Need to Light a Fire Under your People?

Automotive Manufacturing & Production, May, 2000 by Ted Pollock

It happens in the best run departments. Employees are suddenly struck down by the "blahs." They lose enthusiasm for their work, perform at a disinterested snail's pace, don't respond to the usual urgings.

If your people are displaying these symptoms, you may be able to galvanize them back into action by employing one or more of the following strategies.

Shift assignments. Give the individual who usually works in an office a chance to get out. Maybe the job requires visiting another division...using a special library in another city...calling on a consultant. Or try handing the inveterate traveler a project that will require his or her presence in the office for a while. The novelty could prove a shot in the arm.

Run a contest. The prize needn't compete with the state lottery, but should be geared to trigger the competitive spirit lurking in us all. Perhaps the employee producing the best report gets dinner on the boss...or a day off... or tickets to an important sports event.

Create an emergency. The deadline for Project X has been moved up...you're on a task force and won't be available for the next week--your people are on their own...if the department doesn't finish the job by Friday, it looks like an unavoidable working weekend for all.

People can summon amazing energy and concentration in the face of such challenges, Caution: don't use the "emergency" ploy too often, lest your credibility suffer. But once in a while, applied judiciously, it may prove to be just what the doctor--and a moping crew--ordered.