When it comes to motivating people we need to focus only on positives messages in order to maximise the impact.
Too often I have heard leaders say, things like, that was a great job, but its a shame about the cost overrun or fantastic design concept but it’s a shame about the colour.
When ever we do things like this, people only ever hear what was said after the but. The compliment which was meant to motivate is lost and people are just left with the demotivating criticism, which was not our intention.
It’s like my wife, if we are going our to a dinner I can tell her that her dress looks fantastic, her hair is delightful, she looks so young, beautiful and sexy, but i am not sure about those shoes. The only thing that registers is, I don’t like her shoes, all the other complements are lost and have evaporated into thin air. She is now disappointed that I don’t like her shoes.
So if we want to motivate people through compliments and recognition then we need to just have positive messages.
If we have suggestions for improvements, then it’s better that we park these and bring them up at another time.
If motivation includes a but, then this transforms it from motivation into demotivation.
Gordon Tredgold
” It’s like my wife, if we are going our to a dinner I can tell her that her dress looks fantastic, her hair is delightful, she looks so young, beautiful and sexy, but i am not sure about those shoes ” .. best line in many many days… i dont have wife so i dont know the aftermath of the comment… 😀
it holds true till date. one negative comment will ruin your entire effort.. you are spot on..
Totally agree!! I always say “Motivation moves people but inspiration changes people”
Inspiration makes us want to change, and motivation is the encouragement to continue the journey
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feed back is very important in man management and it’s like the mathematics signs + and –
I explain:
First case: If the action is good (+) and the feed back is positive (+) then the reaction of the employee is positive (+) (the employee will continue improving)
Second case: action is good (+) and feed back is negative (-), the reaction is negative (-) (The employee is demotivated)
Third case : action is bad (-) and the feed back is positive (+) (The employee will continue the bad behavior)
The fourth case: The action is bad (-) and the feed back is negative (-) then the reaction is positive (+) (the employee will understand his error and will try to rectify it)