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  Have you ever noticed that successful leaders have the amazing ability to motivate people to action regardless of age, status, personality or even skillset? Successful leaders seem to know what to say and do to motivate people. In studying top motivational leaders varying from Zig Ziglar to Tony Robbins and all the way from Oprah Winfrey to Mother Teresa, I have observed three secrets they and many other successful leaders have in common when it comes to motivating people to action. Let’s explore these three secrets revealed and how you can immediately apply them to your life starting right now.

  THE FIRST SECRET REVEALED

  What’s in it for Me? (W.I.I.F.M)

  The first secret revealed that successful leaders apply when motivating people to action is tuning in to the frequency that captures the attention of the person they are speaking with. Actually, you are listening to that station in your head right now and just about every minute of the day. You know, the one with the call letters W.I.I.F.M. which stands for What’s In It For Me, Me, Me, Me and playing what you want to hear 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Now, you might be the nicest selfsacrificing person in the world but I promise you, when you picked out this eBook you weren’t thinking, “Oh, I think I will buy this to make Dawn feel good”. No! You bought this eBook thinking to yourself something along the lines of, “I want to get something out of this” or “I want to be a better leader”.

  So here is the point, if you want to communicate successfully and motivate different people in all different situations, then the first thing to do is tune into their W.I.I.F.M. - not yours, theirs. Constantly ask yourself what’s in it for them? Why would they want to listen to you? What motivates them? What is significant to them? The moment you take the focus off of you and place it onto the other person, you begin to understand what’s important to them. Once you begin to understand what’s important to them they will begin to see that you care about them. Once people see and believe that you truly care about them, then this is the first step in answering the question that successful leaders have known through the ages and that is how do I motivate people to action? The answer is tuning in to their W.I.I.F.M. factor. As you discover what’s in it for them, you begin to establish a trust and a bond that when built upon, motivates people to the ends of the earth. By tuning in to their W.I.I.F.M. you will understand what’s important to them so you can help them move towards your goals by helping them reach their goals.

  I tie this concept into something I learned from Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit #2 states: begin with the end in mind. Start just about every seminar, training and coaching session with this concept because the clearer your target the better chance you will have of hitting it. The more you know about what motivates the people you are speaking with, the more you can weave what’s important to them into your target. One of my favorite quotes is from Earl Woods, the father of golf-pro, Tiger Woods, in which he says, “Each shot you hit your entire life must have a target or it’s a wasted effort. Never hit a shot without a target.” So, as you think about what your leadership target is or what end in mind you have when it comes to successfully motivating people to action, let’s tune in to your WIIFM factor, what’s in it for you.

  What are some areas you’d like to personally target? What is your end in mind? What does successfully motivating people to action look like in your world? Does it mean getting along with people who are normally difficult to get along with or does it mean working as a team with people who are different and producing excellent results. Perhaps it means having a higher quality of life because now it could be easy and almost effortless to motivate people who were once challenging for you. As you think about what’s in it for you, consider the areas you’d like to target as we move to the second leadership secret revealed in motivating people to action and that is putting your personality to work for you.
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  THE SECOND SECRET REVEALED

  Putting Your Personality to Work for You

  All successful leaders realize they must understand their own personality style as well as the personalities of the people they want to motivate because people’s personality directly influence all areas of their lives, from their job or vocation all the way to their relationships and who they choose as friends. Tapping into this vital secret is a key factor in motivating people. Once you understand the type of person that you are interacting with, you can then determine what motivates them as well as what doesn’t motivate them. Both of these are vital because once you know how to speak the language of their personality style, you will be able to help them make decisions that turn into action. That’s really all motivation is. It’s changing the way someone currently perceives a situation, pointing them in a new direction and helping them truly believe they can take action to move towards and accomplish the goal. This leadership section will examine the fundamentals of personality styles and determine if your words are talking people into your ideas or out of your ideas based on personality as well as leadership. So let’s explore these four different communication styles and the personalities attached to them.

  There are many different personality tests available. Some tests give results by comparing your temperament to that of a particular animal while other tests give you a color to describe your personality, or perhaps even initials or letters while many just use simple words. Here is a list of definitions that best describe the different personality or communication styles. The four types are the analyzing person, the bottom line person, the outgoing person and the relational person.

  As you read through this eBook, think about which communication style best describes you. While you are evaluating your own communication style you will find that you probably have several characteristics from each type, which is perfectly normal. The purpose of this exercise is to see which communication style you use the most or which is your dominant communication style. When you discover this, you can begin to develop and strengthen your leadership skills in the remaining three communication styles. Once you have identified your communication styles and the areas you’d like to improve in, then you can take a look at the people in your life and analyze their communication styles. This way you will begin to apply what you have learned immediately so that this new thought will become a natural process for you when talking with the people in your life.

  Analyzing Person

  The analyzing person tends to know all the facts about his or her situation: names, dates, details - how everything connects together. This person has a file, though not always organized, in their mind like a drop down menu. Many times they can recall dates and times about history or trivia. They are usually thinking two or three steps ahead as to how everything is going to connect together.

  Some drawbacks to this communication style are that unless the analyzer has all of the facts, they won’t make a decision. Also, everything must add up before they can move to the next step. The attitude of the analyzer can sometimes be, “if we are going to fix this problem, let’s do it right so we don’t have a further problem down the line”. Here is a bonus tip for motivating this style - analyzers expect you to have all of the facts and to be prepared to back up those facts and data by quoting your sources. Keep this in mind when talking with analyzers as it is very important to make sure that everything connects and that the details you are giving them are based on facts, not feelings or personal opinion. However, it is okay to add your opinion when summing up the facts. When you come prepared with the facts and present them in a linear, logical, sequential manner you are more inclined to motivate an analyzer to action. This preparation and presentation walks the analyzer through the process and analyzers love successful processes. So let’s recap the best way to talk with analyzers; be prepared with the details, stick to the facts, offer your opinion as a way to sum up the facts and move them on to the next step and then ask them for a decision once all of the facts line up.
• About the Author
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  Dawn Jones has had an exemplary career as a high-powered professional. She is an international speaker, corporate trainer and business leader. After more than 19 years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience, she knows the secrets to success inside out.

  As a professional speaker, Dawn is passionate about helping people reach their goals and live their dreams; as well as helping them discover the essentials of communicating for results, building self-esteem, and unlocking their paths to success.

  Her fast-paced delivery, sprinkled with impacting stories and anecdotes, makes her one of the most stimulating and sought-after speakers in her specialty areas. Dawn addresses eager audiences both LIVE and on audio. Her corporate travels have taken her to Australia, New Zealand, England, and across North America. Her recently published recordings include “Taking Control of Time and Priorities and Organizing Your Work and Life,” as well as “Conflict Management Skills for Women.”

  In her free time Dawn travels with her husband to East Africa where they volunteer with non-profit groups to help build a hope and a future for the next generation.

  More than a theorist, Dawn has put her insights and methods to the test over and over in real-life situations both professionally and personally. They are easy to implement. They work. And when combined, they create a concrete road map people can use to triumph over obstacles in their life and achieve their goals.

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