Inspire people
One of Nelson’s favorite movies is “Braveheart” but not because of the awesome battle scenes — well maybe that’s one of the reasons — but more importantly, he loves the scene when Mel Gibson’s character is trying to motivate the peasants and farmers to fight — when they felt like fighting would earn nothing but more land and riches for the noblemen. His character told them to forget the noblemen because what was in it for them was freedom and the opportunity to tell their grandchildren what they did.
“I was really struck by the character that Mel Gibson played, William Wallace,” Nelson says. “I was struck by his leadership skills and how he was able to motivate people to put their life on the line. He personalized it.”
While you may be good at communicating your message to people, it’s not enough to just simply pass along the information. You also have to be able to inspire and empower your people and bring them along with you, just as Gibson’s character did in “Braveheart.”
“I’ve heard it said that, at the end of the day, there are only two ways to get them to do what you need them to do,” Nelson says. “One is to force them, which doesn’t work particularly well. Particularly, it doesn’t work well on a long-term basis, and the only other way is to seduce them, to motivate them, to inspire them.”
In order to bring your people along with you, you have to first recognize that there is no one universal way to motivate and inspire your people.
“Different people are motivated by different things,” Nelson says. “Some are more motivated by money, some more by advancement, some
are perhaps motivated by other things, but you have to define the business that you’re in, and everyone has to be committed to being part of that business.”
For instance, at Deloitte, everything is focused on serving the client, so no matter what else motivates employees, they still have to be motivated by the baseline idea that the client is the most important part of the business. If people want to move up at Deloitte, they have to demonstrate a commitment to clients.
“In order to be advanced and given a reward and recognition that people want, they have to be successful at serving clients and doing it within the framework of our values,” he says.
When people demonstrate their commitment to the company’s goals, you have to reward and recognize them for doing so. If you can do this, it helps people be motivated and inspired, but also recognize that money isn’t the only factor in the equation.
“At some point in time, money is not a motivator,” Nelson says. “It can be a sustainer to some degree, but there have to be other rewards in business to motivate. Those rewards are just the challenge of doing one’s job and being successful but also being recognized for that, which comes with advancement and promotion.”
Nelson says it’s absolutely critical, especially in today’s economy, to make sure that you hug your keepers and dissuade their concerns.
“It’s human nature that when an employee feels appreciated, they feel valued,” he says. “When they feel acknowledged and feel empowered, that is a motivating factor for them.”
One way to make people feel appreciated is to spend time with them.
“You do have to sometimes pull yourself away from your computer screen and your keyboard where you’re trying to stay connected 24-7 and return all those e-mails and sometimes get out and just walk amongst your work force,” Nelson says. “The more that leaders actually touch their people and connect with them in a more real way, the better off they are. I read it once … that high tech is no substitute for high touch.”
As you recognize and reward people and also spend time with them, then people will most likely feel more inclined to want to follow you, so it will be easier to bring them along in your goals.
“The first thing you have to remember as the leader is that followership is not an entitlement of leadership,” he says. “Followership has to be earned. There are too many leaders that view followership as an entitlement — that just because they have been given a position or given some responsibility or given a title, that they are entitled to followership. It is not an entitlement. It has to be earned.”
If you can master both communication and empowering and inspiring your people, then you will be a leader through influence, and that ultimately will keep your keepers and help your business grow.
“Our culture is such that if you don’t win their hearts and minds, they’ll go do something else,” Nelson says. “How do you do that? It goes to your values; it goes to your integrity and how you treat them. It goes to the quality and to your skill as a communicator, and I think it goes, in some respects, of how well you make your case — how practical, how logical and how well it’s communicated.”
How to reach: Deloitte LLP, www.deloitte.com
