A breakthrough leader is in the business of overachievement. You want people to go beyond their comfort zone. You want to help them go through walls. You help people win in life.
You can help people achieve their goals as a leader. A motivational speaker can help, but it is your primary job. You cannot put a tag price on this.
Overachievement means many things. I will discuss this shortly.
Your mission, should you desire to make breakthroughs, is to help people follow the three steps that will help them achieve their goals beyond their expectations.
What is overachievement?
Overachievement may mean doing something which people have not done before. Or starting to do small changes every day. Or speaking in a crowd. Or having the courage to do the “impossible.”
Overachievement may mean you help them 10x or 1000x their sales. Salesmanship is an inner game. Often, those who know excellent salesmanship skills sell better than most. But they don’t get to their potential because of limiting beliefs.
Overachievement may mean getting the ability to pitch to demanding customers. If you can help people turn fears into a passion to serve customers, they are overachieving.
Overachievement may mean inspiring employees to achieve excellence together and making indifferent employees fully engaged. You encourage them to trust first and be vulnerable. You make them drive results.
One way to illustrate overachievement is when people move from A to B, A to C, or A to Z.
Another way is to make them the first step towards their heroic journey. After that, you help them transform every step of the way. You become a mentor to them.
As a leader, you are a coach, a counselor, and a mentor.
The motivational speaker, like me, serves to support you. He is the mentor on stage, and you, the leader, are the mentor at work.
My Overachievement Story
Overachievement may mean stretching yourself so you can expand your comfort zone.
Here’s a true story.
After four months as a member of Toastmasters, I realized that my club became my comfort zone. I first joined the club because I wanted to be a confident speaker.
Four months after, I was so convinced I can speak anytime when I am in the club. That meant I had to go out and seek other clubs. Then talk in other associations. Then speak as a paid speaker.
Our comfort zones may shrink or grow big.
Each of us is capable of going beyond our perceived limitations. I do not believe in “no limits.” My body tells me my limitations. I cannot lift 1000 kilograms. A solid and long lever may help. Or a machine. But there are limits to what I can do.
But I do not have to set my limits. I must find ways to make things happen. I can overachieve.
Steps to Achieve Goals
So, our question is, how a leader can help people overachieve? Is it enough that we talk about mindsets, strategies, and techniques? Can we use motivational stories to get people motivated?
There is no single formula, but we ought to offer a proven formula so people will understand and take the first step.
1. Define the dream.
If I were to speak to a friendly audience, I wouldn’t talk as if there is a curriculum I need to cover. Even professional speakers make this mistake. Your topic is interesting to you, but nobody says it will also be attractive to everyone.
Your audience is hungry for X. What is their X?
You can assume, of course.
You can start with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. People want safety, security, connection, recognition, and meaning in life.
People want to contribute to the world. Most of us want to be somebody.
A motivational speaker may focus on one topic and sell it again and again. But you the leader must know what people really need.
You can ask your people. Listen to what employees say. Figure out what they are not saying too. You want to figure out what keeps your audience awake at night.
If you know the dreams of people, you will see if you can help them.
You can sell them a product or service. That means people have to buy your solution, or you can show them how to get answers. Your goal as a speaker is to give them the courage to move.
2. Show how to achieve.
The first step was easy though many leaders fail to do it. Knowing the dreams of people helps you clarify their goals.
In doing so, you have also defined your goal as a manager. You ought to tell a motivational speaker what you know.
People don’t buy something because it is good. They don’t take action because it is logical.
You have to show them how.
Remember, they cannot overachieve without action. Employees have been in the “comfort” zone because they have not done something you are about to offer.
Show them that there are a few critical steps they must take. I call these vital behaviors. You do an A, and you will get B.
If you are working with a motivational speaker, you ought to collaborate. Give your bullet points.
Or use stories. Stories are effective ways to teach people.
Motivational speakers use stories. Stories give the listeners a vicarious learning experience.
Stories make you live in another person’s skin for a while. Positive vicarious experience provides us with the confidence to do something for the first time.
Yes, it is important to give specific steps. Make it easy to understand. Make them do it.
Allow me to give an example.
When I was still teaching high school students, I taught creative writing. Creative writing was not in the curriculum because the subject is English Communication. However, creative writing is an excellent way to help them communicate better.
You communicate well if you think well. The closest thing to thinking is writing. So I have to teach students how to write. But I won’t do it the typical way.
I introduced creative writing to the class. And the tool that I chose was journal writing. My goal was to help students write every day. But their previous experiences in writing did not help them. So I had to create new experiences.
So I began each class with five-minute journal writing. The vital behavior is to write every day. To make it easy, I started with freewriting – write everything that comes to mind.
To cut this long story short: they became better thinkers.
Some of my students found it easy to write essays. They got better grades in all subjects. And yes, some of my students are now authors.
Helping people overachieve is easier than we imagined.
3. Turn actions into habits.
One key to overachievement is making the vital behaviors stick. Action determines the result. Movements build muscles.
You can continue hiring a motivational speaker every year. Or every time you have a motivation problem. But you will be wasting your time if people will not turn action into a habit.
As leaders, you must engage employees.
This is why you ought to hire a motivational speaker when you have clear, measurable goals. Together, identify vital behaviors. Then, ensure that leaders promote and practice them.
Earlier, I said that it is good for you to hire Filipino motivational speakers. But this does not mean you can’t hire John Maxwell or Brene Brown.
I have shown you a simplified formula for helping employees overachieve.
Now, it’s your turn to use these steps to help people achieve their goals.
