Motivating Employees is Not About Carrots or Sticks
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The article featured in this newsletter, from Harvard Business Review, June 2017, is on “Motivating Employees Is Not About Carrots or Sticks” by Lisa Lai. Hope you enjoy it. Click here.
I found this article particularly interesting since it negates any former techniques we have utilized in order to motivate others: Reward, punishment, etc.
The carrot for compliance and the stick for non-compliance have proven to provide defiance and anger. This isn’t a recipe for a healthy work environment. It is never effective.
As leaders, we are encouraged to rely on the carrot versus stick approach for motivation, where the carrot is a reward for compliance and the stick is a consequence for noncompliance. But when our sole task as leaders becomes compliance, trying to compel others to do something, chances are we’re the only ones who will be motivated.
The author suggests another way to motivate employees. She suggests a new dialogue that embraces the key concept that motivation is less about employees doing great work, but more about them feeling great about their work.
Here are some ways to engage in a new and meaningful dialogue about work:
Share context and provide relevance. There is no motivation more compelling than explaining to your team why what they are doing is important. What are you doing as an organization? As a team? Why are we doing it? What does success look like with this project?
Anticipate roadblocks to enable progress. Team members encounter difficulties and challenges along the way, like everyone else. Anticipating ways to un-encumber these burdens and lighten them through dialogue and understanding can help your team see trouble coming and pave the way for success, without giving whatever happens undue attention.
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Recognize contributions and show appreciation. Leaders consistently underestimate the power of acknowledgement to bring forth employee’s best efforts. Who shows consistent focus and effort? Who goes beyond the call of duty? Who “walks the talk” on your values in a way that sets an example for others and warrants recognition?
Check in to assess your own motivation. Employees are very attuned to whether leaders have a genuine connection to the work. If you are not engaged and enthusiastic about your company, your team, or the work you do, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to be a great motivator of others.
The bottom line is this: Don’t rely on outdated methods and tricks to motivate employees. Talk with your team about the relevance of the work they do every day. Be proactive in identifying and solving problems for employees. Recognize employee contributions in an authentic way after connecting with your own motivation.
I have found that I can counsel my clients in a much better way of doing things, such as what the author of this article suggests, having been the victim of an anachronistic and cruel boss who only told me what I did wrong, leaving me unmotivated, afraid, and angry.
I have a client who has wrestled with this type of leadership, the carrot vs stick technique. He is now trying to be more engaged with his employees and teams, having received negative and unsupportive 360 feedback.
We discussed at length what people seem to want most: Appreciation, presence, autonomy and respect.
After implementing just a few different habits, like saying “Thank you” or “Hello” to members of his team, he has concluded that just the little things make the most difference.
And it seems to be going upward from here.
What is your experience in motivating your team? How do you do it? Let me know!
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Executive Vice President & Chief Tax Officer at Lions Gate Entertainment
4 个月This approach works far better than most would ever imagine. We have been employing this approach for almost two decades to great success. They have to know how their work fits into the company's overall plan, so this has been very natural. We also removed competition from the team culture. People are raised, promoted and bonused on how much they help each other accomplish team objectives. My team's results are astounding, and they are regularly thanked by people throughout the organization. We have minimal turnover, despite their never getting a break. We keep a scorecard to track accomplishments and anyone contributing to a project receives credit for the full amount of the achieved benefit. This prevents people from wasting time and energy jockeying for credit and encourages everyone to work together to help each other accomplish our goals. Their results are reported to Senior Management and the Board quarterly. Word gets around. Their colleagues in other groups regularly thank them and help them with their projects. This gives them the acknowledgement for their efforts they seek. I also make a point to thank them regularly. It is also a fun way to lead.
Feed AICoach to improve work-life-harmony Empower Employee-satisfaction Understand Value Energy Vibration
4 个月Shifting the perception from trying to compel others to do something , to getting them feeling great about their work , is the effect of a great observation, fair compensation is not immediat rewards , it may be based in understanding of the work life harmony and environement where culture allow people to think differently and foster innovation, your story gave us an example of what needs to be observed and start to ask question for transformation , all people in the organization are concerned ! thank you for sharing !
Life Coach and developer of people. English Conversation Expert that gets results
4 个月I would also add that things go much better when employees see how they fit into the big picture.