I had a conversation with one of my valued clients the other day about how to motivate an inconsistent employee who occasionally performed well, and also occasionally performed poorly. He received advice from one of his peers to manipulate the employee into doing what he wanted him to do. Not a great plan. Read on, and you’ll understand.
From time to time, leaders and managers will try to use manipulation to influence others to do what they want. Think about pressure, threats, punishments, etc. and you’ll understand what kinds of manipulations they might use. We’ve all probably had a time or two in our lives or in our careers where someone was trying to manipulate us to get us to do what they wanted us to do. Manipulation can be bad, and then again, it can be REALLY bad.
The truth is, that as a motivational technique, it works, but only for a very short time. Its effectiveness has a very brief shelf life. The best news is that there is a significantly better option available to you. You can inspire people to do what they need to do because it aligns very nicely with what they NEED to do, and also what you WANT them to do. There are many benefits to inspiring people, rather than manipulating them, and it works better and lasts longer.
Motivating people without manipulation creates less stress on your teammates and your colleagues. It’s more work, but the rewards are larger and longer lasting, making it well worth the extra effort. How can we go about doing it? Start with communicating to your audience what you believe in and what you stand for. When they understand the “Why” behind what you’re doing, they will feel better, and a deeper connection to your objective begins to build.
It communicates your drive and your purpose. It helps your colleagues, your prospects, your partners, and anyone else to understand where you’re going, and allows them to understand most importantly the WHY behind you going there. When they understand where you are going, what it’s going to take to get there, and the WHY behind it, they are in a great position to choose of their own free will to help you to keep moving forward along your journey.
Allow your collaborators to UNDERSTAND where we’re going, and WHY we’re going there. In doing so, we provide them with a golden opportunity to choose to come alongside us. It has been my experience that this approach works better than any other I’ve tried. This approach seems to work for a multitude of others as well. You may want to consider giving it a try yourself.
Michael Beach is an award-winning Master Certified Business Coach and a developer of Executives and Emerging Leaders. Michael’s firm, Michael Beach Coaching & Consulting, has coached in multiple locations across the United States, in Minnesota, Florida, Iowa, and Arizona. If you’re interested in taking your game to a whole new level, or if you’d like more help motivating yourself or the people on your team, please, give Michael and his team a call.