Do you expect a Carrot or the stick???

Do you expect a Carrot or the Stick?

Two theories have greatly impacted me and my perceptions of life – Douglas McGregor’s “Theory X and Theory Y” and Dan Pink’s “Intrinsic Motivation”. Working in the military certainly challenged my view – do people do what they do from the aspect of being afraid of a result or from the perspective of the pleasure they will gain?

Let’s delve a little deeper.

McGregor’s Theory X says that “people dislike work and must be coerced, controlled, and directed toward organizational goals. Furthermore, most people prefer to be treated this way, so they can avoid responsibility.” Theory Y and Dan Pink’s Intrinsic Motivation both support the view that people have “interest in his work, his desire to be self-directing and to seek responsibility, and his capacity to be creative in solving business problems.”

Generally, my experience has been (in the military) that a number of ‘leaders’ perpetuate Theory X. I remember specifically an experience in 2004 during the unfolding crisis after a Tsunami hit Indonesia. I was part of a contingent that was put on ‘notice to move’ in response to the crisis. I was a lead for a capability and as such had many responsibilities. One of our major frustrations had been logistics supply and making sure that we had the minimal stock that we needed to arrive and start health care provision straight away. We’d all been working long hours to check our kit and that of our facility. It got to a Sunday night at about 7pm and I gave feedback to the commander that my area of responsibility was lacking so much stock that we could not go. The commander did not take the news well.

The result was that long after everyone else had gone home to get some sleep, myself and one other were left to review the entire inventory of all the sections of the facility. What we discovered was that stock had been allocated to the various sections of the facility alphabetically. So if the name of the section was close to A, it was likely that it was fully stocked.

My area of responsibility was Resuscitation Bays and Triage – the areas that first receive patients and some of the last to receive stock under the alphabetical system.

The end result?

Two people got to rifle through ALL the stock and fulfil our logistics stock requirement, while noting where it had come from so it could be replaced at a later date. It took us until 3am to get a semblance of being ‘ready’ to go.

What time were we due into work on Monday?

8am

Why?

Because it ‘had’ to be done.

Was this a one off that “oh heck, you know, we can be flexible and make sure you’re rested”?... No. It continued for days and that was before we were being potentially sent overseas to help a devastated country for weeks, if not months, on end.

This was one example of why I ended up experiencing burn-out. The crises never ended – it was always one thing after another. While I lean strongly toward the Intrinsic Motivation model, so many do not. The example above was a commander who treated us like we were trying to get out of doing our ‘work’, making them ‘look bad’ as a commander, and punished us with sleep deprivation. My observation was that the commander punished those who were known to deliver, not those who had made the mistakes.

Perhaps a prospective lesson for someone who reads this?

As mentioned, I prefer to take the position that people have reasons for doing the work they do. Providing them with opportunities for autonomy, mastery and purpose will reap large rewards. I also like to use the concepts in personal life as well. Allowing others to have autonomy, mastery and find their purpose, are ways that I exert some of my personal boundaries.

Do you need some help figuring it out? Why not get in contact and have a chat about how I can help you?

https://calendly.com/michele-scherr/30min