“People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be – not what you nag them to be.”
– S.N. Parker
Do you manage people who are unmotivated?
When I ask this question during a training session, most managers raise their hands to signal “Yes.”
Unfortunately, there is no such person. Every person is motivated – by something. The problem (as most managers see it) is that other people may not be motivated by the same thing that motivates you.
“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” – Stephen R. Covey
We only have the power to motivate one person – ourselves.
But we can can create a motivating environment – that is, we can build a nice big fire on a cold night – that encourages people to want to produce better result. Or to move closer to the fire so that they can stay warm!
“We must motivate ourselves to do our very best, and by our example lead others to do their best as well.” – Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A
We can encourage other to produce better results by:
- Modeling the behavior that we want to see – setting an example for our staff to see.
- Encouraging the behavior that we want to see more of – recognizing and appreciating our staff when we observe them performing their job the way that we expect them to.
It’s that simple. It works. Try it and see for yourself.
But remember – it starts with you. Motivate yourself to do your very best. Don’t be surprised when people wnat to be around you – and to join you by doing the very best that they can.
