Examples of Leadership and Motivation, Essay Example

Many of the best examples of leadership and motivation can be found in the world of business. Important lessons and sagely guidance from mentors can be credited in creating transforming moments that carry on through a person’s life. One such example is when a mutually beneficial partnership between two people enabled each to reach a new height in their career development.

A new employee to the company, Michelle jumped at an opportunity to work in an office environment. Previously a teacher, she was intelligent, highly educated, and sought to work in the business world, and also to maintain office hours as she had children at home and sought a family friendly environment. As an Office Manager, she thought this position would be an ideal way to break into the business world. Her manager, Alex, had managed an office branch for several years. His experience and knowledge of business was well developed, and in his current position he was widely seen as very capable. He enjoyed taking a creative approach to managing his business responsibilities, and he enjoyed interaction with customers and vendors. His challenge was that his branch was not highly regarded as a growth opportunity, and was one of the lowest producing centers in terms of revenue. The branch was also very small, and the only employees assigned to the branch were Michelle and Alex. He often felt overlooked for the larger, more elaborate office branches that, in all honesty, were the ones that produced the profit for their company.

Michelle was highly motivated and showed a willingness and desire to step beyond the traditional role of Office Manager, while Alex needed someone to act as a capable backup for him, to interact with customers and vendors in the office, and also administer contractual obligations. Once Alex knew she wanted to become a manager, he knew that he could provide the opportunity for Michelle to achieve that goal while also obtaining the support he required. He believed such support was needed to enable his branch to improve its cost controls, and to generate more revenue.

In many regards, Michelle began functioning within the office at a higher level, encouraged and empowered to make decisions knowing that Alex could be relied upon to give good advice and support. As she was previously a teacher, Alex encouraged her to draw upon this experience as she instructed vendors on what was expected of them, and how they could change their approach in a way that not only produced better results, but also more profit for the branch office. In this way, she was able to cut expenses, and at the same time maximize income generated from vendor effort.

There were times that Michelle expressed concern that she was doing the work of a manager position, and yet was not a manager. Through several interactions on this topic, Alex understood that it was not the work that bothered her, but more a concern that she would not achieve her goal of breaking into management. Alex counseled her to believe, and to know that if she proved herself capable, hard working, and willing to take on more responsibilities that she would ultimately be recognized for it. He used his previous experience as an example, as he had held numerous positions, and had also been in a position where he had tried to advance his career in a similar way. Above all, Alex counseled patience. The successful partnership between Alex and Michelle ultimately resulted in decreased costs, increased income, and both were credited in leading and managing what became known as a more profitable business venture.

Alex eventually was promoted to a larger branch that was among the most coveted in is company. Michelle was promoted to replace Alex on his departure, even though the company rarely promoted Office Managers directly into leading a branch office. This partnership proved to be highly successful and productive for the company as well as its two employees, who succeeded in obtaining their individual goals through leadership, motivation and mutual support.