Companies often try to motivate their employees by using negative reinforcement as their primary strategy. They use fear of punishment as the prime motivator. This technique may work in the short term but will fail in the longer term. Sooner or later companies will have employees who work in fear but will eventually reject the company.
The second strategy companies use is financial incentives. While this is an excellent idea and is usually appreciated, there is a limit to its effectiveness. There is a point of diminishing return at which all the additional incentives don’t really induce a greater quality of work from employees. Companies often find there is a limit to what they can offer their staff. If a company constantly reinforces with money or incentives, people begin to expect that when they do something of great value. They look for an immediate economic return. They begin to work for the financial reward, surpassing and stripping the capacity of the business to keep up with the economic demands of its employees.
The third and most powerful way to motivate employees is through personal development. By helping your employees to grow and expand personally, they begin to feel passionate about life, people and their jobs. This makes them want to contribute more. Their contributions come from a sense of personal pride rather than pressure from the outside. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have an incentive program; just make sure you have the most powerful incentive of all- help people to expand and grow.
Use the following principles when negotiating a contract (work or home), improving the quality of one’s relationships, asking for a raise or even getting a project done at home.
- Lay the groundwork. Be clear about what you want and what has prevented you from getting it in the past. What does the other person want? What’s in it for both of you? How will you know when you have a successful contract?
- Gain leverage by getting that person to associate pain to not making the deal and pleasure from making it.
- Interrupt the pattern of any belief or idea that’s keeping the deal from moving forward.
- Create an alternative by constantly reinforcing the pleasure and positive impact of this alternative.
- See if it’s going to work out for everyone – a winning situation!
If you constantly strive for success only to fall short or “hit the wall” of failure, the source of your challenges maybe related to belief of values that are in conflict. The strategies used in your thought pattern make you either look at things the same way you have in the past which did not work, or allow you to look in other directions. Tell yourself, “I can make changes now and I have possibilities. I feel good about my potentials.”
A positive attitude and a little skill pointed in the right direction can make the difference between those who achieve wealth, health, success and enjoyment in life and those who don’t.
