The Georgia Scroll
April 1998

Unlocking the Mystery of Employee Motivation
By David Zimmerman

Introduction

Today’s healthcare environment calls for "doing more with less". For CEO’s and business managers, that usually means getting along with fewer employees. If that’s the case, getting the most from the remaining employees becomes a priority. Getting the most from employees is spelled: MOTIVATION.

Motivation is a mystery to most healthcare financial managers. It’s a term that gets confused in the workplace with "control" and "manipulation". It’s a word that some managers identify with the "carrot and the stick" philosophy – hold out rewards for good work and hit ‘em when they don’t perform. Some people in managerial positions think employee motivation is simply salary, fringe benefits, a comfortable place to work, friendly employees and dress-down days.

Others think motivation is characterized by a strong, overbearing, charismatic leader constantly directing employees’ every thought and action while leading their staff to victory after victory.

None of these terms accurately define motivation. In a new book, Unleash the Potential, Unlocking The Mystery Of Motivation, David Zimmerman attempts to unlock the mystery by explaining as simply as possible what motivation is and how healthcare financial managers can use this important managerial concept. His goal is to help managers unleash the great potential in people, which will lead to uncommonly great performance. The following is an excerpt from the book.

The term motivation remains a vague mystery to most people – especially those who lead or manage others. Too many managers either misunderstand the definition of the concept or make no attempt to understand what it is and how it works.

That’s unfortunate, because if a healthcare financial manager can understand and practice the simple precepts of motivation and the techniques that can allow their employees to become self-motivated, they will have literally captured lightening in a bottle. While motivation may appear mysterious, the results in the workplace are profound. In our opinion, of all the aspects of a manager’s job, learning how to use motivation is the most important ingredient to their success. Motivation will unleash the potential of their employees to levels of performance they could only dream about.

When employees are working within a motivational workplace, they have a feeling of security that enables them to act in a coherent, responsible and free way. Unmotivated employees frequently fail in their work or settle for mediocrity because they really do not know their own true capabilities. They do not work in an environment where they can unleash their potential!

Motivation Inspires

Contrary to what some think, motivation is not manipulating or controlling others for our own selfish purpose. In fact, pure motivation is just the opposite. Motivation in its purest altruistic form allows employees freedom to maximize their own potential – not that of their managers. True motivation allows people to become free to release an inert energy that comes from within to meet their desires – which if done correctly, also meets the needs or objectives of the unit, department or hospital.

Motivation is not one person manipulating or controlling another. It is one person influencing the positive and energizing emotions of another. True motivation is not selfish or self-centered, but is focused on others and their desires.

Pure motivation inspires. People want to be inspired. They will move toward what inspires them and away from what does not. They will walk through walls for an inspirational leader, but stop at the smallest mudhole when uninspired.

When unlocking the mystery of motivation, managers need to learn how to influence the positive emotions. Motivation actually depends on emotions to release the pent-up energy stored inside the human body. According to Shad Helmstetter, "to motivate someone, anyone, to do anything, you must influence this emotion".(1) The strength of emotions comes from the release of hormones (most notably adrenaline) into the bloodstream.

Desire: The Inner Force

When I wrote the book Turnaround a few years ago, I interviewed many successful business managers that had turned their operations around from failure to financial success in a relatively short period of time (less than two years in all cases). I attempted to profile the traits of the successful manager that we could all emulate. The one characteristic of these managers that jumped out at me as I pored over my interview notes and listened to the taped conversations was that of desire. They all displayed a strong desire to excel. They had an insatiable desire to succeed against any odds.

Desire is the driving force behind all self-motivation. Desire is what propels us forward. It is desire that releases the tremendous motivational energy that all human beings possess. Desire differs from need. A need is something that is essential for the survival of a living creature. Most traditional theories of motivation have focused on the concept of need. According to these theories, human behavior is seen as governed by "need reduction". (2)

It is human nature to be dissatisfied with the status quo. Dissatisfaction gives rise to desire. Satisfaction is actually the absence of motivation. As Lawrence Miller has observed in American Spirit, "I have never met an excellent executive who was satisfied". (3) Author Dean R. Spitzer has said, "I would go even farther: I have never met an excellent human being who was satisfied. People may become accustomed to mediocrity, but they are never motivated by it". (4)

While this precept seems simple enough, it does not come second nature to many of us. In fact, too often what we do and how we think as managers, although not deliberate, actually influences employees’ negative emotions and demotivates our staff. Too often we emulate managerial practices we have seen others do before us. Our own pride, ego and selfishness often get in the way of influencing people’s positive emotions.

Manager’s attitudes often get in their way of motivating their employees. A fellow consultant friend of mine, Dennis Moore, told me his personal experience in dealing with hospitals across the country led him to conclude that three primary attitudes can hamper a manager’s ability to create an empowering environment. The first attitude he sees goes something like this: "I’m more knowledgeable about what should happen in this area than anyone else; that’s why I was made the manager!" The second attitude he notices is expressed like this: "It took me a long time to get to this point where I have the authority to do things my way, the right way, and I’m not about to give up that power". The third attitude goes something like this: "If I let others do the job, no matter how well I explain it, for some reason they never do it just like I would. This ineptitude forces me to do more things than I would like, but in order to get them done right I have no other choice". Here are some common management practices that go on in business offices and are the opposite of motivation by influencing negative emotions in others. I have seen, throughout my years as a consultant, author, and employee, specific practices by managers that actually demotivate their employees, which fall into the following categories:

What Motivation Is Not: Demotivating Practices By Managers

Monopolizing Meetings: Managers who dominate staff meetings with their pontificating provide a demotivating effect. When a manager monopolizes the meeting by constantly controlling the conversation, not listening or questioning, or by not letting others have a significant voice and contribute in a meaningful way, people react in a negative manner. They become frustrated and angry. They have a feeling of being controlled and manipulated. Employees are definitely not motivated by the manager’s conduct during these meetings and get togethers.

Manager’s Expectations Not Clear: Managers who do not make their expectations known create a huge void that no one else in the department can fill. It frustrates and demotivates the staff and causes resentment among employees. It is the silent killer of inspiration!

Managers Withholding Information: Some managers feel powerful by not sharing information with their staff. They don’t take the time or care enough to pass on the information the staff needs to know, or they deliberately hold back information. Managers think if they have information the employees don’t, they have control over them. That gives them a feeling of power. This is definitely one of the most demotivating techniques a manager can exercise, either through ignorance or deliberation. When employees are empowered with information, their emotions become influenced in a positive way. If they don’t get information on a regular basis, they become demotivated.

Poorly Designed Work: Work that lacks structure, wholeness, good flow, uneven work loads, and lack of employee control causes staff to become discouraged. Their quality of work suffers while negative emotions continuously build up.

Managers Not Following Through: When managers say they will do something and don’t, they demotivate. It happens all the time. Hypocritical lip service. It angers employees and damages staff motivation and morale, while having a negative impact on the manager.

Lack of Employee Input: Too many managers neglect to seek legitimate input from their employees regarding work. Some managers feel it is a sign of weakness to ask their staff for input. They feel as managers they should know all the answers. Others don’t care or understand the damaging effect this practice has on employee motivation and frustration.

More Criticism Than Praise: You wouldn’t think this still goes on, but it does. Some managers feel it is their job to constantly correct, criticize and point out what the employee has done wrong. Constructive criticism is good, but when it outweighs praise for good work, employees become angry, discouraged and demotivated.

Benign Neglect: Managers who are so concerned about themselves and never seem to have time for their employees can demotivate. People do not want to be taken for granted and resent it when management practices benign neglect. This insidious demotivating management technique is widely practiced. It has an extremely damaging impact on employee motivation. Usually, these managers don’t have a clue.

Underutilizing Employee Potential: Managers who don’t take the time to help their employees grow and maximize their potential in a variety of ways will actually turn their staff into a group of mediocre, ho-hum clock-punchers.

Tolerating Poor Performance: This is a big killer of motivation. Employees get offended by managers who turn their back on poor performance. They would much rather have managers who insist on high standards of performance and holds all employees accountable to that level of excellence.

Over Control: When conceited, self-centered managers oversee and control everything, it has a terrible demotivational effect on the staff. All self-motivation by the frustrated and fuming employees is virtually shot.

Confusing "Maintenance Factors" With Motivation: When managers don’t really understand motivation they confuse maintenance factors (satisfiers) with motivational techniques. They delude themselves into thinking they are motivating their employees. Things like salary, working conditions, fringe benefits, and personal relationships are satisfiers. They do not motivate. If they are absent in a job, they become demotivators. Managers do not motivate employees in the pure sense of the term we are defining.

All of these practices demotivate by instilling negative influences in others and actually accomplish just the opposite of what managers really want. Instead of success, these demotivating practices lead to failure. No manager in his or her right mind deliberately wants to fail. Yet, due to a lack of understanding of human motivation, that’s exactly what happens. Managers are setting themselves up for eventual failure.

These demotivating practices by managers create a huge amount of negativity in the workplace. As an example, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that training organizations offer more seminars on how to reverse bad attitudes among employees. CareerTrack, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, says its seminar, "How to Overcome Negativity in the Workplace" is one of its six most popular classes, with attendance reaching up to 250 per session. William Lundin, co-author of ‘Working With Difficult People’, offers a similar and very popular two-day seminar. He says companies need to be more "humane" to foster cooperation among workers.

Lani Arredondo, a CareerTrack trainer, says negativity is on the rise in the workplace and points to last year’s Newsweek cover story, entitled ‘Work is Hell’, and the success of the comic strip ‘Dilbert’ as indicators. What is negativity? "Verbal put-downs, sarcastic remarks, habitual negative thinking", Ms. Arredondo says. "We’re not just talking about a bad hair day." (5)

Some managers don’t get it. They are the ones creating this negativity in their own workplace because of their ignorance of the concept of motivation. They don’t need to change the employee, they need to change themselves and the way they think about their employees.

By "understanding" the mystery of motivation and applying certain techniques, managers can reduce employee negativity while unleashing the great potential of employees. Helping employees maximize their own vast potential and improve performance can be one of the most rewarding aspects of management. The aura of achievement has no equal.

Too many managers get hung up on the more technical or operational aspects of their responsibilities and ignore people. In my opinion, the technical knowledge of most managerial positions is actually far less important to success than mastering the art and science of developing a motivational climate within their area of responsibility.

David Zimmerman is chairman and CEO of his own health care receivables consulting group for the past twelve years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is also the author of ten diverse books including his most recent effort, Unleash the Potential, Unlocking The Mystery of Motivation.

A popular lecturer known nationwide, Mr. Zimmerman is quoted regularly in a wide variety of newsletters and national trade magazines and has been interviewed numerous times on television and radio.

Sources:

(1) Helmstetter, S. What to Say When You Talk to Your Self. Scottsdale, Ariz.: Grindle Press, 1986.
(2) P.T. Young, Motivation and Emotion, New York: Wiley, 1961.
(3) L. Miller, Think and Grow Rich, New York: Fawcette Crest, 1960.
(4) Dean R. Spitzer, SuperMotivation, New York: AMACON, a division of American Management Association, 1995.
(5) Wall Street Journal

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Last modified: June 22, 2001