Lean Quote: Motivation Tips for Managers

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"An employee's motivation is a direct result of the sum of interactions with his or her manager." — Bob Nelson

Managers should remember that people act from motives, and motives come from within, not without, the individual.  A motive is that within the individual which incites that person to action.  This means, in effect, that all motiviation is "self-motivation."  This being true, the job of the manager is to help people find ideas, which will act as inner impelling forces directed to useful ends.  It is the manager's job to get people to want to do that which needs to be done, rather than feeling they have to do it in order to justify their retention on the payroll.  Here are some reliable ways to do this:

1. Be genuinely interested in them.
2. Get them to see the end results of purposeful, dedicated, consistent effort on their part as it relates to their future and the advancement of their careers.
3. Provide them with goal-oriented job descriptions.
4. Utilize incentive programs, which will have purpose and meaning for them.
5. Show them how they fit into company goals and the related importance of their work.
6. Give them deserved praise and meaningful recognition.
7. Keep them achieving.  Achievement is, in iteself, a great motivational factor.
8. Help them set goals, which will coincide with those of the company.
9. Get rid of "dead wood."  Productive workers are more productive when every person contributes to the team effort.
10. Help them acquire and maintain a spirit of achievement by careful planning and organizing their efforts directed toward attainment of meaningful results.
11. Help them set and achieve self-improvement goals.
12. See to it that they get the acceptance and approval they need to satisfy their thirst for recognition and a feeling of importance.
13. Help them attain a conviction that they are accepted and approved, and that in your estimation, they appear in a favorable light.
14. Show them how and why they are doing useful, worthwhile work.
15. Tell them about their progress.  This they want to know.
16. Listen with interest to their triumphs, their problems, their ideas and their grievances.
17. Show them how they can get what they want by meritorious performance.
18. Never neglect them, ignore them, forget them.  This is one of the worst mistakes a manager can make in handling people.

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