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Matt Church, Amplifiers the power of motivational leadership
Author and global leadership expert Matt Church believes that we need leaders now more than ever. He says, “I think leadership has always been critically important. But what we don’t need is technical leadership, what we actually need is inspirational leadership, more so than at any other time in history.”
Matt, like many other global thought leaders, believes we are in a period of massive social and cultural change, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the invention of the telephone. The internet and technology have changed our lives forever. He warns, “Make no mistake, our jobs are under threat, because there’s hungry Brazilians, hungry Russians, hungry Indians, hungry Chinese, and soon, hungry Africans, who are desperate to do the work we won’t. I’m not afraid of that. I go, 'Fantastic. So, you guys can do all of that, and what I’m going to do is, I’m going to make sure my competitive advantage is on the stuff you can’t outsource'. And this is the stuff you can’t outsource - leadership.”
He adds, “I think real estate’s going to go through disruptions in the next two decades. Those of us who are going to lead and profit in those next two decades will be those who open their minds to ideas outside of the industry. ‘Cause as Einstein said, “You can never solve a problem with the level of thinking that created it'.”
In his new book, Amplifiers, Matt analyses the characteristics of leadership and lays down the path for be a motivational leader who will inspire and influence. He believes that the role of the leader is not to assign function, but to make sure people are engaged, aligned and leveraged about what they’re doing. He says, “Leaders do those three things very effectively. They get rid of fear and replace it with confidence; get rid of confusion and replace it with clarity and mobilise people in pursuit of a better future.”
In Amplifiers, Matt analyses different types of leaders from the absent to the transformational. He says, “Great leaders motivate, exceptional leaders inspire, transformational leaders amplify. Amplifiers are the rare leaders and extraordinary leaders who amplify the best in themselves and others and who bring out leadership in others. They are the masters of maximising potential and turning it into talent. Amplifiers are able to attract, retain and develop other great leaders, they spend their life bringing out the best in others. If an amplifier is not there, we miss them. Amplifiers are the leaders worth following. They help us do the work worth doing and they create culture worth belonging to.”
Everybody suffers if you don’t have good leaders. Matt explains, “If you don’t have leadership it creates a vacuum and disengagement. Staff wonder 'Who cares?' so the culture becomes a 'who' culture. And you’ve got to address that. If you have leaders who are de-motivators - people who are incredibly dysfunctional, whose focus is the 'little why', nobody will work hard. The 'little why' is - 'Why should I bother doing more? I’m just going to do the bare minimum. I’m going to park my body here at work'. Nobody can thrive in such an environment.”
At the top of the leadership scale, Matt believes are the tiers of “motivators, inspirers and amplifiers. A motivator, essentially, answers the 'big why' - they help us know why we’re doing what we’re doing. They give us that sense of meaning and purpose behind it. Inspirers, though, help us give even more than we would. When you’ve ever worked for an inspirer, you walk over coals for them, you’d work all weekend for them, because they have inspired you to awesomeness. And then amplifiers are transformational, because what they do is build motivators. So they not only motivate and inspire, they actually then embed and decentralise motivation throughout their organisation. Many people become motivators themselves, but they then don’t pass the baton on. And when you do decentralise motivation, amazing things begin to happen. You get exponential returns.”
Great leaders motivate, exceptional leaders inspire, transformational leaders amplify.
So how do you become a motivational leader? Matt believes to be a motivator, inspirer and amplifier, you have to have “self-leadership which means you must take care of yourself; you need process leadership which means the technical understanding; and you need to know how to motivate and inspire the people in your business.”
Amplifiers embed and decentralise motivation throughout their organisation.
He illustrates, “I see a lot of Principals that are very good at process leadership but their self-leadership’s gone to hell - they’re not healthy and their relationships are falling apart. Their technical leadership is fantastic - no one can list, no one can sell, no one can auction, like them, no one can campaign like them. They’re masters of the technical game. But then they fall down on the big game, which is, 'How do I inspire others?' One of the biggest challenges is the growth challenge in real estate. If you’re a selling Principal, then at some point you’re either threatened by the success of the people you’re empowering, or they leave. You can then go open four offices, but you’re no longer selling; you’re now in a management game. You’re not doing what you’re technically competent at, and your margin’s probably worse. So at some point there is this massive tipping point”.
Are you ready for the next epoch? Matt Church can show you the way. For more information please see: www.mattchurch.com
Email or Text AMP to 0477 765 103 - and a sample of Amplifiers will be sent to you.
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