Idea 29: Eight rules for motivating people
- Be motivated yourself.
- Select people who are highly motivated.
- Treat each person as an individual.
- Set realistic and challenging targets.
- Remember that progress motivates.
- Create a motivating environment.
- Provide fair rewards.
- Give recognition.
Have I moved on yet from the ‘carrot-and-stick’, reward-and-fear approach to motivation?
If you apply these eight rules you will find that you are becoming an inspiring leader. For you will be already going far beyond trying to move people by financial incentives or appeals to fear, those levels that the old-style bosses of yesteryear used to the exclusion of all else. You will be imparting to others your own spirit.
One of the most inspiring leaders of our time is Nelson Mandela. He was named after the famous British naval hero of that name. When he was still a young captain, Horatio Nelson received a letter from Admiral Lord St Vincent that included the words:
I never saw a man in our profession who possessed the magic art of infusing the same spirit into others which inspired their own actions as you do. All agree there is but one Nelson.