for you Alex, for everything that we told and enthusiasm for your young ...
often cite the parable of Saint-Exupery when I'm talking about 'motivation' with fellow managers and I do it because I do not think you can really 'motivate' people. At least not directly, through stimulation 'outsiders' such as rewards and punishments. I do not deny that some short-term result can also be achieved by monetary incentives and career or with a few more benefits, but are we really sure that they are suitable means to retain people, they become truly creative and efficient? Or is this a thinly-veiled blackmail?
Over the past thirty years ', Professor Teresa Amabile, a student of' Managerial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, has conducted extensive research on students and professionals to identify the secrets of the grounds and found that: first, the rewards encourage people to focus strictly on a task, carried out as quickly as possible and taking a few risks. Second, people feel controlled by the reward. They feel less autonomous, and this may interfere with the performance. Finally, extrinsic rewards can erode intrinsic motivation. People who see themselves as if they worked for money, approval or competitive success find their work less enjoyable, and therefore do not play well.
In contrast, intrinsic motivation comes into its operations where there is gratification, curiosity and sense of mastery - because the balance between challenging and objective awareness of their responsibilities - in addition, this type of motivation is closely tied to the feeling of being able to contribute to an act of 'generation'.
All this thinking about how important it is to channel our emotions into the pleasure of "doing what you do" without stubbornly put as a condition of the result or the final evaluation. When men and women are engaged in work they love and are enabled to be fully immersed in an activity in which they are valued and recognized, then they will see the creativity flowing. Even in the darkest hours. Often they take the feeling of working in a 'state of grace' or 'state of flow' - "... flow - The State In Which I know people are Involved in an Activity That Nothing Else Seems to Matter, the experience is so enjoyable Itself That people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. "(Csikzentmihalyi, 1991) - in which time seems to suspended and everything runs smoothly and quickly to the result, in a sort of total emotional involvement all'innamoramento similar. The state of flow is born 'on the edge of chaos' between 'boredom' (induced by low-challenger) and anxiety (induced by excess pressure) and it is this fine line that managers can really build the conditions for the emergence of reasons: firstly, providing a clear vision and who can be 'in love', challenging but not unattainable, in which participation is required and not merely a creative executive.
First conclusion: we all need money and food to live, but some of us live for money or gorge themselves. Personally I do not think I would be happy to select candidates from the last category and I would not treat others as if they belonged there.
second conclusion: each of us has different motivations that drive him to get up every morning to go to work (work environment, colleagues, challenging goals, type of work, career opportunities, vocational training etc.).. The first failure of a manager is to infer that these differences are not significant and that there can be only one motivational strategy for everyone.
Third conclusion: If bonuses, increases and various awards have a limited effect in time and do not affect all in the same way, and it does not exist a motivational lever that is universal, then how can you meet the multiplicity of unexpressed needs of persons as You can address everyone without losing effectiveness?
Maybe it's the theme of 'Justification' is misleading, maybe it's a matter of perspective: we are looking at the details and we miss the floor, what would we see if we were to step back and look at the macro-needs, or better, what remains when our survival is assured. The primary need, then, what unites us all, at all latitudes and in all social communities is to 'make sense' to our action. We need to know that what we do has a purpose, its reason to exist. What we do is useful and appreciated as such. Even unconsciously we need to feel that our transition into a company - how on earth, however - will leave a trace, will come in some way for future generations. We are scheduled for this: it is part of our instinct for survival. Good leaders recognize the value of this and feel the energy of feed their team around a project, 'Vision, which can identify. How else would motivate the Breakers, if not teaching them to see beyond the single stone from the cathedral square?
