{"id":11989,"date":"2019-03-05T01:31:10","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T01:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/948294437a.nxcli.io\/?p=11989"},"modified":"2019-03-10T17:37:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-10T17:37:41","slug":"cultivating-mojo-how-competent-leaders-inspire-exceptional-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/05\/cultivating-mojo-how-competent-leaders-inspire-exceptional-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultivating MoJo – How Competent Leaders Inspire Exceptional Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Phil Liebman, CEO, ALPS Leadership<\/em><\/h5>\n

Everyone needs Mojo. Most people have some, and some have more than others. But the critical thing about MoJo is to be a truly competent or fully effective leader,\u00a0you must learn how to cultivate and leverage it to inspire exceptional performance.<\/p>\n

MoJo is an\u00a0acronym for Moments of Overwhelming Joy. It is vastly different from life’s simple pleasures or\u00a0amusements. \u00a0It represents the deep satisfaction we only experience when we accomplish things that are meaningful and significant. These moments of joy are not only the basis for real human happiness – but more importantly, it is a powerful driver of behavior and human performance. Understanding how to cultivate and leverage this drive is how leaders build and grow sustainable high-performance organizations.<\/p>\n

The basis for MoJo is the quality and value of our contributions. These are related but different measures of accomplishment, which\u00a0is a measure of our performance. The determinate of the quality of our performance is competence – or the ability to accomplish the things we want or have to.<\/p>\n

The quality<\/em> of our accomplishments is a function of meaningfulness. How meaningful our performance is – is subjective to the observer – from the inside (the actor) and the outside ( the audience). \u00a0We see quality when we assess that whatever has been accomplished serves us in a positive fashion \u2014even if this may mean impacting others negatively as a result.<\/p>\n

The value of our accomplishments has more to do with latency. It is a quality that cannot be fully judged in the moment. The real value of one’s accomplishments is framed in historical perspective. We look back at great accomplishments and the ripples of consequences they generate and determine the enduring value to whoever benefits, and in the greatest of accomplishments, we measure that in service to society or humanity. The measure of value is significance<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Competence is simply a measure of performance and a function of accomplishment: it does not exist absent meaningful and significant accomplishment.<\/p>\n

Competence is often confused with competencies<\/em> – or our skills, knowledge, and talent all inform our ability to perform. The difference is that having ability does not directly translate into performance. The only measure of performance – is our performance – or what we accomplish as a result. Competence is a consequence of meaningful, positive and significant accomplishment.<\/p>\n

When we exercise competence we experience MoJo.<\/p>\n

This is one of the great and beautiful symmetries\u00a0leaders discover. The fuel of human potential is the desire to perform with a sense of purpose: to experience MoJo by accomplishing worthwhile things.<\/p>\n

This desire to perform with competence is what informs the conscientiousness and the grit required of developing our competencies to the level needed in order to perform to our potential. Performing to our potential is what drives our most meaningful, positive and significant accomplishments – and these accomplishments are the source of joy that rewards us and\u00a0provides the intrinsic drive to perform at our best.<\/p>\n

A successful leader understands that causing people to elevate their performance provides them with a form of value that exceeds most any level of material compensation one might otherwise offer for their services. When a leader demonstrates to the people they lead why their work is meaningful and how it contributes value beyond serving just the personal needs or desires of any of the individual performers, the performance of the entire organization is elevated.<\/p>\n

Cultivating MoJo is a core function of effective leadership. It is deeply humanistic in the way it seeks to elevate the potential the people we can impact – both in our direct contact and through the ripples of competence and joy we can generate.<\/p>\n

It is the bridge between purpose, action and significant success. It is about pursuing competence in every person, every action and every system that supports our efforts to accomplish meaningful, positive and significant things.<\/p>\n

Competence always begins with ourselves and our understanding of the role we play – or perform.<\/p>\n