services.

So come on business leaders if you really now want to make some money and take market share your people will do it for you, up-skill them with the latest communication skills. Invest a little in some really good, and I mean really good training. They will repay this investment 10-50 times over. New usable skills and knowledge are very inspiring so leaders, managers, bosses are you the inhibitor to your company’s growth?

The NHS is possibly the largest employer in the UK but sadly it has the largest number of untrained managers and supervisors, way out of proportion to the rest of commerce. Here lies the biggest problem that could so easily be solved.

Very few NHS employees, and this includes staff nurses, sisters, doctors and all the numerous department heads, have had any good training in management and leadership skills.

They are expected by some God given right, because they may have an academic qualification or have the job title, or have been promoted, that they should automatically know how to lead, manage, and inspire people in their care. This would cost so little but the financial rewards would be mind blowing and the horror stories would be dramatically reduced. All the horror stories that we hear and read about can be fundamentally traced to weak and poor management. It’s not their fault, the fault lies right at the top.

Simple solution – kinder – obvious really; it only needs a decision but unfortunately that will require focus groups, committees, endless meetings, union agreements, and of course government funding – oh dear!!!!