Jeddah Rain 26th Jan 11

26th January 2011

Water on Andalus Street (inbetween arafat street and tahlia).  The amazing observation was that people were stuck for hours at end, but they did not lose their cool and enjoyed.

And now the area of Bariman. Location in between hira st and Panda bariman on Amir Mitb road

I hope every body in jeddah reached home safely. Also, i was amazed to see females walking into tahlia mall to shop while the roads outside were flooded. Kudos to their focus and motivation to shop.

Rrecognition can tame a killer whale, why not humans

There are two things people want more than money and power……. Recognition and Praise.


During the next nine working days we will discuss the 9 tactics that lead to self / others motivation. The nine tactics being (1) Recognition, (2) Trust, (3) Challenge, (4) Direction and Communication, (5) Opportunity, (6) Personal Stake, (7) Freedom of Choice, (8) Incentive and (9) Association with a team or group.  http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/motivating-others-driving-others.html 


Starting with Recognition i.e. Acknowledging people on all the good they have done, motivates them to repeat the same.


Some of us have visited the Sea world in Orlando etc, but none of us have ever thought about how are these Killer Whales trained. Yes these are Killer whales, who are doing a show infront of you. They are caught from the sea and then trained to be tame. HOW can a human train a Killer whale, suppress their instincts?


“Whale Done” a book written by Ken Blanchard (One minute manager fame), highlights how these huge killer whales (most feared predators in the ocean) are tamed to perform amazing acrobatic leaps. The trainers basically (a) accentuate the positive and (b) redirect the negative behavior. Gist being, that the trainers focus on

Recognition i.e. Whale Done i.e. Catch people doing the right things and in return the people get motivated to repeat the same over an over again.






To learn more visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbQvrwjT7yo&feature=related

Please feel free to comment / suggest / feedback.... 


To read the full blog, click on http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/ 

"First Break all the Rules" and 5As

Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work

Below is a summary of a book “First Break all the rules”. This book is based on learning of research from 80,000 managers across different industries. The gist being:  that companies that got positive responses from their employees on the below 12 question were more profitable, more productive, had low employee turn over and had highly satisfied internal / external customers. 

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
12. This last year, have I had the opportunity at work to learn and grow?

Linking the above questions with 5As of Motivation discussed two days ago http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/motivation-drive-towards-doing.html

1) Appreciation (recognition, acknowledgement, respect etc)

§         In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?

2) Authority (Power, influence, control etc )

§         Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

§         At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday?

§         At work, do my opinions seem to count?

3) Avoiding Pain “internal to self” ( Internal sense of duty, Philanthropy, accountability, freedom of choice etc)

§         Do I know what is expected of me at work?

4) Affluence (Wealth, prosperity, income etc) 

§         Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

§         In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?

§         This last year, have I had the opportunity at work to learn and grow?

5) Association (Being part of a group etc) 

§         Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me as a person?

§         Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?

§         Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

§         Do I have a best friend at work?

Feel Free to add……   

Motivating Others = Driving others towards higher achievement.

We excel in life as a group,  individually we are one drop, but together we are an ocean.....


Motivating Others = Driving others towards higher achievement.

Yesterday we discussed the 5A model for motivation (http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/motivation-drive-towards-doing.html) today lets talk about the 9 Tactics that can help motivate people around us  and how they fit into the 5A's 

1) Appreciation (recognition, acknowledgement, respect etc)

a.   Recognition–  Acknowledging people on all the good they have done, motivate them to repeat the same.

b.   Trust  - Show faith in people and they will move mountains to maintain your faith in them.

c.   Challenge  - Ask people to do, what no body has done before. Word it right, and watch them reach their zenith

2) Authority (Power, influence, control etc )

a.    Direction and Communication –  As humans we don’t want to move out of our comfort zone, hence a comprehensive direction will make us feel in control and move us forward.

b.   Growth Opportunity – We want to move up the ladder, show us the opportunity to advance and then see how we beat your expectations.

3) Avoiding Pain “internal to self” ( Internal sense of duty, Philanthropy, accountability, freedom of choice, Personal Challenge etc)

a.   Pleasure or Consequences or Personal stake –  Pleasurable rewards move people, I personally don’t believe in  threats, at it brings a sour flavor in the relationship.  Let people do, because they want to do it, rather than they want to avoid pain. As humans, we have two ways to deal with one another: Reason or force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuation. Force should be the last resort in social interaction, as force leads to injustice that leads to most of the ills in society.

b.   Freedom of choice and deadlines – People with high internal accountability, work the best against a deadline that they have set for themselves. Also these people generally work best on their own ideas (freedom of choice)

4) Affluence (Wealth, prosperity, income etc) 

a. Incentives – J

5) Association (Being part of a group etc) 

a. Team – Camaraderie help bring the best out of people.

Please feel free to add any other tactic that i may have missed  

Motivation = Drive towards doing something

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. It does not matter where you have been, what matters is where you are going, what are you becoming.....

Motivation = Drive towards doing something.

Today lets look at the “Whys” behind motivation i.e. “why do we do the things we do?” or “Why we make a certain decision?” or “Why are we driven towards a certain direction?”

To answer the “Why” lets look at what motivates an average human?  I call it the 5A of Motivation

Appreciation (recognition, acknowledgement, respect etc)

Authority or Achievement (Power, influence, control etc )

Avoiding Pain “internal to self” ( Internal sense of duty, Philanthropy, accountability, freedom of choice etc)

Affluence  (Wealth, prosperity, income etc) 

Association (Part of a group etc) 

Depending on the day, mood, historical perspective, we give higher weight to one of the above “A” and make a decision that leads us towards it.

Please feel free to add…..

Time and Focus are zero sum quantities. Spend them on things that matter...

Time has more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time

People generally ask me how can they better utilize their time, they are asking for a tool or an organizer that can help them better manage their time. Some friends of mine even went ahead to buy expensive smart phones that had great organizing abilities, but still they complain of lack of time.

I always tell my friends, before they go and use a tool, they have to be sure of what they want in life. My philosophy of time management is

“ Time spent towards an objective is time well spent, everything else is wasted”

To explain, if your objective for the day is to relax by watching TV, then all the time you spent watching TV and relaxing was time well spent. However, the time you spent in responding to official emails was waste of time, given that it was not part of the objective.

So take a day off, think on “Who you want to become, where do you want to reach” and then jot down all the steps required to reach those goals.  All the time you spent marching towards your goal will be time well spent. Daily analysis of where you spent your time, will help  in prioritizing.

Take a day off and think…… who you want to become and where you want to reach……. share with us also so that we also get motivated  J