The Healthcare Intelligence Hub E-Newsletter
Data / Empowering High Performance
The Extra Degree Makes all the Difference
Cynthia Porter, PresidentSeptember 1, 2010
Motivation can sometimes feel hard to come by, especially when Monday morning rolls around, a project deadline looms, and the To Do list seems to never end. The need to get it all done is more often accompanied by a feeling of anxious dread than of productive excitement.
Take heart, however, because getting people motivated to do business is big business - one that has really taken hold of folks in the corporate world who are looking for inspiration beyond a bigger bottom line.
Sam Parker's book 212° the extra degree® offers a message of motivation that is quite simple:
" At 211 degrees, water is hot.
At 212 degrees, it boils.
And with boiling water comes steam.
And with steam, you can power a train."
Sometimes people get so caught up in just doing what needs to be done, that they forget how rewarding putting in that extra degree, that extra bit of effort, can be. Some people spend more time trying NOT to work harder. What they should realize is that extra time can be spent putting in a little more effort for exponential results. It can be as simple as making one more prospecting call, spending one more minute on the phone assisting a client, offering one more thank you to colleagues - just one more degree of commitment to your job.
On a personal level, a few more minutes a day chatting with friends or spending time with family add up to a few more hours a week of quality time and strengthened relationships. Helping someone have a better day - be they a family member or customer - just rubs off on you. It becomes a personal philosophy that spills over into a professional mantra.
And it's catching on. The 212 Facebook page has more than 1,300 fans. The book is popping up at customer appreciation conferences, and is being adopted whole-heartedly by some companies as a means to motivate and connect employees. The 212 website even has a section devoted to instituting the philosophy at the corporate level, with training guides, ideas, tools and gear.
But it doesn't take a book, or a branded coffee mug or T-shirt to truly put the philosophy into practice. As Parker says in the first few pages, "So simple is the analogy, that you can stop reading right now, walk away with the opening thought firmly planted in your mind and benefit from it for the rest of your life."
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