There are many theories about how to motivate people. Some theories are bad while others are good. This article is not intended to list and analyze all of them. Based on my personal experience, it only highlights the most important points of motivation.
Point 1 – People don’t change.
People don’t change. This statement is proven by any wife, no matter how experienced or not. It is possible to instill basic habits in a husband. However, once the wife has less supervision, these habits will be forgotten. The Project Manager’s job is the same. There are both good and bad employees. It is impossible to make someone a good employee from a bad one. People are who they are. It doesn’t work to punish or award bad employees, have intimate conversations with them, and shout at them. It is possible to learn to live with a bad employee, but only for a short time. While you can encourage them to work, it’s impossible to keep this way of working forever. Only motivation will work if you have great people around you who think like you and do the job the same way you want. This is only possible in start-ups and companies that employ a non-standard approach to recruiting employees. Jim Rohn pointed out that motivation alone is not enough. If you have an idiot and motivate him, you will get a motivated idiot.
Point 2 – Ambitions & Skills
Motivation is the balance between ambitions and skills. If you take a student who is a good student at an average college and offer him the chance to study at Oxford, for instance, he will fail in every discipline. However, his situation will improve and he will be an excellent student again. A reverse situation is true: an average Oxford student will be an excellent student after he has finished college. But, he will return to an average student (he will believe that there is no reason not to try, everything is fine). Similar principles can be observed at work. People work in harmony with their abilities and their ambitions. There are certain employees whose balance can easily be upset. They can still do amazing things while working on a project. All you have to do is motivate them. This trick cannot be used every day. It should only be used from time to time. Managers have to identify the points where ambitions and skills can be broken. It is crucial to recognize such breaks when they are causing problems that can lead to failure.
Point #3 – Money
While money is a motivator for the short-term, it cannot be used to establish long-term efficiency in work. Specialists who are willing to work for a low salary are rare. There aren’t any incompetent people who make millions. Money is a motivator for all workers. He works hard and gets rewarded. If the project is out of your control and the manager has to solve a problem quickly, the manager must motivate the team to work harder. A one-time bonus, which is money motivation, is a great way to motivate your team. But! But! Although additional payment can be a good option to solve a problem, the manager should be prepared for the consequences. If the problem is really urgent, it’s better not to rush to solve it.
Point #4 – Fear
Fear is the best short-term motivation. Fear is something that all people fear. Fear can be associated with even the most beautiful feelings, such as love, friendship and patriotism. For example, we fear losing our dear ones.
