John Hersey Leadership Blog

As a professional leadership speaker, I am firmly of the belief that motivation is the ‘programming language of the soul’.  Professionals like myself can improve the lives of employees, and thus the bottom lines of businesses, using worships and keynote presentations.  In today’s ultracompetitive business environment, with the added stress of the economic state, keeping your employees motivated and optimistic is more important than ever.

Anything done in a business environment requires multiple interactions between various people and groups, and all of those interactions have motivational implications.  Each time you communicate with a superior or subordinate, you convey your mood to them, and that mood will affect their own, whether either of you realize it or not.  Getting the attitude in the workplace aligned correctly causes a mutually-supporting environment where each interaction reinforces the positive attitude of each person by exposing him to the positive attitude of the other.  In this way, a single well-performed motivational exercise can have a profound and long-lasting impact on a company.

Make no mistake – motivation, and motivational speaking, are complex and sometimes ambiguous subjects that are as much art as science.  That said, it is a strong tactic for managers and companies as whole entities to have motivational speakers come and present to them.  New managers, or managers who have not studied motivation, will benefit from a motivational speaker not just in terms of being motivated themselves, but also an exercise in learning how to motivate their subordinates.

It’s rare that modern managers stop and consider how we interact with others, and the impact that others have on our behavior and values.  Some mangers have an appearance of success, but are despised by many, and cost the company dearly in terms of morale.  Having a leadership speaker come and present may not only help those who the unfortunate manager has harmed, but also show that manager how his attitude has hurt his company by convincing him to examine his interactions with his coworkers.

Motivating people is serious work, with influences from the psychological and environmental to the spiritual and physiological.  The factors that count in to an individual’s motivation vary from individual to individual and indeed from hour to hour.  Only a trained professional motivation leader has the knowledge to use the ‘programming language of the soul’ to acquire the desired effect — a harmonious, effective workplace that will maintain its own upbeat efficiency for months to come.

In today’s uncertain economy many businesses and organizations are facing change as they have never known.  Change is always intimidating, but to some, it can cause discouragement, disinterest, depression and even complete apathy.  For an organization facing these problems among their employees, a simple remedy can often be found through a motivational speaker who can breathe that essential spark of life back into employees, managers and in fact, the total business.

And now comes the question.  Do you search out a speaker who can motivate your employees or a speaker who can inspire them, and is there a difference?  Many would agree that the two are one and the same, but still others remain steadfast in their beliefs that there is a marked difference in the two.

Let’s start first with definitions.  The dictionary defines to motivate as, “to provide with a motive or motives; incite; impel” and to inspire as, “to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence.”

So do we want a leadership speaker to motivate or inspire? A simple analogy may help us understand the difference.  If you have an old clunker that you’ve ignored, chances are it will often fail to start when you want to go somewhere.  Sure, you can get it to go by pushing it down the driveway, but the next time you go to start it, you will likely need to give it that same push.  On the other hand, if you had kept it well maintained, it would more than likely start up right away for you every time.

The same is very similar when motivating or inspiring people.  If they have been motivated, they will be eager to move forward….for a while.  But eventually the momentum will slow and you will need to “push” them to get them going again, and if you stop pushing chances are they will stop altogether.

A person who has been inspired, on the other hand, is like the old clunker that has been well maintained.  An inspired person sees the vision and understands the expectations and as a result has a desire to keep going and working until the desired goals have been reached.  Rather than needing that little push every so often, they are self-propelled to complete the task.

Another example might be the person who attends a sales promotion meeting, gets all fired up at the time, buys the kit and materials, and then a few days later loses interest in the whole idea.  This person was obviously motivated but definitely not inspired!

It would appear then, that the fundamental difference between motivating someone and inspiring them is found in the long term effect.  Motivation seems to be a fleeting thing where inspiration is more long lasting.  True inspiration can actually last a lifetime.   Most of us can remember way back in our lives a time when a teacher, relative or parent so inspired us that it changed our way of doing things forever.  True inspiration then, provides a lasting motivation that comes from within, bringing with it the determination to wake up every day and take action towards our goals.