(3) HONEST. If you trick people into taking action or lie to get them to take action, you'll damage that element on which all motivation is based, trust. Afterward, you may be able to order them to do a job, but you will never motivate them. Be honest with yourself in developing your call-to-action. Marcus Aurelius said, "Never esteem anything as an advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect." Be honest with them in challenging them to act. I do not recommend this merely on trustworthy grounds but on eminently practical ones as well. After all, we do not know how good we are as leaders unless we are challenging people to be better than they think they are. And they cannot be persuaded to accept that challenge if they think we're deceiving them or that you are deceiving yourself.

(4) MEANINGFUL. Action gives meaning to emotion your audience feels. Emotion alone cannot get results. It's action that gets results. Action validates emotion, and vice versa.

Leaders who find little meaning in their jobs or results associated with those jobs, shouldn't be leaders, or they should change jobs and/or results. Most leaders understand this. But few leaders understand that meaning also involves jobs of people they are leading and attitudes of those people toward those jobs and results jobs aim for.

Your cause should be meaningful to people who must carry it out. If it is only your cause and not their cause, action they take will get insufficient results. Your cause will be meaningful to them when that actions they take to meet challenges of that cause are solving problems of THEIR needs. So, before you challenge them to take action, identify their needs and problem solving actions.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

For instance, in a police academy, an instructor came into room with a note that said CLEAR OUT THIS ROOM IMMEDIATELY. The first cadet ordered his colleagues out. A few cadets left but most stayed. The instructor handed note to a second cadet who pleaded for his classmates to leave. Again, a few left but most stayed. Finally, instructor gave note to a third cadet. This cadet understood how to identify needs and have people take action to solve those needs. He said two words, which emptied room. "Lunch break!"

People are always willing to take ardent action to solve problems of their needs. The question is can you identify those needs. Once you do, you hare half way home to getting them to take such action.

(7) DEADLINE: All action you have people take must have a deadline. Otherwise, it might become a low priority for them, and they will not be especially urged to take it. Be constantly monitoring yourself when motivating people to take action by asking, "Have I a put a deadline to this action?" If you haven't, do it.

(8) FED BACK: True motivation isn't what people do in your sight. True motivation is what they do after they have left your sight. Many leaders get "head fake" from people they're leading -- their nodding their heads and saying, "Yes," face-to-face with leader; but inside saying, "No." When they leave your presence, they do what they want, not what you want. Make sure that action you challenge them to take is fed back to you, so that you are aware -- and they are aware that you are aware -- of that action.

Leaders do nothing more important than get results, and results come from people taking action.

The trouble is, most leaders have people get a fraction of potential results because these leaders misunderstand what action really is -- and in that misunderstanding misapply and misuse it.

When speaking to people, keep eight ways of right action in mind so people take right action to achieve right results.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.