Mastering the Art of Motivation
“It’s not that I’m lazy; it’s that I just don’t care.”
With those words, Peter Gibbons, the apathetic tech worker in the movie “Office Space,” became a hero to millions of workers uninspired by their jobs.
So what is an employer to do to overcome workplace inertia?
Senior Lecturer of Management Kristie Loescher says it starts with building relationships and getting to know an employee’s fears, preferences, and goals.
Three key principles to keep in mind
- Motivation requires a relationship.
- True change and learning come from inside a person.
- A change of behavior is as much emotional as it is intellectual.
Regarding the first theme of establishing a relationship, Loescher urges managers to assume that employees are competent, trustworthy, and willing to cooperate. It’s important to find something to value in each individual.
“If you treat people like they are lazy and shiftless, that is what you are going to get,” Loescher says. “That is not the basis of a positive relationship.”
Loescher went on to outline three personality types that each find motivation in different areas:
- High Achievers (7-10 percent of the population): Terrified of failure and often have what Loescher calls an “I love me” wall displaying awards and accomplishments
- Affiliators (majority of the population): Motivated by working with people they know and trust. The greatest fear is being alone or disliked. The office is full of personal mementos and family photos.
- Power Motivated (15-20 percent of the population): Want to have an impact, impress those in power, and beat competitors. The office may contain autographed items or photos with VIPs.
These three motivational types reveal that a one-size-fits-all approach to motivating employees will never work. For instance, a high-achiever may clamor for a spot on a new project if it means special recognition, while an affiliator may resent being removed from a team he works well with.
In order to truly inspire someone to perform better, they need things like autonomy, feedback, purpose and the ability to identify closely with their task. For example, Loescher suggested that assembly-line workers be given the opportunity to see the final product they’re helping build.
One commonly misunderstood motivator is money, Loescher says. In fact it’s not really much of a motivator at all. Employees tend to think of salary and other factors like status and benefits as elements that must be present, but often it’s just enough to keep someone from leaving. Pay people enough so that they don’t have to think about it and can focus on the work, Loescher says.
Because in the end, as Dwight Eisenhower once said, “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.”
Takeaways
- Managers should assume that employees are competent, trustworthy, and willing to cooperate
- Employees are inspired to perform better when they have a sense of autonomy, purpose, and identification with their tasks
