Success is no coincidence. And motivation certainly isn’t.
In challenging market phases, which we are currently experiencing at close quarters, we can observe the following activities in abundance:
Everything and anything is intensively analyzed, warned, relativized and, not infrequently, lamented. Figures are explained, risks emphasized, scenarios played out, missing sales presented. That’s all well and good. Information and facts are part of the basis for conclusions, directional corrections and decisions. But only one part. Successful management of people requires much more and that is a good thing. Numbers are absolute, factual and objective, whereas we humans are variable. We can sag, we can give in and, if the conditions are right, we can also outgrow expectations and ourselves.
Well, let’s talk about these framework conditions.
“Net gschimpft isch globt gnug.” is the well-known saying from Swabian. Even people from Hanover who speak High German should be able to understand this short sentence despite the dialect.
As much as we like to smile about this old “wisdom” and savings recommendation – in terms of content, it is a casual, big mistake. We should not only know this sentence, we should fear it and banish it!
Nothing generates motivation as reliably as experienced and visible success. This is not an assumption, it is proven both empirically and scientifically. We are not limited machines, but made of flesh and blood, knowledge, experience, emotion and belief. More fascinating and diverse than any machine, any cloud, no matter how intelligent it may seem.
When it comes to the framework conditions for success, what is all too often neglected in difficult times is highlighting progress and successes, results that have already been achieved. It is almost as if it is inappropriate to make success visible as long as not everything is going perfectly. Yet SUCCESS itself is one of the fire accelerators. It’s really something! Especially in sales, especially when salespeople find themselves in a crisis market and are perhaps lagging behind their ambitious goals rather than running ahead.
Success works – always.
People who achieve something want to achieve even more. Success is inspiring and, as already mentioned, we humans have no fixed limit. Individuals and teams who feel their impact develop almost limitless energy. Sales, which is struggling in many industries at the moment, thrives on precisely this: the experience that your own efforts are making a difference. Robust motivation and confidence are needed here.
No Limits: Success is not an end point. Success is an amplifier.
Once you have experienced that effort is worthwhile, that a goal is achievable and that performance is recognized, you develop self-confidence. And self-confidence is the basis for sustainable performance – not pressure, not control, not constant criticism.
Leadership means creating conditions
Most managers in business have no direct influence on markets, the economy or competition. But they do have an influence on framework conditions:
- Target values
- Milestones
- Priorities
- Resources
- Feedback culture
And this is precisely where motivation comes into play. Decades ago, Frederick Herzberg clearly stated what is still true today: the strongest drivers of motivation are a sense of achievement and recognition.
- Not benefits.
- Not appeals.
- Not pressure.
Small victories beat big slogans
If performance is to grow, goals must be ambitious and achievable. Not at some point. But concrete, timely and verifiable. Big year-end goals rarely motivate in everyday life. What has an immediate effect, however, are stages, measurable progress and visible movement.
Dividing goals into meaningful stages creates significantly more momentum. Every step achieved releases energy – for the next one – for the next one – for the next one.
When power flows: Flow
A situation that many people are familiar with from sport – and which the world of work often underestimates or no longer sees. Especially in the number-driven middle management level, the people working there are quickly covered in columns of figures to such an extent that their view of the world outside the Excel lists, of their employees “on the front line”, can become clouded.
FLOW. It was described and made into one of the standards in leadership primarily by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a former professor at the University of Chicago who died in 2021. A look at his publications is absolutely worth its weight in gold (=money)! In the truest sense of the word.
FLOW is created when people:
- Focused work
- are challenged, but not overwhelmed
- have clear, meaningful goals and
- Receive immediate feedback
In flow, performance is not forced – it is created. Concentrated. Effectively. With high quality.
Managers can neither prescribe flow nor force it with special bonuses. But they can enable it – through clarity, prioritization, realistic goals, honest, personal appreciation and the conscious renunciation of constant criticism and micromanagement, among other things.
#nevermorewhining – impact instead of victimhood
Complaining ties up energy. Complaining paralyzes teams. Neither creates a solution. Particularly in challenging phases, leadership is needed that focuses on the future:
- What is already working?
- Where are we effective?
- What have we achieved despite everything?
Successes can – and must – be visible, made visible. Not out of complacency, not out of adulation, but as an honest signal:
“Your performance is worth it.”
Recognition is personal. “The company thanks you” is correct. “I thank you” is much more effective.
Recognition only really works if it is personal, specific and tangibly honest. Not as a cliché and not as a mass mailing from a distant management chair. Good managers know this: If you want to see performance, you have to let performance be seen – and appreciate it.
My conclusion is an appeal
Motivation does not come from constant pressure. It comes from tangible, visible, present impact. Success needs success. And leadership needs the courage to make this possible.
If you want your sales organization to develop real energy, focus and closing power, then focus less on criticism – and more on FLOW, clarity and achievable success.
I invite you, yes, YOU personally, to do this too: #neverwhine. Period.
This is exactly what we work on in our training courses – in sales, in leadership, in team development.