Employee Motivation and Management

1. ALL PEOPLE ARE MOTIVATED.

Some people are like water in a faucet. They have the motivation; all you have to provide is the opportunity. The water is already motivated to flow. But it doesn't have the opportunity until you open the tap.

Others are like mountain streams, which flow swiftly but follow their own channels. People, too, may move energetically, but toward their own goals. We in management should make it worth their while to channel their motivations toward the results management is seeking.

2. PEOPLE DO THINGS FOR THEIR REASONS; NOT FOR YOURS OR MINE.

We in management have to show employees what's in it for them when they follow behaviours that benefit the company. We can show them by using rewards and recognition, appealing to their sense of pride and achievement.

3. PEOPLE CHANGE BECAUSE OF PAIN.

When the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing, people will change. For example, Americans didn't start buying smaller, fuel-efficient automobiles until the pain of high gasoline prices became greater than the pain of switching to less roomy and less powerful cars.

4. THE KEY TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS IDENTIFICATION.

When something becomes personal, it becomes important. When our clients or our employees begin to identify with who we are and what we are, good things begin to happen.

Large corporations have discovered that. Prudential, for example, knows that its customers want to buy security. So it doesn't just sell insurance; it markets peace of mind by inviting all of us to buy " a piece of the rock."

Kodak doesn't sell film; it invites its customers to " trust your memories to Kodak ."

AT&T doesn't tell us to make long-distance calls. It asks us to "reach out and touch someone."

In dealing with employees, it isn't enough to appeal to them on the basis of loyalty to the company. They need personal reasons for showing this loyalty. Whether we're instituting a new educational program or undergoing a total restructuring, we can get our employees on board more readily if we show them how the change will affect them for the better.

When my company sets out to lead corporate teams in developing their human-relations skills, we don't tell them what we're going to do for the company. We talk about what we're going to do for the individual. For example, in the introduction to one of our manuals, we tell supervisors:

"We've designed this complete educational system to help YOU master the skills of supervisory management and enjoy the rewards of leadership and career enhancement.