CHAPTER 14
MOTIVATING OTHERS
There is nothing worse in any team or group environment, than members who are cold or lukewarm towards the team’s goals and achievements, those people who mumble ‘I’m here because I have to be’ or ‘I don’t care’. Their motivation is neither the team nor its vision but their own ambition. They cannot see success as a communal achievement and they cannot envisage themselves as part of a team. The team ethic is a burden to them, something to be avoided. They approach the team scenario with disdain. Their negativity can undermine performance, authority and the well- being of the team or organization.
Those who are cold and uncaring, obstinate and recalcitrant towards the team and its goals are easy to deal with, they do not want to be there, they get no satisfaction from the team environment, their desire is to be elsewhere, then as all good leaders who want to keep a happy team do, help them satisfy their needs – replace them!
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. (1Sam.15:23)
As for those who are lukewarm and unsure of where they loyalties lie, Jesus has some harsh words –
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. (Rev. 3:15-16)
Those who are lukewarm can go either way, and they usually do, one day fervent, the next day cold, their allegiance uncertain. Their words ring in our ears almost daily: ‘I know. I’ve heard it all before. I’m not in the mood. Not today. Let’s see how I feel tomorrow. Maybe, perhaps, it could or could not happen. What a waste of time. Who does he think he is? I like him/her, but…!’ There always seems to be a ‘but’ in the way. All these are lukewarm approaches to work, to life, to ideas and display a lax attitude towards success. If an idea or project does not succeed they are usually the ones who say, “I told you so. I knew it wouldn’t work”, and if the project is successful then we hear, “So what, I could have done it better.” Unfortunately their attitude reveals their loyalties as undecided, their reason – unclear, their work ethic – non-existent, their motivation – none. These are the people that need motivating. They need to make a decision. They need to be forced into drawing a line in the sand, for or against.
As the leader, it falls to you to stir the fire, and to keep it burning everyday. As leader it is for you to move the reluctant, to stir them to greater heights, to let them know that they are capable of more, that they can burn brighter, to encourage the ‘don’ts’ to do and the ‘won’ts’ to will.
And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.
The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out. (Lev. 6:12-13)
Each of us have good days and bad, times when we wonder if it is worth it, when we feel the strength going out of us, times when we feel like Elijah after the Lord’s great victory at Carmel. Instead of turning the nation back to God as Elijah had hoped, it only angered the queen, Jezebel, and she pledged to kill the prophet for what he had done to her priests and god. Elijah then fled for his life, hiding out in a cave on Mount Horeb and there in a fit of depression he complained to God:
And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
(1Kings 19:14)
He thought he could not go on, he was wasting his time, and he was fighting a lone battle against the forces of evil. He needed encouragement, he needed to be motivated. He needed a reason to continue.
It is very easy to become discouraged when things do not work out as we expect them to, or when we are faced with what might seem to be overwhelming odds, especially if we keep looking at the negative and all the reasons why we should not go on. If the team focused on the negative and on all that is wrong or the things that might go wrong, then it is time for the leader to step in and turn those thoughts to the positive as the Lord did with Elijah.
Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. (1Kings 19:18)
Encouraged by this news Elijah left the cave to anoint others to continue the struggle against idolatry.
Your job as leader is to motivate others, to add fuel to the fire of zeal, to ensure the fire never goes out, and the easiest way to keep the fire burning in others is by letting them see the fire in you, letting them know that the cause is good, that success will follow endeavour, that the effort is worth the struggle, that they are the reason there will be success as Paul reminded the Galatians:
But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. (Gal. 4:18)
Jesus was zealous in all that He did, never allowing the doubts and negativity of his followers to get Him down. Isaiah describes the zeal of Jesus –
For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
(Isa. 59:17)
His zeal he wore as a cloak, for all to see. Jesus did not hide it behind fancy names or in an office. He was out there displaying what He was all about, where He was going, what He was achieving – a fine example for all leaders.
In John 11 Jesus is informed that His friend Lazarus is sick. The problem for Jesus and His followers is that Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, live in Judea where the Jews have vowed to kill Jesus. In fact they had recently tried to stone Him there, but Jesus being the leader that He is said:
Let us go into Judaea again. (John 11:7)
As is typical with doubters there was a lot of protest from His disciples who feared what would happen if they were caught, but then, surprisingly we read of one who saw the determination of Jesus, who fed on His courage, who was the supreme doubter:
Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
(John 11:16)
People who are motivated can do extraordinary things. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul described the effects of their zeal.
For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. (2Cor. 9:2)
The believers in Corinth had affected many others with their zeal. When instructing Timothy in faith and gifts, Paul used the words ‘live it’ (1 Tim 4:15). That is what zeal and determination is all about, living it, breathing it, eating it. Jesus said, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent me…’ (John 4:34) This is what kept Him alive, His reason for being, His everything.
The zeal and determination of people even moved God to do something unusual. The people had made a decision to build a tower so they could get to heaven, some say to escape any future flood, but this was not God’s plan of redemption:
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
(Gen. 11:6)
When a team is united behind a leader ‘the sky’s the limit’. When those in the team or organization see that zeal in you, that fire for what you are doing, that belief in where you are headed, they too will be fired to reach above themselves, to reach for the stars.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matt. 11:12)
This is the violence of determination. A never say die attitude because our leader has shown us the way. He has walked the path and gone before us. His zeal has been transmitted to us, and a fire has been lit in our hearts. Those with a burning heart, those who truly want to, those that are really determined, will enter the kingdom of heaven. We do not have to build towers, we need to follow the road and manner already laid out for us by Jesus.
In Luke 13:24 we are told to ‘strive to enter the narrow gate…’
Strive means to struggle, to fight for, to try as hard as you can, to contend, to vie, Paul described it as a race, a ‘pressing toward the goal’ (Phil 4:13) never giving up. As leaders we must stir up those around us with our own enthusiasm and zeal, never allowing the fire to go out, to press on towards the goal.