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Move'em Up, Over or Out!
September/October 2004
Parenting is, no doubt, the toughest job
on the planet. It takes wisdom, decisive
action, commitment, compassion and lots
of love. We all want the very best for
our children and long to see them
succeed beyond our own achievements.
However, in order for them to reach
their potential they need attention,
motivation and inspiration.
I have two beautiful children, Hannah
and CJ. I discovered their unique
motivational inclinations early in life.
All children, no matter how wonderful,
seem to find their way into occasional
mischief. When they would misbehave
their mother or I would intervene and
give them the discipline and love that
they needed to redirect their behavior.
Hannah responded to, what I call, the
“cross your eyes motivational plan.”
When she would misbehave I would simply
cross my eyes at her and she would cease
and desist. She was compliant and
responded to the kinder, gentler
approach. However, God blessed us with
CJ as well. We had him on the “beat him
within an inch of his life motivational
plan.” You know, he would step out of
line and the only way to get him back on
track was to administer physical
discipline. CJ decided to take the
tougher, more painful route to behavior
modification. Wither you agree with
either approach, both my children
eventually responded very positively to
the motivational method customized for
them.
Employees have the same diversity of
needs from leadership. We cannot treat
all employees the same. Some respond to
softer, gentler methodologies while
others strangely prefer tough love. As
leaders, we must be committed to
providing the kind of environment that
our employees can thrive and develop in.
Remember that leaders develop employees
in three directions: Up, over, and out!
Everyone under our influence is already
moving in one of those three directions.
It is obvious that a leader's first
objective is to help people up! However,
if they don't want to move up, only over
and out will do. Here are a few
strategies to help maximize your
employee motivation and performance:
Stars (Employees who can do the job and
will)
The two essentials for motivating your
Stars are to apply rewards and
resources. In other words, Stars are
presently self-directed and they have
the attitude and skills to fulfill their
job responsibilities effectively.
Therefore, reward stars with praise,
attention, recognition, open
communication, ask for their feedback,
etc. By the way, these rewards cost you
nothing but your time. Unfortunately,
many managers tend to over work their
stars. They tend to give them the jobs
that others will not or can not do. This
de-motivates and frustrates Stars and
before long they will become
disenfranchised and possibly become
skeptics. You will inevitably delegate
work to these exceptional people, but
before you do, take something off their
plate to free up time for the new task.
They’ll appreciate your sensitivity and
will be less likely to polish up their
resume in consideration of alternative
employment opportunities. Also, Stars
need the resources to do their jobs.
Tools, equipment, technology and time
are all necessary for stars to stay
motivated. Give them what they need and
then encourage them and support them and
they'll perform with excellence.
Stretchers (Employees who can’t do the
job but will if you'll teach them)
Stretchers have a great attitude but
lack some essential skills. Their
motivation must come from training and
coaching. Training is showing them what
to do and coaching is enabling and
empowering them to do it. If Stretchers
are given ample time and dedicated
attention in the training process, most
of them will learn to master necessary
skills. With improved training,
monitoring and support you'll turn your
Stretchers into Stars in a hurry.
However, if they fail to learn the
appropriate skills you'll have to apply
Sluggo strategies for motivation.
Skeptics (Employees who can do the job
but won’t do it)
Skeptics are competent but reluctant to
do their jobs. In my opinion, Skeptics
are one of the most difficult groups to
motivate. Why? They are competent. It's
hard to motivate those who can do their
jobs. Unfortunately, they do their jobs,
but they do them with an apathetic,
careless attitude. Why? There are three
reasons why people don't do their job:
1. They don't know what management
expects them to do.
2. They can't do what management expects
them to do.
3. They don't want to do what management
expects them to do.
Therefore, it is essential to
communicate with the Skeptic
immediately. They need three things to
be made clear during your counseling
session.
First, get tuned into their radio
station, WIIFM (What's in it for them).
Explain to them the benefits of doing
their job effectively. Secondly, they
need to know your expectations of them.
It’s also important to document this
communication. If they don’t do the job
after hearing the expectations, it’s
because they can’t or won’t. So,
finally, management must complete the
session by articulating what I call
parades and executions. In other words,
what is going to happen to the employee
if they do the job and what will happen
if they don’t do the job? Without these
rewards and consequences motivation and
performance will be nominal. If the
employee fears the consequences they
will often start performing competently
and management has moved them up to Star
status. If not, move the employee to the
Sluggo category and apply appropriate
motivational strategies.
Sluggos (Employees who can’t do the job
and won’t – and even if they could, they
wouldn’t)
Sluggos are not as difficult to manage
as one might think. They just need
direct, honest and assertive leadership.
First, they need to be tested. How else
will management know if their Sluggos
can’t do their jobs or just don’t want
to. After testing, if the employee can’t
do their jobs, it’s most benevolent to
train the employee again. After
training, test the employee once more.
Document everything you do with and say
to this employee and have them sign the
documentation. Thirdly, if the employee
passes the test and they start doing
their job, you’ve developed them up. If
they can’t and won’t do the job
management has no other alternative than
to move them over or out (transfer or
terminate) Over (transfer) is a good
option if other roles, jobs or
responsibilities within the organization
match the employee’s present skill set.
Otherwise, termination is the only
option remaining. Remember, it’s the
nicest thing you can do for your Sluggo,
Stars, organization and you.
I don’t mean to simplify motivation.
Yet, if you will apply these strategies
and remember that relationship building
and employee performance are the core
objective, you’ll see increased
engagement and higher morale among
employees. Remember, leaders go first!
Demonstrate your commitment to
development by taking every one of your
employees up, over or out! - CM |
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