simplerich

Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must first set yourself on fire.
Fred Shero

I once told my Mom that I couldn’t figure out how to motivate somebody and she pointed out to me that I couldn’t motivate anybody. I could inspire, but the motivation would come from within. When had anybody motivated ME to do something I hadn’t wanted to do? I’d been inspired by other people to do something, but I can’t say anybody had ever gotten me off my butt to actually do it. That was me getting off my butt.

So, I’m a manager who wants his employees to be motivated and I don’t believe I can actually motivate anybody. It sounds a lot like I’m in the wrong line of work doesn’t it? Not to me. I don’t mind that I can’t motivate them. I also can’t get to Des Moines from my house in under two hours by myself. But I have a car that helps me do that quite handily. So, I don’t need to motivate the employee as much as I need to try and inspire the employee. If I can get them to want to do something then my job is done.

The thing with managers who make employees do things is that at some point the manager is going to leave the room/building. If the employee is only doing something because the manager wants it done it will be done the way the manager wants it done while the manager is there watching. As soon as the manager leaves or isn’t watching it’s being done in a way that the employee wants it done, which is typically faster and not always as well as the manager wants it done. I don’t say that because I think employees are lazy. I say it because the manager didn’t inspire the employee. The manager left the employee doing what he was doing “because I said so!” That’s no way to manage! (OK. It is a way, and I admit to having used it, but it’s not a good all-the-time strategy.)

Tom Sawyer didn’t make his friends paint his fence for him. He made his friends WANT to paint his fence for him. If I can do half a good of a job inspiring my employees to want to paint my fences I’ll quit getting yellow guard-rail paint all over my jeans! I can’t wait.

So, live it. Work hard, work with your employees, help them be better at what they’re doing and try and help them understand why what they’re doing is important. If it’s not important, and they’re doing it out of habit let them know they can stop if they want to. Sometimes procedures hang around years after their importance has faded. We’ve got pages of paperwork that we used to use, and I still find managers using it but all the information is now in the computer and used from the computer. Some managers still do it though, still like doing it, and find comfort in it. If it helps them sleep at night I let them. But I let them know that if they’re tired of it they can stop doing it.

There are plenty of things out there for employees to do. There’s more work than there is time, and there are fewer people doing it. The workplace stress is at an all time high according to recent statistics and workplace suicides increased faster this year than they’ve ever increased before and this is in spite of a smaller workforce than previous years due to the recession. So, help inspire your employees. Help them burn with passion for the job. Help them to find the spark of joy that keeps them coming in and help them develop the parts of the job they like and focus on those. I heard a Pepsi man say once that he got paid in the summer for the work he did in the winter (delivering soda in ice and snow is NOT fun) and that’s how most jobs are. There are parts we love, focus on those and get through the parts we don’t love. Those are the parts we get paid to do.

Watch your employees though. Watch to see if they’re burning out. The biggest thing I have to beat into my new managers’ heads is how important their time off is. They want to be on call 24-7 and they are, don’t think they’re not, but they need to dial it back. There are times they need to say “This is my time and while they may call me if it’s not important I’ll tell them I’ll call them later.” They have GOT to prioritize their private life and make sure to make time to smell the roses. If they don’t recharge at a hockey game or while running or playing video games they’ll burn themselves out.

If I find a manager who brags about their 60 hour weeks I’ve got a problem. They’re not developing their employees. They’re not allowing their assistant manager to grow into their position. They’re not letting their employees do their job. They’re getting in their employees way. And they’re running themselves so close to their capacity that if it does hit the fan and I DO need them to pull a double unexpectedly they’re too far gone to do it. Nobody should run on empty on purpose.

Managers need to be managers, but they need to be people too, and people need time away from their job, even if it’s only a long weekend at Worlds of Fun on Halloween weekend. They’ll be better managers for it. They’ll be better able to inspire their employees if they’re rested and energetic.

This is the last of my posts that have a fire theme. October is National Fire Safety Month, and I hope none of you have any cause to ever need your fire extinguishers or smoke detectors, but if you do. I hope they’re charged and ready to go… just like you after you’ve taken some time off from work.

The Set yourself on fire and help it spread. by Rich Griffith, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.