Organizational leaders are many things: decision makers, financial strategists, strategic visionaries and more. But, how many have added “coach” to their list of job titles? Leading a plastics processing company – especially in today’s workforce environment, where finding and keeping employees is a crucial task – requires motivational leadership. Not only do employees need to be engaged in their daily tasks, they also need to have purpose, believe in the mission of the organization and feel as if their roles are important to overall success.
Leaders are responsible for creating an environment that fosters those feelings, creating employee loyalty and a dedication to the daily grind. These five books offer insight into building a culture with a motivational approach, serving the greater good of a team and developing organizational talent.
Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation
Author: Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor
Released: Oct. 6, 2015
Primed to Perform explains the counterintuitive science behind great cultures, building on more than a century of academic thinking. It shares the simple, highly predictive new measurement tool – the Total Motivation (ToMo) Factor – that enables you to measure the strength of your culture and track improvements over time. It explores the authors’ original research into how Total Motivation leads to higher performance in iconic companies, from Apple to Starbucks to Southwest Airlines. Most importantly, it teaches you to build great cultures, using a systematic and sustainable approach. High performing cultures can’t be left to chance. Organizations must create systems that shape and maintain them. Whether you’re a five-person team or a start-up, a school, a nonprofit or a mega-institution, Primed to Perform shows you how.
Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization
Author: John Wooden and Steve Jamison
Released: April 30, 2005
John Wooden’s goal in 41 years of coaching never changed; namely, to get maximum effort and peak performance from each of his players in the manner that best served the team. Wooden on Leadership explains, step-by-step, how he pursued and accomplished this goal. Focusing on Wooden’s 12 Lessons in Leadership and his acclaimed Pyramid of Success, it outlines the mental, emotional and physical qualities essential to building a winning organization, and shows you how to develop the skill, confidence and competitive fire to “be at your best when your best is needed” – and teach your organization to do the same.
Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivation (TED Books)
Author: Dan Ariely
Released: Nov. 15, 2016
Every day, we work hard to motivate ourselves, the people we live with, the people who work for and do business with us. In this way, much of what we do can be defined as being “motivators.” From the boardroom to the living room, our role as motivators is complex, and the more we try to motivate partners and children, friends and coworkers, the clearer it becomes that the story of motivation is far more intricate and fascinating than we’ve assumed. Payoff investigates the true nature of motivation, our partial blindness to the way it works and how we can bridge this gap. With studies that range from Intel to a kindergarten classroom, Ariely digs deep to find the root of motivation – how it works and how we can use this knowledge to approach important choices in our own lives. Along the way, he explores intriguing questions such as: Can giving employees bonuses harm productivity? Why is trust so crucial for successful motivation? What are our misconceptions about how to value our work?
Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family
Author: Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia
Released: Oct. 6, 2015
Starting in 1997, Bob Chapman and Barry-Wehmiller have pioneered a dramatically different approach to leadership that creates off-the-charts morale, loyalty, creativity and business performance. The company utterly rejects the idea that employees are simply functions, to be moved around, “managed” with carrots and sticks, or discarded at will. Instead, Barry-Wehmiller manifests the reality that every single person matters, just like in a family. That’s not a cliché on a mission statement; it’s the bedrock of the company’s success. Chapman and coauthor Raj Sisodia show how any organization can reject the traumatic consequences of rolling layoffs, dehumanizing rules and hypercompetitive cultures. Once you stop treating people like functions or costs, disengaged workers begin to share their gifts and talents toward a shared future. Uninspired workers stop feeling that their jobs have no meaning. Frustrated workers stop taking their bad days out on their spouses and kids. And everyone stops counting the minutes until it’s time to go home.
Unlocking Potential: 7 Coaching Skills That Transform Individuals, Teams and Organizations
Author: Michael K. Simpson
Released: Aug. 12, 2014
To get the best from your employees, you need to be more than a manager. You need to be a coach. You have the training and experience. You understand your business – but can you fully motivate and engage your team? Michael K. Simpson, a senior consultant to FranklinCovey, has spent more than 25 years training executives to become effective coaches, mentoring and guiding leaders and managers to encourage and develop the talent of their people – the most important asset in any organization. In this guide, you will acquire the skills to coach your personnel from the ground up, maximizing their potential on a personal level, as members of the team and as contributors to the organization as a whole.
