Stop Trying to Motivate Your Employees

[Sharon]

It’s a misconception that you can motivate your employees. They’re already motivated. The key is to unleash their motivation. The Founder of Aperio Consulting Group, Kerry Goyette takes a deeper dive into motivation, how to leverage it, and the counterproductive motivations that may be holding us back from success.

- We are hard wired to connect.
- Our brains will not thrive at their full capacity unless we are part of a healthy group.
- Motivation is not a one size fits all.
- Motivation is our drive to seek pleasure (Ambition and Accountability) and avoid pain (Power of noticing/protect what they have).

This TED Talk got me thinking, what motivates me? I want to actually say that I am driven to avoid pain. How about you?

[demonskeith]

I agree and disagree a bit, some employees do need it as they may get burnt out in their job and god knows retail employees do need some kind of reason to go back in the morning.

[lammchen]

I see a lot of lazy employees at some offices where there are services and I think they need some type of motivation to actually DO their jobs. Of course, not every one of them is lazy, but why do I always get the ones who won't do what they promise? I'm still waiting on paperwork that was supposed to be mailed out 3 months ago and phone calls that should have been returned. How do they get motivated?

[ZandraJoi]

This is an odd one. I guess we have to do it job by job, worker by worker. Maybe instead of motivation, do more along the lines of encouragement. Being personable. Getting to know them outside of their work. Asking how something is going in their personal life so they know they are not just a number but rather a human being, keeping with the boundary of employee/ employer.