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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
INCREASE EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION? FORGET
IT...CAN’T HAPPEN
BY LINDA FINKLE I
am often asked, by my clients and other leaders, what’s the secret to increase employee motivation? Boy, I wish I had an answer to that question. To be
honest, I do have an answer; it’s just not one I think most of you reading this article want to hear. I do not believe we can increase employee motivation…forget it, it can’t happen. That’s a pretty strong statement, I know, and I want to tell you why I believe this to be true. I want to take out of the equation anything that
negatively impacts employees’ attitudes. There may be situations that are justifiably causing employees to have a negative attitude or lack of motivation, such as massive layoffs, uncertainty about the future of the company, management spending money on trips or new office furniture while telling employees there is no money for raises…clearly there are situa- tions where one could understand a lack of motiva- tion on the part of the employee. However, each of these employees still has a choice as to how they respond to these situations. It doesn’t give them a blank check for having a negative attitude forever.
As leaders we have to accept that employees cannot be motivated to improve their performance...Once we acknowledge this fact we can make informed choices about our options.
Once we take out the situations mentioned
above, then we get down to the individual em- ployee. Are they motivated, and if not, how do we increase employee motivation? I believe either by nurture or nature people are motivated or not. Look around your company. I’m betting you’ll quickly identify those highly motivated employees and just as quickly identify the ones that aren’t.
What’s the difference? Do you really believe those highly motivated employees succeed because of rewards or incentives you offer? Hogwash! They would be doing what they are doing whether you offered incentives, promotions or anything else. What drives them is internal not external. The promotion, gifts, incentives…those are simply the logical outcome for a job well done. Now what about the others, those employees
whose motivation you wonder how to increase. Ain’t going to happen. Some may improve with some training or praise or mentoring. Some may improve with threats or negative performance reviews or other forms of punishment. They may respond positively for a while and you’ll think “Ah, I found the secret” but you didn’t. All you did was learn something about human nature. People are draw toward pleasure or away from pain. As soon as whatever is acting as the catalyst to change their behavior is removed or lessened, they will fall back to their true nature. You cannot keep your attention on them long enough to increase employee motivation for the long term. And you shouldn’t have to. As leaders we have to accept that employees cannot
be motivated to improve their performance. Assum- ing we can change an adult’s attitude and behavior is fruitless. Once we acknowledge this fact we can make informed choices about our options. That’s where you as a leader have power, not in attempting to increase employee motivation.
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Linda Finkle, CEO of Incedo Group, works closely with leaders, entrepreneurs and partnerships to create sustainable productivity, organizational strength and most importantly for these companies and leaders to have more fun. She holds a Master Certified Coach designation through the International Coaching Federation.
22 PESTWORLD NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011
www.npmapestworld.org
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