One hundred percent of the people are 100% motivated 100% of the time. You’ve surely heard, “I can’t seem to get Michelle motivated.” or, “How do I get my team motivated?” I’ve even heard managers say, “I’m going to fire a couple of people. That’ll get the rest of them motivated.” But motivation is not something that you can do to someone else. It is something that comes from inside. You feel motivated to do something (or to avoid doing something). It is the feeling that compels you to take (or avoid) some action. We are always motivated. I often receive requests from clients to give motivational talks. Or, to conduct a workshop or leadership training session to get their people motivated. But leadership training won’t motivate anyone. The question is, “What are people motivated to do.” The challenge for leaders is to create the conditions under which their team members are motivated to meet the objectives of the organization.
Motivation Through Leadership and Culture
Often, leaders create organizational cultures where people are motivated to find creative ways to keep their leader from being successful. The type of leadership in which fear is used to keep people in line often leads to this kind of behavior. People can be enormously creative in finding new ways to avoid doing what their leader wants them to do. Sometimes, they even find subtle ways to sabotage the organization’s goals. Not too long ago I was working with a company that manufactures huge compressors for large industrial use. Each machine was custom built according to exacting specifications and was very expensive. One order was completed only to discover something wrong with the machine. It would not function at all. On closer inspection, the engineers discovered that a crucial component had been installed upside down. After considerable discussion, we realized that everyone who worked on the machine knew that it could not possibly work according to the specifications given. Yet, they completed the work anyway. Why would they do that? This is what is called malicious obedience. “I will do exactly as you say knowing full well that it is the wrong thing to do.” It is a safe way of “getting back” at a leader who is not liked or respected. The employee can always say, “I didn’t know it was wrong. I was just following instructions.” It takes a lot of motivation to do something like that. Leadership training needs to address what steps a leader can take to create an environment in which most team members are likely to feel motivated to help the organization meet its goals.
Leadership Training Experts Teach Motivation
Two of the most frequently cited management specialists are Frederick Herzberg and Abraham Maslow. Herzberg said that the factors most likely to lead to employee dissatisfaction are not the same as those that satisfy. Such things as poor working conditions, poor relationships with managers or peers, lack of resources, arbitrary work rules, etc. are often named as dissatisfiers, while the opportunity to achieve, be recognized, have autonomy, advance, etc. are more likely to satisfy. It is important to remember that eliminating dissatisfiers does not guarantee satisfied employees. They are just less unhappy. Maslow described a hierarchy of needs, which he depicts as a pyramid with survival and safety at the bottom working upward to affection, esteem and self-actualization at the top. He suggests that as team members grapple with day-to-day survival, they will not be motivated to be creative and generous with their energy for the organization’s goals. Dr. Thomas Gordon summarizes this by saying, “Group members want to be on a winning team, but never at the expense of injuries to their self-worth or self-respect.” (Gordon, Thomas. Leader Effectiveness Training: The Foundation for Participative Management and Employee Involvement. G.P. Putnam and Sons, New York, NY, 1977. P. 27).
So, what does it look like when employees are motivated to help the organization meet its goals. In a small circuit board factory in Chandler, Arizona, a successful team process had been implemented. The process included involving every employee in the business in a number of very creative ways: inclusion on teams, a process for responding to team member suggestions, lots of leadership training, lots of team member training, facilitation of team and leadership meetings, etc. During the first twelve months of the process they were able to triple their productivity and had become the “talk of the town” locally and at headquarters. Prior to the implementation of the team process, there were several agreements made with the parent company, a computer manufacturer of about 6000 employees. One agreement was that there would be no new corporate initiatives during the first year.
Coincidentally, the parent company had instituted a new program aimed at reducing absenteeism. It included incentives for good attendance, small rewards, publications about good attendance, etc. At the beginning of the year, the absenteeism rate was about 4%. At the end of the year, the absenteeism rate was about 4%. No real change. Due to the agreement with the circuit board factory, they were exempt from the program. At the beginning of the year, their absenteeism rate at that factory was about the same as that of the parent company. At the end of the year, their rate was about 1%. One percent is an extremely low rate. In fact, supervisors sometimes had to send people home who were coming to work when they were sick. They didn’t want to miss out. The team members had a sense of pride in what they had accomplished. No amount of threatening, coercing, or bribing could cause that. Only real internal motivation could result in such dedication.
Key Elements of Effective Leadership Training
Effective leadership training should emphasize the need for leaders to create an environment in which the team members feel proud of what they are accomplishing. It should emphasize:
- Clarity: What are the organization’s goals and why are they important? These goals should be presented in simple, straightforward ways. Simple charts, weekly goals that are posted in highly visible places can help. Having teams create their own ways of measuring success is also very powerful. It is important that every team member understands how her or his own behavior effects the measurement.
- Transparency: There should be few secrets. Other than private employee files or sensitive technological details, the books should be open and team members should be included in discussions about the organization’s financial health. The more team members know about the business, the more ownership they will feel. People are more motivated to make a success of something that they feel strongly about. If they feel a part of the organization, they will expend more of their discretionary effort to help meet those goals.
- Fairness: There should be a commitment to a no-lose environment, what Dr. Thomas Gordon calls Method III or mutual need satisfaction. There should be a model for resolving conflicts that is understood by everyone in the organization. Leaders often confuse solutions with needs. People often argue about specific solutions when there may be a number of ways that the more basic needs of all parties could be met. These are skills that can be learned and should be taught in leadership training and in team training.
- Autonomy: There should be a commitment to avoid creating unnecessary dependencies. Team members should feel that they are accountable for their own actions, free to find ways to accomplish their goals, and unafraid to seek help if needed. Less dependence on rewards and punishments and more reliance of individual responsibility will allow team members to develop a more adult approach to getting the work done. Leaders sometimes say, “My people act like children.” Often that is because they treat their employees like children. Give people the resources and freedom they need to work like grown ups.
- Listening: Every team member should feel that he or she will be listened to when there is a challenge or a problem. They, in turn, should be willing to listen to other team members and their leaders. It is amazing how many misunderstandings go away when team members do a good job of listening. Leaders should set the example by learning to be better listeners. Listening is a skill that needs to be developed. Don’t conduct leadership training unless it includes a substantial listening skill development component.
- Learning: As Peter Senge states in The Fifth Discipline, the organization should be a learning organization. There should always be a commitment to learning the skills needed to sustain and improve the effectiveness of the organization. Organizations are systems. If they stop learning, they fall victim to entropy. Be open to new ideas. Incorporate those ideas into the day-to-day processes of the work of the organization.
- Engagement: The leaders should utilize every opportunity to include team members in the problem solving and decision making of the enterprise. Take every idea seriously. Every suggestion, criticism, or concern should be given a thoughtful answer. Each answer should be treated as a sacred contract between the leadership team and the team member(s) who brought it up.
Although you cannot motivate another person, a leader can do much to build an organization in which team members will feel motivated to meet the organization’s goals and objectives. Effective leadership training can do much to build the foundation. Workshops like Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader Effectiveness Training that include strong listening, non-threatening confrontation, and win/win conflict resolution components address many of these issues.