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Leadership isn’t about motivating with fear; it is about motivating through inspiration. I’m fortunate to work with many organizations of many different sizes and in many different sectors. It may not be surprising that most of them express similar challenges. Often they are concerned about improving workplace communication, processing through change, and maintaining an engaged and motivated workforce.

A great workforce typically doesn’t happen overnight. Attracting and retaining a quality workforce has a lot to do with the leadership culture. Of course, there are other factors such as pay, benefits, and career path opportunities, but likely much of the challenge points back to culture which is predominately created through communication.

Many supervisors, managers, and formal leaders are unaware of how their communication shapes outcomes. Here are a few examples:

• “We have to do better next month. I’m worried what will happen if we don’t.”
• “This change is coming down from above me, it wasn’t my idea but I don’t want to be the next group to get downsized.”
• “If we don’t do what upper management says, we’ll all be looking for a new job.“

On the surface some people may feel that these statements are not terribly harmful and may suggest that they express truth concerning any given situation. In still other cases there may be an argument that these statements do spring people into action, they get teams moving to get things done, and maintain efficiency, production, and high output.

Perhaps, but the action is based mostly on fear, not on inspiration. Motivating through fear will give you the following long-term outcomes:

1. Lack of loyalty or commitment to the organization by employees.
2. People who stay are often lower achieving, leaving management wondering why performance is poor.
3. Higher employee turnover with continued expressions of wanting more money or benefits.
4. Employees with the feeling of, “You don’t care about me so I don’t care about you.”
5. Increased theft, unwise use of time, or negligence because of a feeling of, “The Company owes me.”
6. Decreased quality in outputs mostly because of an “I don’t care” attitude.
7. Unable to hire a quality workforce, due to a challenged community or regional reputation.

Great organizations inspire their workforce for high performance and they have teams that are engaged by a strong desire to produce quality outputs. Sure, nearly all employees care about wages, benefits, and career opportunities, but inspired employees also care about the success of the organization.

Inspire.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and consultant that specializes in helping businesses accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. Reach him through his website at http://DennisEGilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

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