Motivating Your Employees
by Dera DeRoche-Jolet

I was in the supermarket the other day and I heard a child whining, crying and doing whatever she could to get her own way. What she wanted wasn’t important, but the way the mother handled it was.

"No," said the mother, "you can’t have it." The girl kept whining, and asked that wonderful philosophical question, "Why not?"

"You don’t need it," explained the mother sharply, which did nothing to calm or stop her daughter. Instead, it only brought more whining, and crying.

Eventually, after a back and forth exchange, which from the beginning it was obvious to me and I believe everyone else in the store that the mother would lose, the mother gave in. "All right take it," she said, "but your father is going to hear about this when we get home. I hope you’re happy."

Actually, I think the little girl was happy. The frown and tears vanished from her face. She had gotten exactly what she wanted and won the battle, and, if nothing changes, she will probably wind up in later years winning the war. She had learned how to get what she wanted and what she could get away with.

What motivated the little girl to make a scene? She knew what she could get away with. I’m sure she knew the basic rules that her parents set forth. I’m also sure her parents told her if she broke the rules she would be punished.

But for the little girl, the rules were not enforced and her parents didn’t giver her any real motivation to obey the rules. Instead, what motivated the little girl was that by disobeying the rules, she was not punished but rewarded.

I’m not comparing us to children but we all take advantage of breaking a rule if we can. Do you ever speed? I don’t usually like to get speeding tickets so I usually set the cruise control to close to the speed limit (but not exactly, it’s usually about 5 miles above). What motivates me (and those who are passing me), to violate the law? We can’t say that we didn’t know the rules. The signs are out there. Supposedly if you break that rule you will get a ticket.

So why do people go faster than the posted speed limit? Maybe some don’t agree with the rule and consider it too strict. I think many drivers are motivated by time. They wanted to get wherever they were going and had to go faster than the speed limit to do so. Also, most drivers know that the police have a gray are of what they allow. What they don’t know is how much over the speed limit they can go before they will be pulled over.

Sounds pretty much to me like what motivates people in a company. For instance, when you ask people to work on a project you have to give them your expectations or a goal. You need to tell your employees what you want from them.

If an employee doesn’t meet your expectations in terms of attendance, quality or productivity, he or she needs to know the consequences. It’s human nature for most people to see what happens when they get close to breaking the speed limit or come in late a number of times. What can they get away with?

Someone should talk to them or take some kind of corrective action. If the employee is disciplined, he or she learns that not only is the rule clear and firm but it is also being enforced. More than likely it will motivate employees to do what is expected. If the rule is not enforced when an employee does something wrong then he or she is likely to do the minimum or maximum of whatever they can get away with, believing that nothing will happen.

What motivates people in a positive way where you work? For some it might be money, or appreciation. For others it might be job security or a promotion.

Once you determine what motivates your employees, then you must define the rules and inform them. Reward people for doing a good job and discipline them for breaking company policy. Whatever you do must be fair and equitable. If you have ever been the only one pulled over for speeding you know what I mean.

Make sure that you treat people with respect even when you have to discipline them. You can keep an employee motivated and doing a good job as long as you maintain his or her self-esteem.