3. Motivation

Demonstrating to your boss and your team that you are motivated is one of the keys to rebuilding your damaged reputation.

Motivation has four parts: striving to improve yourself, a commitment to the team vision and goals, initiative, and optimism. These four parts are inseparable. If you are dedicated to improving yourself and committed to your team, but you lack initiative, you are not seizing opportunities that may be just out of sight. If you are dedicated to improving yourself, are committed to your team, and demonstrate initiative, but you lack optimism, you are missing the ability to unite people toward a vision for the future; setbacks and obstacles can seem huge and overwhelming.

Review the needs and values work you did earlier in this chapter to assess your dedication to self-improvement. If you find that you lack the elements of motivation—dedication to self-improvement, commitment, initiative, and optimism—you may also find that your needs are not being met, or that your values are not being honored. Take control of your career, and find whatever is missing for you.

Important Information to Remember before Beginning Your Rebound Plan

Optimism is a learned behavior. Optimism is about your tendency to expect the best possible outcome. The main difference between optimists and pessimists is how they explain setbacks to themselves: An optimist will assume that he or she is empowered to do something to change the negative situation, and a pessimist is likely to assume that there is nothing that he or she can do that will make any difference at all. Optimists believe that negative circumstances are temporary, and pessimists see negative circumstances as permanent. Perhaps it is just the optimist’s willingness to take action to change that makes the difference, but you need to know that you have the ability to increase your level of optimism and that if you do so, you will experience increased motivation and improved achievement and also an elevated mood and sense of well-being.

Create Your Rebound Plan

Your rebound plan is your strategy for undoing any damage, creating and maintaining a healthy reputation in your organization, and staying out of trouble. If you have received a formal written notice from your boss outlining your deficiencies, you have a sense of your new targets and objectives. If you are creating your rebound plan based on only your observation or perception of the need for such a plan, then additional work will be required. In either case, on a blank sheet of paper, answer the following questions:

1. Why do you do the work that you do?

2. What have been your main accomplishments? Does your boss see these accomplishments the same way you do? If not, why not?

3. What have you enjoyed the most about this job?

4. What have you enjoyed the least about this job?

5. What is your key motivator? Is this tied to a value or a need, and if so, which value and which need?

6. What is your relationship with your boss? List the top three assumptions, with examples, that your boss makes about you. How did your boss come to this conclusion? What does your boss need to learn about you in order for these assumptions to change?

7. What is your relationship with others? List the top three assumptions, with examples, made by each person with whom you have a relationship that requires restoration. How did these individuals come to see you in this light, and what do they need to learn about you in order for these assumptions to change?

8. What is the environment (culture) in your organization, and how does that match or contrast with your needs or values?

9. What are your professional/business goals for the next year, 5 years, 10 years?

Your responses to questions 1, 8, and 9 refer to your motivation and commitment to yourself and the organization. Your responses to questions 2, 3, and 5 validate your dedication to self-improvement, your initiative to make it happen, and your confidence that your plan will succeed. Your responses to questions 4, 6, and 7 reveal to you what needs to be fixed, and with whom.

Earn Your Reputation To rebuild your standing in the workplace, take a deep breath, be willing to take the time required to regain others’ trust, and maintain your optimism. Select the approach that will work best for you and the people you are working with.

1. Rebuild trust. Trust is a fascinating thing. While it is probably the most important component of a successful relationship, it is not easy to define (or to create) because it is a subjective interpretation of how you feel about someone’s behavior.

   When you are rebuilding a shattered workplace trust, you are trying to convey that you acknowledge your error (in judgment or behavior), that you do share similar values, that you do walk the talk, and that you will be respectful and professional. This process takes time, and it will not happen on your time schedule—it will happen on theirs.

   You are fighting the perception of your predictability. For Raj, his boss and teammates predicted that he would always be harsh and hostile. Raj needed to start with his boss, acknowledging that he had demonstrated some pretty bad behavior, and that he had prepared a plan to ensure that the behavior (or error) would not recur. Here is an example of the apology and rebound kick-off that Raj used:

   “I want you to know and see the quality and professionalism I expect from myself. Recently you have experienced something less than that professionalism—my surly attitude has been uncalled for and unacceptable. I have allowed my emotions to dictate my actions, even though I know that this type of behavior is not appropriate. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I will make things right. I hope that you will accept my apology, and that you will allow me to rebuild your trust and the trust of our team.”

2. Be humble—but do not grovel. To be humble when you are launching your rebound plan is to be accountable and responsible for your actions, and willing to work at rebuilding relationships.

   To grovel is shame-based, and while you may not look back on your own behavior with pride, pleading for forgiveness will not support your case.

3. Work on the process of change. If you are repairing broken trust or rebounding from a huge error, ask your boss what steps you can take to inspire confidence and trust. This will allow you to focus on and demonstrate your new behaviors, the process of change. Shifting your behavior, and the assumptions that people have about you and your behavior, will not happen overnight.

   If you have been demoted or stripped of special duties, accept this gracefully; work hard, make smart choices, and do well.

4. Keep learning. When you are working to repair your relationship with your boss, make certain that you know your value to the organization. Make certain, too, that you continue to learn more about your industry, your company, your job, and your own skills. Every time you learn a new skill, celebrate a new win, achieve a new accomplishment, or receive a message or note of congratulations or thanks, save it in your “Attaboy” or “Attagirl” file. In lean times, you can remind yourself of your contribution and value to the organization, and in better times, you will have a resource when it’s time for your next review.

5. Keep an open mind. Sometimes the assumptions that others have about you will be too deeply held to change, requiring you to modify your strategy. I once had a boss tell me, in response to my own rebound proposal, “A leopard never changes his spots.” His statement spelled out the fact that he was not interested in working with my recovery plan or with me; therefore, I created an exit plan instead, and moved on.