Continuing Education for Technical Professionals
You Can't Motivate Employees! - Part 2 - Leadership
(Part 2 of a 3 part series)
by Susan de la Vergne
Now, Where Were We?
For those of you who missed part 1 of this series, let me summarize where
we were:
You can’t motivate employees. Employees motivate themselves. You can, however, create the best conditions under which they do so.
Last time, we talked about how finding a sense of purpose in the work goes
a long way towards fostering enthusiasm for the job. An employee who’s
blasé about the job isn’t motivated, so keeping focus on what the
workplace contributes to the world – purpose beyond profit – is
essential.
As Bill George said in Authentic Leadership, “You cannot inspire
employees by urging them to … get the company’s stock price up.” It’s
about more than money; it’s about meaning.
But beyond that, creating a workplace where people are engaged and
enthusiastic also needs inspired leadership. It’s an important influence
that looks like this: Competent, trustworthy, genuine, conscientious
innovators who are glad to be on the job.
Using Power Well
Let’s start by examining a formidable force in management circles:
Positional power, also known as “authority.” The generally accepted
paradigm is that people in management call shots because they’re in
positions of authority. They have, then, positional power, power
they’re awarded because of their position.
Positional power’s counterpart is personal power, i.e., a person’s
capacity to affect decisions and actions because of his or her
credibility, expertise and competence. Individuals (managers or not) who
have personal power do the right things for the right reasons. They embody
the elements of leadership that wield influence and make them respected,
rather than second-guessed.
“Positional power is the authority you receive from the office or position
to which you are appointed or elected. Personal power is the authority you
command as a result of who you are as a person,” says Dr. Dilip R.
Abayasekara (President of Toastmasters International) in his article “A
Common Leadership Challenge - Balancing Positional Power and Personal
Power.”
We can probably all cite examples from our own lives of positional power
run amok, as well as times when personal power was sorely needed and
obviously lacking. But creating conditions under which people motivate
themselves isn’t just reining in positional power. It’s about encouraging
personal power in everyone.
Personal Power at Work
Positional power (authority) is fleeting. When you’re a manager, you have
it. When you’re not, you don’t.
Personal power, on the other hand, is something that, if you have it, you
have it forever, and it grows with you as you mature. Encouraging personal
power in the workplace is a major contributor to the kinds of environments
in which people are motivated.
Encouraging personal power in everyone in part means affirming and
promoting respect for others in the workplace. Not just some people some
of the time, but all people all of the time. Not that respect should
be unconditional – certainly not. But setting an expectation that it’s a
prize only a few are worthy of is a sure way to disenfranchise people.
"My people have to earn my respect. I don't just give it to them," says a
Vice President about the people who report to her. "So I make sure they
have plenty of opportunities to compete. The brightest and best prevail
over the others. The others, they know who they are.”
This is not a leader who’s using her positional power very well, creating
organizational churn, building distrust among peers. Hers is not an
environment that most would look forward to taking their energy and
creativity to every morning.
But given this is clearly wrong, how would we instead encourage personal
power in a work environment?
First of all, see your organization or company as flat. It’s not “better”
to be a manager than an individual contributor. It’s just a different job.
Don’t say “move up” the organizational ladder, as if supervision and
management (positional power jobs) are in the high class neighborhoods.
Similarly, don’t say “further down in the organization,” or “far from the
top of the company,” to refer to individual contributors’ jobs.
Removing what may seem like subtle inferences – up and down, top and
bottom – sets a tone for talking about every job as though it’s worth
doing and worth paying for. Because it is, and it’s one way to ensure
people feel respected and appreciated, willing to be part of the effort –
in short, motivated.
“Effective Managers Are Not in Control”
Richard Farson says that in his remarkably insightful book Management
of the Absurd. He means that effective leadership is not a result of
the command-and-control approach. Instead, it’s more like navigating than
commanding – using the ability to “turn confusion into understanding,” and
“see a bigger picture” (Farson, p. 38).
How does that help set an environment where people motivate themselves?
The answer is probably obvious: No one likes to be controlled. Led? Yes.
Answered? Sure. Encouraged? You bet. But not controlled.
What does “control” look like? Micromanagement; decisions from management
with no input; discussion suppressed; irrelevant rules. If those sounds
ring a bell with you, consider that there may be unnecessary controls
squelching enthusiasm in your environment.
There are, of course, necessary controls within an organization – checks
and balances, approvals, governance. This isn’t about that. This is about
people trying to exert control over other people unnecessarily and
damaging morale – and motivation! – in the process.
Climate Control
Working in a climate where personal power supersedes positional power and
where tricky territory is navigated, not dominated, are two important ways
in which leadership contributes to a healthy environment where people find
their own commitment and enthusiasm for the jobs at hand.
Next issue: You Can’t Motivate People – Part 3 – Organizational Character
Susan can be reached at susan@workandinspiration.com
© 2006 Susan de la Vergne. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.