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Dr Mariheca Otto Director B.Com (Hons: Industrial Psychology and Sociology), HED, M.Com and PhD in Business Management Dr Mariheca Otto is the face behind the Motto brand. She has delivered papers at conferences such as the ICCM, hosted by the Industrial Psychology Department of Stellenbosch University, and the South African Institute of Management Scientists' (SAIMS) annual conferences. Her research is not only published in academic publications, but also in newspaper articles. She has lecturing experience. She also has consulting and management experience in local government and various service industries. Staff related issues is her chosen field of expertise because she believes this is an organisation's number one tool to increase staff performance which generally results in increased profits.

Friday, October 25, 2013

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"A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes."
-- Gandhi

This quote from Gandhi is very powerful and most of us have consciously experienced it in our own lives. Yet we so often get trapped in our own labelling or self-talk which, if we are completely honest, is definitely not serving us.

I have been missioning with my eldest child to change a self-belief or label he has adopted, and damn it it has been hard work. I suppose partly because he does not really see his mom's issue/motivation and partly because he thinks: "If others (not my mom) says so, it must be true".

I had a similar 'moment' earlier this week - getting isolated feedback from an individual at a client. It is so easy to create a perception that a momentarily flaky opinion is the reality and accurate experience by the collective. Which is not necessarily the case. We have to be so careful which opinions and perceptions we allow our minds to engrave.

Let me put it in another way: A once-off happening, whether it is a mistake/opinion/triumph does not have to mean anything. You do not have to claim the label of being bad or a looser or whatever.

Not too long ago I met with remote staff of a client. When the client took me back to the airport I shared my observations and concerns about some of the exclusions that I have noticed. I considered various prejudices, suspecting that the behaviour could likely be subconsciously etcetera etcetera. Not phased at all by my opinion, the client said: "You are over-estimating us, I guarantee you these guys are quite clueless about these things!" And he was probably right. It was probably the individuals' own issues/labels, and not the group's.

I see this often, if not daily, in group situations where individuals put themselves in a category and behave according to their self-chosen label - assuming the group also see them in that way. Most of the time the group is oblivious to the self-label.

So the question to ask is: What labels are you claiming for yourself?

Motto Model: http://goo.gl/cNnpy and Motto Individual Assessment: http://goo.gl/UhC7V
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