Читать книгу Motivating Today's Employees - Lin Grensing-Pophal - Страница 18

If all else fails, light a fire under ‘em, and they’ll get going, right? Not necessarily. While employees may rise to the occasion to help a failing company get over a financial hurdle, or compete against a fierce rival, burning platforms generally only lead to short-term motivation. When your financial problems continue quarter to quarter, or the competitor remains in town, threatening your existence, year after year, employees will lose their initial fire and resolve and resort to their old ways.

Behavioral psychologists have demonstrated for years that negative reinforcement is less effective as a means of changing behavior than positive reinforcement.

“Let’s work hard so we can meet next quarter’s financial goals and benefit from quarterly bonuses,” will, therefore, be more motivating than, “Let’s work hard so we can meet next quarter’s financial goals and avoid pay cuts.”

Certainly there are times when a burning platform truly exists, and you must quickly rally employees around a cause. That can be appropriate. Exercise caution, however, in resorting to this form of motivation too frequently.