| |
| |
| |
Business Rule #50:
Provide Incentive and Instill Pride
May 15, 2006
(PAGE 2 of 2)
Tammy’s situation, of course, was complicated by the fact that she was in direct competition with her teammates. She could have found a way, however, to help Allie Jablon and Roxanne Wilson feel they had a personal stake in the project. Instead, Tammy accomplished just the opposite, when she outright said, “I want this project to be about me.” Come boardroom time, both Allie and Roxanne felt compelled to report that verbal misstep. Tammy would have done much better if she had solicited input from her team, implemented some of their ideas, and assigned meaningful responsibilities.
Frequently in business, money is a motivator. Just as often though, it’s simply a way to impress management and the shareholders by giving them what they want: a better bottom line. We care how our superiors and colleagues perceive us. What matters even more is how we see ourselves. Money is part of that, but what is it that drives us to work late hours, giving ourselves over to a business task that goes above and beyond the usual call of duty? More often than not, it’s a sense of pride. Think of all the times candidates on The Apprentice confess their fear that their Project Manager will come out looking good because of their hard work. They all want acknowledgment for their efforts.
| |
| advertisement |
 |
|
| |
| |
Allie may have been criticized for her disrespectful eye rolling, but Roxanne’s attitude was way worse. Roxanne was assigned the task of getting the signage done for the display. Since this task was all about the display, the signs were a vital part of the project. Roxanne delivered a couple of way too small signs that were hard to read from afar and easy to miss. Very poor performance. So how did Roxanne defend herself? In the same way as someone who loves to do the least amount of work with which they can get away: “Hey, they might have been small, but I did it. So I don’t want to hear about it.” No pride in her work whatsoever.
Even some small signs giving the price of the Xbox would have been helpful, not to mention tie-ins to other Wal-Mart products. Gold Rush may have had no ceiling and drooping walls, but they clearly understood that the purpose of the display was to sell more products—and that alone was enough to win the task.
Synergy’s display had no pricing at all. And the bickering in the boardroom was downright embarrassing. Tammy truly didn’t understand enough about motivating her group to be an effective leader. So Trump fired her.
|
|
We care how our superiors and colleagues perceive
