Trigger Question #87:
Every work day, many people suffer friction because many managers still believe the fiction that you can motivate someone to work. Fiction? Yes, fiction.
Let me get Frederick Herzberg to explain it, as he did over three decades ago: If you want your dog to move, kick him. And if you want him to move again, then kick him again.
We know it is possible to get someone to do something, whether through physical force, the fear of consequences, or good old bribery. I mean bonuses. But this ‘getting to do’ is not the same as ‘wanting to do’ out of free will.
Here’s a personal example from my distant past. My mother wanted me to mow the lawn. I wanted to play. My mother focused on consequences (a spanking and no pocket money), instead of on an outcome that I could relate to (my desire to play on freshly cut grass).
Motivation is an internal desire, not an external force. It is the inner will to act, to make something happen, to achieve something. The best a manager can do is to convince us that doing something is to our advantage. Or to fan our desire to do it. The rest is up to us.
It is just not possible to motivate someone to act, unless the desire to do so is already present inside them. If it is not, a kick is probably your only option.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
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I suggest you read the article One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? by Frederick Herzberg. (Either as the Harvard Business Review article from 1987 or his book of the same title.)
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