KEY POINTS:
Do you have voices in your head talking to you during your working day? It's okay, everyone does. They're the ones that say, "You can do it" or "Oh no, I hope they don't ask me any silly questions".
Pete Clark, a Sydney-based leadership and management specialist with global performance consultancy RogenSi, calls these internal voices mind chatter. They are nothing to fear; in fact, they can be used to help you turn a situation to your advantage, in a presentation or a job interview.
Often, he says, in our heads we focus on what we don't want to happen rather than on what we do want to happen. What we should be doing is being aware of that self-talk and what we do with it, using it as a motivational tool.
Mastering this does not guarantee that you'll hit the target but it puts you in a better state to allow potential to flow. It's about taking control of your mindset, says Clark, recently in New Zealand to run a Mastering Motivation workshop for senior business leaders.
Clark has noticed that at presentation training conferences people will sit down over coffee and be very articulate, telling great stories. But suddenly, when they are in front of 10 pairs of eyes they freeze up and become a different person.
"Faced with a challenge or change, a person's experience and skill doesn't alter," says Clark. "But their attitude can change. It's how they embrace or reject the change - how they feel about the challenge - that will drive their behaviour and the results."
The Englishman remembers helping a talented PA prepare for a job interview. The position was a big stretch for her so she was understandably nervous.
"Every time I asked a question she would go into a state," he says.
"The mind chatter influenced how she responded." But he helped her take control.
After the interview, the PA had a more positive attitude. Although she didn't get the job, she felt she had done the best she could have done. She returned to her existing position with greater motivation, says Clark.
The motivational coach says too many people concentrate on the wrong things, skills and thoughts when aiming for success. "Instead we should concentrate on what really matters - attitudes, emotions and behaviours," he says.
"If you are looking to get different results, behave differently; it's the state of mind that you are in, knowing that you do it intuitively."
We all act on this intuition. If you are not in a good mood, for instance, and suddenly your best client comes on the phone, you automatically sit up and smile. You have suddenly changed your state.
"It's impossible to be in the best state all the time," says Clark. You'd have no mates if you were; you would not come across as real. But it's about picking the moments that are critical for success.
While you might think that your drive and motivation is just fine, Clark argues that most people can be stronger.
"It's not that people are demotivated," he says. It's about allowing people to tap into that "intrinsic motivation more appropriately when required".
Controlling your emotions and behaviours is a good skill. "You need to use a scale of one to 10 to measure your mood. A lot of people play from a five or six. I believe everyone should play to a higher number," he says.
Managers should be aware of how their mood affects that of the office. When the boss comes into the office in a bad mood, the news soon spreads.
"I think in a leadership position, the whisper becomes a shout. It could be the language you use, but people pick up on it," says Clark.
"The mood in the workplace is so significant, it can drive bottom-line or top-line results.
"Mood can bring people down. You can sense it, people will put up with it for a short time and will leave either physically or mentally. They might not contribute as much, or might not be as effective."
Their reaction will be defensive and negative. "If my motivation or my mood is linked to someone else's mood, essentially they are controlling me," says Clark. People should have the ability to choose their attitude. For instance, if they are having a bad day, they can tell themselves this afternoon will be better. "That's a thinking process. It's about how to separate emotions and be more aware of self," says Clark. On the other hand, being overly positive convinces no one.
"People are picking up on signals in some sense; you can't be inauthentic, it leaks out of every pore."
While a can-do attitude can motivate, according to Clark, companies relying on financial incentives will not flourish.
"Money is a short-term motivator," he says. "Material and financial rewards seldom keep people consistently striving to achieve."
"Generation Y are looking for more than just material wealth." They are looking for meaningful work.
Leaders need to make the workplace somewhere people want to come to. "It's not necessarily about making more profit for shareholders but to provide more meaningful and interesting work," says Clark. Business leaders should be keen to help their employees master their own motivation because that is what really drives an organisation.
Motivated employees can always acquire the skills necessary to perform well at their jobs but highly skilled people who are not motivated will never perform as well as they can.
Of course, each person is in control of their own destiny. And the most effective approach is for individuals to motivate themselves. Once they've learned the right techniques, anyone can control and fuel their motivation as they choose, says Clark.
And once you are successful in gaining control of your own motivation at work, you can use it in your personal life too.
"It is assumed at work that we leave our lives outside. We sometimes suppress it but it is very much there. How often do we think about home at work and on the weekend think about work? If one aspect does not go well, it influences everything else," he says.
* Gill South is a freelance business writer based in Auckland
