Push Me Pull Me
When you really look at a business, at the people that work there, it’s like a rich, flavorful stew—comprised of varying background, perception, desire, ability, expectation, history and hope. Each person that shows up is completely unique. Within the whole of it, there will never be two or more people with an identical worldview. Never. Each person holds and will continue to hold a singular perception of everything. It’s the nature of how we humans perceive and process the world. Not to freak anybody out here, but that’s the truth of it.
It’s no wonder then, that it can be challenging to create alignment and a collective outcome amidst all this distinctiveness.
In the past, the proposition was so incomprehensible, that control seemed the most appropriate solution—to command people to line up and operate more or less mechanistically. It was a ‘push’ mentality designed to externally steer people towards the desired outcome. Or, to use pain or pleasure to extract the desired action. Regardless of its form, it was relying on an external force, something outside each person, to generate a result.
Being externally driven or pushed is fatiguing, uninspiring and in the end, oppositional to excellence.
It’s an old, outdated mindset that no longer serves the aims of a company or anyone in it. Business leaders, HR and managers of all stripes need to get clear on this. Attempting to initiate action and performance through largely external means will not create extraordinary outcomes. It will limp people across finish lines, but it will never cause them to cross with a high head, strong gait and eyes set on the next race.
The force that stimulates people to be good, great or remarkable is located firmly within each person.
That’s where the big energy and initiative is located. The way to help people unlock that storehouse and invite it in to the workplace, is through creating spaces that sincerely call it forward. Trust, transparency, alignment, clear vision, appreciation, connection, support, humanness…all, pull people forward and into higher levels of achievement. When the external environment is supportive and inviting, the internal vibrancy and capacity is much more likely to be activated. That’s the more powerful pull—making the act of pushing simply a waste of energy.
Activate action in your people. Let the energy of desire, commitment and purpose do the heavy lifting.
Discover more here!
8 Powerful Ways to Energize Your People