Today our youngest son Ian finally beat me at Parkrun – and he got a PB! He first joined me on the 5km runs when his elder brother returned from Milton Country Park with tales of post-run ice cream rewards. The calorific bribery was backed up with years of encouragement, especially needed when we ran through cold, wet weather and slippery mud.
Over a decade and more than hundred ParkRuns later, Ian is now taller than me but still lighter, so it was matter of time before he caught me up. As a teenager, his main challenge is getting out of bed for the 9am start on Saturday mornings! Luckily we now attend Coldham’s Common which is a short jog from home.
Bringing up kids to have good habits isn’t easy. You often need to motivate yourself as well as them. But in the end the rewards are great, whether it’s celebrating their graduation or a new personal best.
Motivating your team can also be tough. Sometimes you have to give messages you didn’t want to hear yourself. A cooler business climate makes it harder to keep up the pace and even more important to do so. But if your team can stay motivated then the rewards will come.
Raising a family can teach us some lessons about leadership. But whether we have kids or not, we will all need prepare the next generation to eventually take over our responsibilities.
For me the best part of Mentoring younger business leaders is helping them to achieve their personal potential as well as their business goals.
If you’d like to discuss how to keep your team motivated then please get in touch!