In good times and bad, effective leaders keep their workers operating at the highest levels. What are you doing to get the most out of your people?

I’ve been covering leaders of all shapes and sizes for a long time now. They can be business leaders, political leaders, even coaches—whichever they are, there are always similarities.

When I look at leaders, one thing sticks out for me more than others: motivation—how motivated they are as individuals, and how they go about motivating others.

Two things got me thinking about motivation again. The first came earlier today, as I watched the New York Giants put on one of the sloppiest performances I’ve ever seen. A lot of the post-game analysis said it all: The team appears to have quit on their coach.

The second was this post by Ron Ashkenas, an extremely sharp consultant and leadership expert. (I interviewed Ron earlier this year about organizational complexity; he offered some great advice for CIOs and business leaders that still resonates today.)

His new blog post, “Don’t Let Your Next Crisis Go to Waste,” looks at how teams become more energized in a crisis, due to the obvious urgency, but also looks at how to harness that spirit to keep performance high in calmer times.

That got me thinking about complacency. Over the last 18 months or so, I’ve listened as many CIOs told me that they worry their workers may become either a) burned out from all the pressure caused by the economic crisis, or b) too lax in their effort once things calm down.

How many of you have the same concerns? And what are you doing about it?

Some leaders tend to lead by example. We've all seen this before: The kind of boss who puts his/her head down and gets it done, and then expects that workers will follow the lead. But others go out of their way to work with staffers on an individual basis to inspire them to reach new heights.

Both can be extremely effective. But is one better than the other?

I’ll be writing a lot more about motivational leaders, but I’d really like to hear from all of you. Please sound off in the comments section below.

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