Over the past
twenty-five years, managers in my workshops have repeatedly asked, "How do I
get people to do what I want them to do?" In his book, A Force For
Change, John Kotter writes about the challenge of motivating employees with
the following words, Achieving grand visions despite the obstacles always
requires an occasional burst of energy, the kind that certain motivational and
inspirational processes can provide. Such processes accomplish their energizing
effect, not by pushing people in the right direction, as a control mechanism
often does, but by satisfying basic human needs.
So what are these
basic human needs and how can they be helpful to you in meeting your goals?
Kotter offers the following needs that are critical to every employee:
achievement, recognition, belonging and safety. In this two-part article we
offer suggestions to help you address these needs with key individuals or
delivering a speech to inspire the troops.
Achievement - No one likes spinning his or her wheels
without some sort of accomplishment. It's what drives the sales person to work
repeatedly through lunch to reach his or her monthly quota, the research
engineer to work weekends inventing a minimally invasive surgical device and
the physician executive to return to school in pursuit of a management graduate
degree. People need to envision concrete success to stay the course.
Psychologist and executive coach Bob McLaughlin talks about this
concept with the following advice to managers, "You have to give people a
picture of the light at the end of the tunnel or you will lose them." What can
you do to help people see this picture? Can the people who report to you
articulate what's most important to the department's success? Have you
established short-term goals to keep them inspired? Do you know each
individual's personal career goal? How can you remove obstacles that may get in
the way of employees achieving these goals? Answer these questions and you will
go a long way towards satisfying the need for achievement and increasing
individual motivation.
Recognition - The person sitting across from me in my
office has a resume that would be coveted by most Fortune 100 organizations.
She has earned an Ivy League graduate degree and a spectacular track record.
Even though her current work is challenging, she has serious concerns about her
career. Her question to me is, "How to I get my manager to promote my
accomplishments and advance my career?" The issue - her boss fails to point out
her remarkable achievements when reporting to senior management. How would his
direct reports ever receive the visibility necessary to move ahead in the
organization?
Recognition is the fuel for high achievement. It is hard to
maximize the motivation of employees if they don't feel valued. The remedy
involves any one of the following. Do you arrange for employees to present
their successes to the next level of management? Do you appoint direct reports
to high-visibility, cross-functional teams? Are there times when high potential
employees could represent you at senior level meetings? Make sure people
receive the recognition they deserve through exposure to senior management or
they may feel unappreciated and go on to greener pastures.
By focusing on the psychological needs of achievement and
recognition you can accomplish your goals and make the workplace more enjoyable
for your staff. Put a plan together to address one of these needs, get
creative, take some risks and watch what happens. In the words of leadership
trainer Ron Gornto, "You can't lead by memo…leadership is a contact
sport…eyeball-to-eyeball, on the field, with the sound of the contest in
your ear. Most everything else is noise from the grandstand."
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Next month we
will continue this article with Part B, which addresses the role of belonging
and safety needs in motivating employees.
I'm interested in your success. If I can answer any questions
related to this article or if you have a comment about the article, please let
me know at mark.campbell48@verizon.net.
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