Be Careful of Punishment

How do you motivate people?

Many leaders take two clear approaches to motivation:

if you do what they want, you get rewarded - OR,
if you do NOT do what they want, you get punished

How does that work?

It has an immediate impact. People do respond. We will do nearly anything to avoid getting punished. And there is part of the problem - if we will do anything to avoid being punished that includes all sorts of things that a leader probably doesn't have in mind - such as gaming the system, cheating, stealing, lying, and covering things up. Probably not the team environment that you've got in mind.

Plus, punishment pushes the problem further down the road - the lack of belief and engagement - and amplifies what you lack even more. It reaches a pitch where bigger and bigger punishment is needed to have the same impact. Again, that's not what you want as a centered, high performance leader.

I'm not saying that there is no place for punishment. Some crimes can only be stopped by removing the perpetrator from action. But as a team leader - as a supervisor - as a project manager - all punishment will get you is bigger problems, disgruntled team members, broken trust, and endless manipulations.

Just because punishment is powerful does not mean that we should use it as a motivator.

How can you motivate without punishing?

Easy:

Find out what motivates your people
Create an environment where they can make that happen

Real motivation is never manipulative. We aren't trained animals, are we? Real motivation comes from an inward focus on something dramatically important, noble, and life changing. While that's not easy - it's dramatically effective.

How will you seek to motivate your team today?

-- Doug Smith

doug smith training: how to achieve your goals

Front Range Leadership: High performance leadership training

Comments

Let Them See You Work

If you can't seem to hire good performers with a solid work ethic, you might need to develop them. Maybe start by showing them what that looks like, or as John Maxwell has said "Know the way, show the way, and go the way." You know, walk the talk. I know a LOT of leaders who complain about work ethic. Maybe they need to let their people see them work... -- doug smith

Leadership Warning

If you visit the dark side, don't get stuck there. -- doug smith

Careful Expectations

Change agents don't always play by the rules. Expecting them to is the act of a fool. -- doug smith

Celebrate Progress

When was the last time that you were frustrated in trying to learn something? If you can't remember, maybe it's time to learn something new -- something tough and challenging. Truly worthwhile endeavors are often struggles. The satisfaction comes not only in the final result, but also in the progress toward that final result. The best way to avoid a sad let-down once a goal is achieved is to enjoy the journey all the way thru. Celebrate your progress! Not so much that you feel finished, but enough so that you feel able. Celebrate progress, and then keep on progressing. As that beat poet and philosopher Harry X. Tudas once said, "Feel in the groove but continue to improve." -- doug smith

Start Positive

I went thru a grumpy period in my life. It was like a rut that was so deep no light could get in. It fed on its own bumpy grumpiness until that's all I could feel. Yuck. Forget that now. Now, I start with a positive thought. I could be wrong about finding the silver lining, but I've learned that I won't see the silver lining unless I look for it, and that's the place to start. Even the smallest positive effort has a positive impact. Let's start there. -- doug smith

Freedom and Responsibility

Freedom without responsibility produces more harm than good. Responsibility without freedom sparks certain revolution. High performance leaders don't FIND the balance, they CREATE the balance. Start by listening. -- doug smith

Feedback Takes Practice

How good are you at providing feedback? If you're not sure, ask your team members. If you are good at it, they'll tell you. If you're not good at it, then maybe they will and maybe they won't. Feedback does not come easy. Skillful, useful feedback that improves both performance AND self-esteem is a delicate balance of recognizing positives and occasionally providing insights on areas of improvement -- all placed into the context of why it matters. Without the "why" -- why the feedback matters, why the improvement matters, why the performance matters, all the feedback you can muster will only fluster whoever you provide it to. Tell them what they did that was great, ask how they could make it even greater, and share with them why it all makes a difference. Because unless it really makes a difference who cares? Feedback, like any skill, takes practice. -- doug smith

Pro-active Prioritizing

Stop setting goals you don't believe in. They will only slow you down. -- doug smith

Courageous Creativity!

Others might fear your creativity, but you don't need to. Stay courageous, stay creative, stay compassionate, stay clear. Sing your song no matter who listens! -- doug smith

Building Discipline

It would be easy to skip my morning, or afternoon, or evening push-ups. Heck, I did skip them for most of my life. But regular exercise is a discipline that won't do itself. We don't have to like or enjoy discipline-building habits in order to need them. The drills prove, over and over, that we do. Start small if you need to, but definitely start. -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership

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