By Hatem Azzam
Since the start of management science at the beginning of the industrial revolution age, and up till now, organizations have been relying heavily on designing incentives and bonuses to motivate their teams and employees so that they become more engaged and productive. Bonuses, raise, free food and drinks, flexible timing, etc. Because these external initiatives never really “intrinsically” motivate people (not motivating them from within), they don’t work for the long term, and now more than ever. High rates of employee disengagement, employee turnover, quiet quitting, and great resignation are just symptoms of a deeper disease!
What Motivates People
Only internal drivers that come from within the employees themselves are the ones that genuinely motivate them over the long term. This is where employees and team members start to become proactively engaged and productive, endure all the business challenges, and become wholly and genuinely invested in their work. This is the recipe for high performance, innovation, and growth. A growing body of research in the field of human behavior and psychology have well proven this; the work on the self-determination theory “STD,” the research related to purpose & meaning at work, and many others proved that only internal drivers and motivators such as feeling valued, contributing to a bigger purpose, significant meaning, connectedness, autonomy and agency, learning, and growing, are the true motivators that motivate people from within.
Lead People, Manage Things
Managers must forget to “manage” people and learn to “lead.” Why? Because emotions are much more important when it comes to dealing with people. Management is very important for “things” (i.e., processes, psychical assets, financial assets,..etc.). When it comes to people, you can not do the same with them as with “things” and expect them to be motivated.
Inspire, Role Model, Serve
Successful leaders inspire with a vision and a sense of purpose. They are productive and effective themselves and role model integrity of character, humility, and a sincere sense of service. They let their ego fade away for the greater good.
Speak To The Heart and Mind
Successful leaders spark their team action with stretch goals and provide clarity about the expected outcomes. In the meantime, they are mindful and emotionally intelligent and create a trusting, safe, and positive emotional environment for people to excel and thrive!
Have It To Give It
To do that, successful leaders master leading themselves first. They continuously strive to well lead their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They know that this is the turning point to becoming true inspiring leaders at work and in life and that it all starts from within.
About the Author
Hatem is the managing partner of Leadership Management® International in Switzerland. He is a highly accredited executive leadership, strategy, and transformation coach. He works with leaders, leadership teams, and organizations to enable them to reach new heights of sustainable success through facilitating, coaching, and consulting in leadership development, team & culture development, strategy and execution, and transformation.
Hatem combines science-based and time-tested human-centered coaching and development processes with 25 years of international B2B experience. He spent 10 years in different management and leadership corporate roles in global F500 companies before starting an entrepreneurial journey where he founded and led an SME group and led it to grow from 2 people to 250 people doing a 9-figure business in 13 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and an MBA in international business from ESLSCA Business School in Paris.
