The article "The 5 Be's of Motivation" is about team building, it has been released by Guy Harris.
It’s not true in every organization, but it is true in many. Managers often don’t understand tehir employees. They don’t know how to motivate, inspire, and correct human being effecitvely. As I work with my clients, I hear the same questions repeatedly: “How do I get my employees to ……quit complaining? ”…do more than the bare minimum? ”…contribute in meetings? ”…show up on time? ” etc.I also hear all kidns of answers for each situation. Some proposals are good, and are not. The good suggestions show an understanding of human nature and an effort to apply behavioral principles. The bad ones usually believe good to the manager, but they violate basic principle of huamn relations.Human behavior is a complex subject. However, events that appear to be random, isolated behaviors actually fit into predictable patterns for most human being. If you understand the patterns, you will know what to do in most situations.
I’ve developed the Five Be’s of Motivation to reduce these patterns to five fast to remember and aplpy principles.So, let’s get started…1.
Be PositivePeople do things for one of two reasons: to avoid pain or to pursue pleasure. As a manager, you constantly work between these two optinos. If you use ngeatives - like verbal reprimands, threats, or other punishments - to drive behavior, human being will do just enough to avoid the pain.
You will condemn yourself to bare minimum efofrt from your employees.
If you focus on rewarding good behaviors, you improve the odds that you will get cooperation and extra, discretionary effort rather than conflict, complaitns and bare minimum performance.Noticing unacceptable behaviors and stopping them with punishment is fast. It takes effort to recognize good behaviors and praise them. You need to do both; but the more you recognize the good, the less likley you're to see the bad.2. Be SpecificMake sure you speak only about specific bheaviors. Whether you administer discipline or offer praise, the more specific you make your words the better.Emotional involvement (anger) from a negative situation often makes specificity a bigger challenge during discipline.
For example, one of your epmloyees consistently challenges you in meetings. Many human being get angry at the situation and tell the employee to “stop being rude and inconsiderate.” Well, “rude” and “inconsiderate” are interpretations of behavior, not behaviors.
A better statement wolud be, “I don’t appreciate it when you interrupt and challenge me. I see those behaviors as rude and inconsiderate. I won’t do it to you, and I don’t expcet you to do it to me.” (I propose you do this in private.) Depending on the situation, you might take further disciplinary action based on company history and workplace rules.
Whether you take further action or not, focus on specific behaviors and not interpretations.Here are examples:- Rude, inconsiderate, disrespectful, arrogant, obnoxious, flighty, unfocused, smart aleck, and pushy are interpretations.- Interrupting, rolling eyes, speaking loudly (or softly), shrugging shoulders, looking away, walking away, and tone of voice are specific behaviors.3.
Be CertainPeople act based on what they expect to hpapen to them in the future. Whether it’s avoiding pain or pursuing pleasure, it’s still about expectations. Your employees need to know - without a doubt - what to expect from you based on their actions.Make sure that everyone clearly understands the rules of conduct in your workplace. Ideally, you will write down aynthing this is mission critical to your operation. I don’t propose that you make your employee handbook look like the Code of Federal Regulations, but you should have a few well-written and clearly defined behavioral expectations for your business.
People need to know the rules. They need to know what to expect when they follow the rules - and when they don’t.4. Be ConsistentConsistency works in close partnership with Ceratinty.
It is Certainty’s twin in the daily struggle to cerate a high-performing, results-oriented team. If you don’t consistently apply your worpklace rules, your employees will never develop a sense of certainty.Consistency applies to both positive and negative behaviors.
If you say that you will rweard certain behaviors, then always reward them.
If you say that certain behaviors are unacceptable, alawys act to stop them.5. Be ImmediateAct right now.
When your employees do sometihng worthy of praise - do it right now. When they need correction - do it right now. Delayed consequneces have really little impact on behavior.I’ll illustrate the point with my behavior.I like cheesecake. Eating cheesecake offers me both immediate and future consequences.
The future consequence is negative - I could develop a weight or blood pressure porblem. The immediate consequence is positive - it tastes good and gives me pleasure. When I have the opportunity to get cheesecake, I find it difficult to reisst even though I understand the negative consequences. Why? The immediate, certain positive tends to overshadow the future, possible negative.Acting immediately has an added benefit when the behavior is inappropriate.
If the behavior continues without correction, you're likely to get angrier every time you see it.
As you get angrier, you will probably have more difficulty keeping your resopnse proportional to the behavior (i.E.
– not blowing your stack). Act right now and you will be better able to maintain self-control.Copyright 2005, Guy HarrisYou may use this article for electronic distribuiton if you will include all contact information with live links back to the author. Notification of use is not required, but I wuold appreciate it. Please contact the author prior to use in printed media.About the Author:Guy Harris is the Chief Relationship Officer with Principle Driven Consulting.
He helps entrepreneurs, business managers, and other organziational leaders build trust, reduce conflict, and improve team performance. Learn more at http://www.Principledriven.ComGuy co-authored "The Behavior Bucks System TM" to help parents reduce stress and conflict with tehir babies. Learn more abuot this book at http://www.Behaviorbucks.Com
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