b'CAN YOU REALLY MOTIVATEYOUREMPLOYEES?By Vince RathWhen I became a manager many years ago, my boss told meInthetruestsense,leaderscantmotivateorinspiretheir two things; motivate your team and let them do their jobs. Itemployees. Yes, we can say things or orchestrate experiences was great advice that I tried to follow closely, especially thethat create warm emotions and prompt temporary energy in a motivation part. Throughout the early stages of my career, Iparticular direction. That is Extrinsic Motivation and is typically spoke with various teams about all sorts of things such as theassociated with traditional management techniques such as thrill of beating our sales goal or how they could make moretheabilitytoprovideclearexpectations,teachcompetent money or earn a promotion. All was good but, over time, Ibehaviorandapplyappropriaterewardsorconsequences began to feel as though I was putting in more effort to motivatebasedontheresults.ItiswhatIwasdoingwithCarolyn. the team than they were at being motivated. I couldnt fathomHowever, that idea we have about motivation, the consistent, why someone wouldnt want to earn more, get promoted orlong-term drive that persists through hardship to reach some be part of a winning team. I was beginning to become jaded.desiredoutcomemustcomefromwithin.ThatisIntrinsic Then, something happened that made everything clear.Motivation and it is much more difficult to achieve. So, what do we do?Her name was Carolyn. I was a young Store Manager full of ideas and too much energy. She was a veteran salespersonA primary leadership tenet is know your people and provide settling into the twilight of her career. Carolyn had seen plentydevelopment. At its most basic level, this implies that we of whipper snappers like me come and go. She was doingshould identify the learning and communication preferences enough but I knew she had more to give. So, I decidedof our team as well as their strengths or weaknesses and then sheneededmotivation.ForweeksIspokewithherabouttailor our interactions accordingly. In other words, traditional her dreams and career aspirations and for weeks she smiled,extrinsic motivation.To move toward Intrinsic Motivation, lead nodded and answered with predictably bland responses. Onea RAMQ discussion with the associate. day, I approached her on the salesfloor because, you know, she needed some motivation. When I was finished and feelingRAMQ is an acronym for Recognition, Advancement, Money pretty good about myself, Carolyn said, Vince, Im 62 yearsand Quality of Life and represents four of the primary reasons old and have been doing this for almost 40 years. I dont havepeoplework.Yes,thereareothers,butfocusingonthese a dream or a career aspiration anymore. All I want to do is payfour will provide the leader with valuable insight to create an my bills, buy a new car and take my daughter on vacation. Ienvironment where Intrinsic Motivation can blossom. I learned was taken back but, in that moment, I understood the carrotsthis years ago from Tim Glasgow, one of our Senior. Consultants, I was using were more meaningful to me than to her. I askedwho taught me how to use these topics as a foundation for Carolyn to tell me about the vacation she hoped to take. Iawide-rangingconversationabouttheemployeescurrent wanted to know everything. Then I asked her to describe themotivationsandfuturedesires.Timsaidtopresentthelist car. She knew what I was doing and played along but this wasto the associate and ask them to rank each according to its a real goal for her, and I wanted to understand it. importance Once prioritized, he told me ask the associate to 26 | The Jewelry Business Magazine'