Life satisfaction is 22 percent more likely for those with a steady stream of minor accomplishments than those who express interest only in major accomplishments. Progress is powerful. Comparing people who tend to give up easily with people who tend to carry on, even through difficult challenges, researchers find that persistent people spend twice as much time thinking, not about what has to be done, but about what they have already accomplished, the fact that the task is doable, and that they are capable of it.
Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational , explains how when we feel no progress, when we feel our work is futile, motivation dies:. So you made them feel something. You demonstrated progress. How do you keep the motivation flowing? Not literally. No funky robes or animal sacrifice necessary. But what else unites a cult? Venture Capitalist Ben Horowitz explains that the best work cultures are actually cults: a group unified by a provocative idea. However, you do need to think about how you can be provocative enough to change what people do every day.
Looking at the research: What gives life meaning? What gives work meaning? What creates unity and morale? Stories :. Institutions that can communicate a compelling historical narrative often inspire a special kind of commitment among employees. One of the reasons Lincoln was such a good president was because he was a great storyteller. Research actually shows nagging works :.
Managers who are deliberately redundant as communicators move their projects forward more quickly and smoothly than those who are not. But have you ever accomplished your best work because someone nagged you? This piece originally appeared on Barking Up the Wrong Tree. But each of us has a unique profile of motivational drivers, values, and biases, and we have different ideas about what is reasonable. This frequent mismatch of perceptions leads to another common problem with managerial attempts at motivation: the futile and prolonged game of tag, with a manager repeatedly trying to slap some motivation onto the problem employee.
Think of Colin avoiding his bosses. Think of George and his elusive promises. In trying to convert Colin and George into different kinds of people, they—like most managers dealing with problem employees—have set themselves an impossible goal.
Change comes from within or not at all. So if Annette and Paolo have approached their problems in the wrong way, what is the right way?
I propose a relatively simple method I have seen work time and again. It involves shifting the responsibility for motivation from subject to object, from boss to subordinate. Crucially, it also involves a shift in perspective: The manager needs to look at the employee not as a problem to be solved but as a person to be understood.
With people we like, we try to understand how they feel. Such blinkered perceptions, common in everyday life, are particularly prevalent in the hierarchical setting of business. That knowledge would only unsettle us. Because of the effort it takes to decenter, particularly with difficult employees, the method I propose is demanding.
But it is no more difficult, and certainly it is more effective, than motivational techniques based on inspirational leadership. Although many problem employees display a marked lack of drive and commitment in their jobs, these qualities are usually alive and well in other areas of their lives. Certainly, not all people are going to feel the same passion for their work that they do for their hobbies or other outside interests.
Most workers have the potential to engage with their work in a way that furthers managerial goals. For example, impediments may appear suddenly because of new stresses at home or may accumulate incrementally over years, the product of frustrated dreams or broken promises at work. And chances are that the sentiments are mutual—which makes conventional pep talks about improving performance come across as insincere, at best.
Instead of pushing solutions on people with the force of your argument, pull solutions out of them. To accomplish this, you may have to rethink what your problem employees can reasonably be motivated to do.
But the approach will help you get the best from them, whatever their abilities and skills. First, while this method is based on empathy, it is anything but soft. It demands that a manager take charge of a difficult situation and resolve it. In fact, the truly spongy method is what you are probably using now: either ignoring your problem employees or repeatedly and unsuccessfully trying to convince them that they should improve their performance.
Second, my method does require an investment of time, but it is an investment that should get you to a resolution of the problem sooner than other means would. Keep in mind that this approach is designed to create a resolution—not necessarily a solution—to the problem you face.
But the three-step method I propose will put an end to the evasions, repetitions, and broken promises. At the very least, it will drive you to a moment of truth, a point at which you and the employee together can see a path to the goal you have set—or agree that no solution is possible.
Have you been going round and round with someone, having the same fruitless conversations over and over? Discard your assumptions about the person and start afresh. Be a psychologist. Have you been contentedly clueless, neither knowing nor caring much about what makes an employee tick?
You have to dig deeper to find out what drives that person—and what may be blocking those drivers. Ask yourself what words this individual would use to describe those same behaviors. It may give you a fresh insight into the nature of the problem.
Have you been proudly occupying a moral high ground in your perspective on this person? Decide now whether you really want to solve the problem or sit in judgment.
Have you failed to search for any redeeming features in this person? Think hard. Because discovering even one positive characteristic in someone can color your relationship in entirely new ways and create a starting point for you to connect. Have you been dismissing out of hand how someone perceives you? Tom has been struggling to help Jack improve his performance.
But with each warning, Jack, who is naturally shy, just seems to get quieter. Until now, no one, including Tom, knew what he had been going through. A problem employee is taken through the usual appraisal routines and management discussions and then is dismissed—sometimes after years of unproductive performance. The first step thus requires that a manager work to understand where a problem employee is coming from: What drives that person? What blocks those drives?
What might happen if the impediments are removed? Two other factors also figure in the equation: you, as the boss, and the context within which the problem is occurring. How well does Annette understand Colin? What does Paolo really know about George? Clearly, these managers need more information.
It can come from peers, subordinates, or previous bosses. Much of the data will come, however, from problem employees themselves. You need to have a series of informal conversations—at the water cooler, over lunch, at social events—that will give you insight into what your employees are really about.
What does the world look like from where the employee sits? How have his expectations and desires been molded by key past experiences? What passions govern his choices? What stifles these passions in the workplace? This may sound difficult, but in executive classes I teach, I find that people can learn these things about one another in a ten-minute interview, if they ask the right questions. After all, we often have these conversations at dinner parties; we just rarely have them at work.
What you discover will likely surprise you. A test of this would be asking problem employees to describe themselves. These informal conversations are the starting point in effectively motivating problem people.
For example, Annette learns through some asking around that Colin, outside work, is building a house. No motivation problem there! You will have to do some honest soul-searching. Your problem employee may be uncomfortable talking about his or her perception of you, but over time you may even be able to piece together a picture—probably unflattering—of how you are viewed. Even if that picture seems unfair and inaccurate, remember: If something is perceived as real, it is real in its consequences.
Others can provide additional information. What you learn may convince you that your relationship with the problem employee is dysfunctional beyond repair, at which point you should abandon the method and hand over the motivation task to someone else.
More likely, though, the way you interact with a problem employee—for example, something as basic as the way you talk to that person—is simply a turn-off.
What works fine with your other reports is hopelessly wrong for this individual. Needless to say, that can be a chastening realization, and many managers find it hard to face. Finally, you need to analyze the context. Is something about the current situation bringing out the worst in the employee—and maybe in you? Quite possibly, your dislike has gotten in the way of getting to know the problem employee. Hans runs a division of a Swiss brokerage business. You do that through the lost art of one-on-one conversations -- a great motivational tool.
Leaders thrive when they strengthen relationships with their people by spending more one-on-one time with them to hear their suggestions, ideas, problems and issues as well as talking about performance issues and their work. But first, you need to know how to structure these meetings so that it works to your advantage. Do you know what gets your team members out of bed in the morning? What they're passionate about -- their goals, aspirations, and interests?
In other words, do you really know your team members? Great leaders show an interest in their people's jobs and career aspirations in order to motivate them the right way.
Once that's been established, they look into the future to create learning and development opportunities for their people. They find out what motivates their best people by getting to know what desires will drive each team member. This is about emotional engagement. It's a simple question, but you'd be surprised how often it is not asked: What do you need right now to do your job better?
You may be surprised, or even shocked at the answer; it could be that they need access to more information to make the right decisions, bettter equipment or even another work space. Acting on what you find out will be a huge motivational booster. Managers have to get into the habit of praising and complimenting their people for their good qualities and work. The companies in Gallup's study with the highest engagement levels use recognition and praise as a powerful motivator to get their commitment.
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