Motivation. Morale. Enthusiasm. Positive Attitude. These are the buzz words that my clients throw about when talking about their 'lazy employees' (or rather what they lack). But what these supervisors do not understand is that motivation to perform a task--more accurately called 'interest'--- is not something that can be manufactured.
Interest cannot be forced. Interest either comes naturally or must be faked. And faking requires a motivator. We often call this "the carrot or the stick." We can either bribe someone (carrot) or punish someone (stick) to perform a task they are not naturally interested in.
Does your interest in getting something done come from somewhere else? No. This is not about how someone was raised or whether they are a good person or not. This isn't any different than, say, gravity. If a good person walks off the top of a building, they will drop to the ground, just like a bad person. Interest shifts as the topic shifts. You are interested in your department doing their work. And if you aren't, or are secretly not enjoying your job, then you rely on bribery (a paycheck) or punishment (disciplinary action and even termination).
So, let's ease up on our "slackers", okay? They don't want to do it. But they do it anyway. Because you supplied praise or punishment. These are the only artificial motivators when interest is lacking.
And let's remember this truth when you tell your children they should WANT to clean the house because it's theirs too and therefore will not get an allowance for doing so.
Haha! That's a good one.
See Stephanie's site Work Stress Solutions for more information like this.
