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Before you Motivate
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Edwin Weaver
Dr. Weaver has spent the last 30 years learning about people and business. On the business side, he has owned 3 successful businesses. He has trained everyone from the new recruit up to the president of the company. On the education side he has taught everything from elementary school to post graduate. He has a wealth of knowledge in education and training. Not just an American view, but a truly global view. He has trained or taught people in 23 different countries. Now he wants to pass that  
By Edwin Weaver
Published on 11/1/2006
 

Evaluate everything that can de-motivate a group and then see if any of these things are happening in your company. If so, take steps to correct these problems before you break out the extra motivation tricks.

Before you Motivate

By Dr. Edwin Weaver

March 6, 2005

Is your staff producing the way they should? Has productivity been declining? STOP! Before you reach for all those motivational tricks, take a close look at your company.

Evaluate everything that can de-motivate a group and then see if any of these things are happening in your company. If so, take steps to correct these problems before you break out the extra motivation tricks.

Many companies spend thousands of dollars every year on trying to motivate their employees and never achieve the success they are attempting to reach. The reason; simple they have problems in the company which de-motivate.

The motivational tricks are like white washing a wall that has a dark stain. It will look good for one or two days, then the stain bleeds through again. Usually the wall looks worse, because now the rest of the wall is bright white with a bad spot.

Some of those bad spots are;

  1. Managers who do not lead by example. This is a common problem in many companies, which is rarely addressed.
  2. Workers who do not produce, but are not reprimanded. This can have a serious effect on your crew.
  3. Playing favorites with some employees.
  4. Loss of trust due to exaggeration, lie, broken promises, or miscommunication.

There are more reasons, but this is a good place to start. Write down everything you can think of that would de-motivate a person then examine your company to see if any of these things exist.

If need be, apologize for any damage you have done. Make sure the staff knows that you are addressing the problems. Then, be sure to be consistent with the handling of these problems and make sure everyone knows you will maintain these policies.

Once the employees see that the company is changing, they will start to change. Once they realize that this will be a permanent change, they will buy into the company again.

It may seem like a slow process, but it is the best process. If you still want more productivity from your employees, then start using some extra motivational tricks after you have corrected initial problems.

Good luck. Remember – be fair – be strong – be calm

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