leadership #6

In the reading for this module, we learned about the leadership practice of encouraging the heart. Before posting to this discussion, make sure that you have updated the “Encourage the Heart” column in your Leadership Development Action Plan document to show how you will use the concepts you have learned to improve each of the leadership areas you identified in Module One.

Once you have updated your leadership development action plan, consider the following:

· In this module, you have read about encouragement and recognition. Do encouragement and recognition really matter?

· Psychodynamic theory proposes that leaders have to understand their own personality traits and those of their followers in order to effect change and movement. How do leaders learn what motivates individuals on the team?

Response #1

Daniel Lupo

Do encouragement and recognition really matter?

I like to tell people that I do not need recognition or praise to know if I am doing a good job or did something well. The truth it, when I do something I want it to be acknowledged, I appreciate knowing someone is proud of what I did or that people know my part in something. I think, in general, encouragement and recognition really do matter. It can keep people going, whether it is at their job or with something else they are pursuing. Being recognized shows people that whatever they are doing, they are doing well. This in turn encourages people to continually strive to do their best and do better than before. So, personally, I find encouragement and recognition extremely important!

How do leaders learn what motivates individuals on the team?

Leaders can simply ask what motivates others. At my last job, my managers flat out asked me what motivates me, so that they could (try to) tailor their management and leadership a little bit more specifically to me. I was able to tell them what encourages me to do the best job I can and to keep going every day, and how they could help with that. So, asking what motivates someone is a quick why to figure it out. Leaders can still use other methods of determining what motivates someone by observing how the person does, trying different ways of motivating them, and seeing how they respond. A leader can decide what worked for that individual and what did not.