Monday, May 23, 2005

Motivation: teamwork

This site has some neat background on motivation theorists' work applied to the workplace. The work at that site is focused on management. But groups that work well together
  • share the work (close to) equally
  • treat each other fairly in other ways
  • don't keep each other waiting
  • tend to be more positive than negative; more encouraging than discouraging
  • don't air each others' dirty laundry
  • have leadership that exemplifies these qualities; CEOs, managers, etc. must do these things FIRST
So you can see that, while management has the most important responsibilities in motivating teams, none of us who are on teams get away without responsibility.

This is why start-ups pay so much attention to their hires. They must find people who can work with each other, knowing that workplace squabbles will force them to make tough choices.

In large organizations, we see that sometimes teams are chosen by who's available. That's a different dynamic than what you find in a typical start-up. But in both cases, effective teamwork -- and motivation for the team's members -- is tied into trust. If individual team members are busy covering their asses, trust cannot be developed; motivation goes right down the Bemis.

I love writing about motivation. Plan on seeing a lot more on this topic down the road. :-)

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posted by Ron @ 10:07 AM

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