Motivation and mistakes...

Recently I've written a about motivation, retention, retention during financial crisis and so on.. And the techniques and exercises mentioned there were tried and tested ones. Now will there be any techniques that can go wrong? Some motivational techniques can go wrong as well.

• When we think of motivating employees the first thing that comes to mind is 'money'. More money is the best incentive. Money does usually get the work done, but studies have proven that giving more money makes it a mere transaction whereas gifts build a relationship.
• Finding the mistakes is good but always concentrating on the negatives will only pull down the confidence of the employees. So rather than mistakes the strengths should be highlighted.

I would like to add something here from experience- my superior used to find our faults and let us all know about it in the team meeting, but he always fell short on highlighting each of our strengths. We began our day with the negatives being marked in the brightest colors which never motivated us.

• Following other companies practices, this is because those companies have formulated a motivation plan by streamlining their processes, cultures, management practices and benefits. This may not be the right plan for another company as they might have different practices, benefit plans and the rest.
• Not having the trained managers or not training the managers to manage the employees and be accountable for the results of the team as a whole.

Another interesting note I read is a good manager removes the obstacles in the path of his employee making his work easier, and thought wow!. Wish we had managers like that who work with the employees, understand their mistakes and guide them than just dictate.

Will get back with more, by then please share your ideas and what you think shouldn't be done in the name of motivation.

References:

http://bit.ly/tIDXBa

http://bit.ly/sHjRbx

http://bit.ly/rLdGmn