Thinking out of the box requires more than knowledge and experience coupled with excellent thinking skills; it requires motivation. Why do you want to dedicate your time and effort and subject yourself to the frustrations associated with disturbing the status quo? If you’re really committed to this effort it will consume all your waking hours and more. Thinking about critical issues doesn’t stop at 5:00 P.M. and begin the next morning at 8:00 A.M. It doesn’t stop on Friday afternoon and then restart on Monday. We know that intrinsic motivation, especially in the person who is always self-motivated, can provide the passion and commitment, assuming the topic is relevant.
Human resource people who continue to argue that money is not an extrinsic motivator should recognize that the money must be there if a long-term commitment is required. Long-term commitments require dedication of personal time. Going around the clock for days and possibly weeks or months can play havoc with family relations. If after all this dedication a person doesn’t have the funds to provide some special event for the family, chances are that future activities will be limited to the hours of eight to five. A pat on the back for a job well done is insufficient after hours of dedication of personal time. As a manager you have a responsibility to differentiate between performance levels and that takes judgment. You compensate and provide opportunities to your people based on performance.
Motivation is a more complex subject. How people are motivated and how their interactions contribute to group motivation requires some analysis. Highly motivated people may actually create some level of discord when assigned to a group. Not all members of the group will have the same level of motivation. A group of ten people may have no more than two highly motivated people; the rest will contribute but essentially go along with the majority. The people who wish to take that giant step will be given many reasons why it’s better to take incremental steps. The challenge just isn’t there. Most organizations function in some type of competitive environment. If nothing else there is competition for funding.
How do you bring everybody on board? There are no seven easy steps for motivating the group. People respond differently. The range of motivators depends only on the creativity of the manager and knowledge about the people involved: perks of different types, praise (which motivates differently, depending on whether it’s specific or general), recognition by the group for a job well done, possibilities for advancement, freedom to pursue related activities, access to information, encouragement by management, and fear.
You may question the use of fear as a motivator. Fear from competitors, fear of loss in status, fear of termination for any reason, and fear of not meeting expectations can be motivators. A bit of fear often stimulates the lethargic. However, each of these motivators can also reduce motivation, because not everyone responds in the same manner.