The truly motivated person is one who wants to take action to get what s/he wants or to avoid what s/he doesn't want. We cannot motivate others to do what they are not willing to do, but what we can do, is to set the stage for others to want to motivate themselves. There are two primary motivators in life — the carrot and stick.

THE STICK
Managers who use the stick as a motivator use punishment or negative incentives as the prime mover. This translates into using fear, intimidation, threats, scolding etc. An example of stick motivation is when a manager threatens to fire an employee for showing up late for work. Or using the philosophy, "Firings will continue until morale increases!" Oddly enough, the pain of punishment is the more powerful of the two when used by the individual on him/herself as a "self" motivator, but not as an external motivator coming from a manager or a supervisor. When people get "fed up" or "sick and tired" of something on their own, it often causes enough internal emotional pain to create change. Let your staff member(s) use negative motivation on themselves, but management should dangle the carrot.

THE CARROT
The second type of motivator uses positive incentives to create change. We'll call it the 4 P's to point out what you can use to create carrots in your company. Use praise, prestige, promotion, or the paycheck to motivate your people. The 4 P's pull people toward something rewarding for taking the right kind of action. Using our tardy employee example, a "praise" and "prestige" motivation approach might sound like this, "Jerry, you're doing an excellent job and I have some suggestions that will help you qualify for 'employee of the month'." If these carrots are of any value to the employee, you'll most likely find Jerry at work on time and out-producing like never before. Using the stick might have only made the situation worse.

THE BEST OF BOTH
In going through life, most feel pushed or pulled by outward circumstances. They do what they do in response to what happens to them. Like a billiard ball, they're bouncing off the rails of life or falling into the pockets — all in response to the positive or negative pokes of their outward environment. They react, but fail to take action.

An effectively motivated person however, is self-motivated. He or she is not like a wheelbarrow (being pushed) or a wagon (being pulled.) Instead, a dynamically motivated person is like an automobile — driven by an internal power source to climb hills, go around curves, shift into overdrive and even start up ready to roll on damp, cold mornings.

THE SECRETS OF FAST MOTIVATION
Good news — motivating people is not a long, drawn out, time-consuming process. If your goal is to improve the quality of work in your department, first understand how employees perceive their work. Individuals will give you clues about how they feel using "self talk." This is the voice you use when talking to yourself throughout the day. Employees who are de-motivated often form their attitudes on incomplete or incorrect information. In order to refocus their attitude in a more positive direction, feed them enough correct information to change the self-talk. You can do this by observing, asking questions, and listening. Few employees will take the initiative to go to a manager and report that they're bored or in over their heads. The manager needs to take the initiative. You can't motivate other people in the end, but you can provide the stimulus for them to motivate themselves.

Gathering insights about your employees doesn't happen over night. What you learn will come from talking and listening to them in two or three minute "opportunities" from time to time. During these interactions, you have the opportunity to coach, inspire, encourage or challenge people to do a better job. It's easy to become distracted by other priorities, placing the employee's need for guidance on the back burner. If you aren't consistent in keeping in touch; however, keeping people inspired becomes an impossible task. Motivating others means consistently recognizing others for their efforts and acknowledging what your employees are contributing to the big picture. Use these three steps as FAST motivator guidelines.

Step 1
Consider the individuals' actions and attitudes as they appear to you in the office.

Step 2
Consider how your actions and attitudes affect your ability to motivate other people. Your actions and attitudes are based on your own values, self-esteem, history and experience.

Stage 3
Consider the employee's reaction to your attempt to motivate them. How they react will depend on that person's ability to cope with change, what they believe other people will think, and how well your actions meet their needs and match their own value system.

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