In larger organizations there is a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening?

Oh Yeah, That is why they call it the Uniformed Services, We have a great desire for Standardization and it makes it easy to teach using a Standard Model but that goodness their are folks like RADM Grace Hopper "There is always a better way to do things".

This may sound silly, but personally I found my motivation at it's highest when I had opportunities to interact my CO. I come from a small MOS in the Air Wing. Most people don't acknowledge us unless something goes wrong. Now I wasn't suffering from low motivation at the time, but when my CO came down from the Headquarters building to my office and spoke with the Marines in my shop, it was a real boost for me. There were other things that my COs have done which kept my motivation going. My Unit would give the Marines their birthday off per the direction of the CO. Well I had one CO who personally came down to my shop to wish me a Happy Birthday and give me a birthday card.

I've also had my COs bring me a "Welcome Aboard" award for the births of my daughters. I've never felt like I belonged to a Unit more in my life. One of my CO's wife even crocheted a baby blanket for my daughter. My daughters even received a Christmas present from the Commanding General.

These are all minor tokens in the grand scheme of things, but I can tell you that I stood a bit straighter every day. I worked a little bit harder every day. I felt like I belonged to my Unit and I was truly sad when I had to move on.

To me, it's the little things that matter the most. Why does a LtCol need to waste his time asking how a PFC or LCpl's day was? Because at the end of the day, it's that PFC or LCpl that is working hard to achieve the LtCol's mission. It's easier to accomplish the mission at hand if the junior troops believe someone recognizes their contribution to the fight.

It's an interesting question... even though small to mid size organizations offer some of the leading growth opportunities, I find it's typically larger organizations that have enough money and resources to provide ambitious individuals with true incentives to provide inspiration. In my experience, the critical success factor was how open and honest the communication was. And, the communication needed to be frequent and consistent, starting at the top, throughout the organization. Not only did this build trust but it also helped to create that feeling of camaraderie that a lot of us from the military crave... that one team, one mission, feeling