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Motivational Mousetraps

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: Sometimes when Leaders attempt to motivate people, they go about it in ways that are not very effective. This article explains the mousetrap when leaders attempt to motivate others.

Motivational Mousetraps

As a training and development professional, how many times a month do you hear leaders say, "We've got to motivate our people?" Those words and the actions they generate seldom lead to a sustained improvement in motivation. The above phrase is one of the most common phrases leaders or managers use every day. So what it wrong with it? The phrase shows a lack of understanding about what motivation is and how it is achieved. Leaders who use it try to increase motivation by making people happier. They put a manipulative spin on the subject of motivation that backfires for several reasons:

1. The notion that improving things in the workplace will somehow make people more motivated is flawed. Over 50 years ago, Frederick Herzberg taught us that increasing the so-called "hygiene factors" is a good way to reduce dissatisfaction in the workplace, but a poor way to increase motivation. Why? - because things like picnics, pizza parties, hat days, bonuses, new furniture, etc. often help people become happier, but they do little to impact the reason they are motivated to do their best work. That impetus comes from a different source.

2. It is imagined that heaping nice things on top of people it will improve their attitude leading to higher motivation. The only lasting way to improve attitude is to build a better culture.

3. It is difficult to motivate another person. You can scare a person into compliance, but that's not motivation, it is fear. You can bribe a person into feeling happy, but that's not motivation it is temporary euphoria that is quickly replaced by a "what have you done for me lately" mentality.

4. Individuals will gladly accept any kind of freebie the boss is willing to grant, but the reason they go the extra mile is a personal choice based on the level of motivational factors, not the size of the goodie bag.

5. Smart leaders focus on the culture first. They seek to build an environment of trust and improve the motivating factors, such as authority, reinforcement, growth, and responsibility. With these precursors, motivation within people will grow. It will be enhanced if some nice perks are added, but the perks do not create motivation.

Why do I make this distinction? I believe motivation comes from within each of us. As a manager or leader, I do not believe you or anyone else can motivate other people. What you can do is create a process or culture whereby employees will decide to become motivated to perform at peak levels. Training and Development programs need to stress the true cause for motivation growth.

How can you tell when a leader has the wrong attitude about motivation? A clear signal is when the word "motivate" is used as a verb - for example, "Let's see if we can motivate the team by offering a bonus." If you seek to change other people's attitude about their relationship to work with goodies, you are going to be disappointed frequently. Using the word "motivation" as a noun usually shows a better understanding - "Let's increase the motivation in our workforce by giving the team more responsibility to make its own decisions."

The way to create the best environment for personal motivation to grow is to create a culture of TRUST and affection within the organization. Doing this helps people become motivated because:

• They feel a part of a winning team and do not want to let the team down. Being a winner is fun.

• They feel both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards when they are doing their best work.

• They appreciate their co-workers and seek ways to help them physically and emotionally.

• They understand the goals of the organization and are personally committed to help as much as they can in the pursuit of the goals.

• They truly enjoy the social interactions with people they work with. They feel that going to work is a little like going bowling, except the physical work is different. They are distributing computers instead of rolling a ball at wooden pins.

• They deeply respect their leaders and want them to be successful.

• They feel like they are part owners of the company and want it to succeed. By doing so, they bring success to themselves and their friends at work.

• They feel recognized for their many contributions and feel wonderful about that. If there is a picnic or a cash bonus, that is just the icing on the cake - not the cake itself.

An organization where all people are pursuing a common vision in an environment of trust has a sustainable competitive advantage due to high employee motivation. How do you achieve that kind of culture?

Building a culture of high trust requires that leaders stop trying to manipulate people and build a real environment. Excellent leaders create a solid framework of values, vision, mission, behaviors, and strategy. The key behavior is to allow people to point out seemingly incongruent behavior on the part of the leader without fear of reprisal. This requires leaders to suppress their ego needs to be right all the time and acknowledge their fallibility. When people are reinforced for voicing their truth, even if it is uncomfortable for the boss, trust will grow.

With this approach you have a powerful correcting force when people believe things aren't right. If something is out of line, they will tell you, enabling modification before much damage is done. Now you have an environment where honest feelings are shared and there are no large trust issues. People in your organization will instinctively become more motivated because they are working in the right kind of atmosphere.

What is "culture" in an organization? Webster defines culture as the social structure and intellectual and artistic manifestations that characterize a society. For an organization, "culture" means how people interact, what they believe, and how they create. If you could peel off the roof, you would see the manifestations of the culture in the physical world. The actual culture is more esoteric because it resides in the hearts and minds of the society, in addition to observable behaviors.

Achieving a state where all people are fully engaged is a large undertaking. It requires tremendous focus and leadership to achieve. It cannot be something you do on Tuesday afternoons when you have special meetings, or by holding employee picnics. Describe it as a new way of life rather than a program. You should see evidence of this in every nook and cranny of the organization.

Do not attempt to improve performance by motivating people in your organization with special events or gifts. Instead, build a culture of trust and emphasize the motivating factors. The end result is that many people will choose to be highly motivated, and the organization will prosper. Then if you give some tangible reinforcements, they will be more meaningful and have a longer impact.

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Article Tags: desire, mistakes, motivation, Mousetrap, peak performance



Related Forum Posts
Re: Stay positive! - Great theme My favorite book the ageless "Power of Positive Thinking" and I do not read many of these Motivational Books, Attitude is everything - a positive one is ore likely to bring positive results According to my Pisces horoscope - I am told that by my birth I am to be moody. We all have those bad days, but even though moody by nature, I tried to keep those days down to 4 or 5 a year - not bad for a Pisces Hang with the positives, lose the negatives


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