Where did it go?  It was there a minute ago!

25 September 2026

 

Jimmy's mum is organising little Jimmy's birthday party. And she's taking it very seriously.

After all, Jimmy is only going to be six once.

So she starts planning - Who should he invite? What sort of party should it be? What will the children eat? What games will they play? What about the cake? The decorations? What happens if it rains?

Then the ideas start flowing - Perhaps a treasure hunt. Maybe a magician. Balloons. A special cake. Party bags. Music. She thinks about what six-year-old boys will enjoy, what might go wrong and what she can do to make sure it all works.

She phones people. She searches for ideas. She shops. She organises. She negotiates. She changes her plans when something doesn't work out.

And she does all of this with enthusiasm, creativity, energy, commitment and excitement.
Nobody has told her to do it. Nobody has given her a job description. Nobody has set her a KPI. Nobody is standing over her saying, "Come on, Mrs Edwards, let's see a little more initiative!"

She doesn't need motivating. She is motivated. Because she cares about the outcome.

On the day of the party, something inevitably goes wrong. It always does. But she deals with it.

She thinks on her feet. She solves the problem. She adapts. She keeps everything moving.

And at the end of the day, exhausted, she looks around and thinks: "That went brilliantly."

Now here's the interesting question - How do we get that same behaviour from people at work?

How do we get enthusiasm, creativity, energy, commitment, initiative and excitement from our staff?

Because we know they are capable of it. We've just watched Jimmy's mum demonstrate it.

And she isn't unusual. She's your receptionist. Your accountant. Your salesperson. Your engineer. Your middle manager. Your employee.

The capability is already there. So perhaps the question isn't, "How do we motivate our people?"

Perhaps the better question is: "What are we doing that prevents them from bringing their natural motivation, creativity and initiative to work?"

That question is at the heart of what I do.

I work at the intersection of the job of management, navigating human behaviour and the elusive science of human performance.

I help managers understand what happens to people when they enter the workplace — and what they can do to create the conditions in which people perform at their best.

 

If you would like to talk to me, please call me on +27 82 465 5481 or email me on mark@meritbusiness.com

 

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