Talk at NISA on Motivating Subordinates, Reducing Distance and Assessing Honestly

The talk had three components - all inter-related of course.

• Motivating subordinates
• Reducing the distance between supervisory ranks and personnel
• An honest assessment of subordinates

Motivating subordinates

First up, why motivate at all? Because most people cannot motivate themselves individually.  Human tendency is to take the minimum action - not give 100% unless pushed. Motivated people clearly improve results. A 10% change is huge. And when people actually take ownership (that's 100%), and magic happens. 

As a leader, our only job is to bring out the best in each person in the team. When each person brings his best, the team is at its best, and it is good for the organisation. When the team wins, everyone wins. 

Leader’s beliefs

Most leaders start with a negative set of beliefs. like - why should I motivate them, they should know, if they don't deliver they will perish, people are lazy, some are hopeless cases, I have to do everything etc. But if we need to get good work we need to change our beliefs - we need to believe that everyone wants to do good work, that given the right environment they will deliver, it is our job to get them to deliver, people are not lazy by choice but they don't know the process or what to work for, that no one is a hopeless case and everyone has huge potential, and if a leader has to do everything himself, he is a poor leader. 

Once again, it is the leader's job to bring out their best. Now let us see how.

What is motivating?

Motivating is not a short term job - an emotional speech, movie, video - has short term effect. To get a longer-term motivation the leader needs to give a worthy "motive", a purpose bigger than them. Most of us commit to something bigger than us - it is not easy to commit to ourselves because we don't think we are worthy enough a cause. A worthy purpose makes them feel worthy too. 

Most people don’t know how good they are, if they can go after a big purpose, so help them find one. A common purpose also binds the team together.

This common purpose is your orgn vision and mission. The question is - how many of you know the vision, believe in the vision, have committed to the vision. Knowing is one thing - believing it and practicing it is the key. You can develop your own vision too.

Know, understand, believe and practice your vision.

Keeping Motivation Going - Feedback Management

Motivation has a process too. It's called Feedback Management. From the book 'Whale Done' where Shamu the killer whale is trained to perform to music come these tenets when the person is either lacking skill or confidence – be patient, earn trust, accentuate the positive, don’t wait for perfect behaviour, when they go wrong, redirect energy but don't put them down.

When a person acquires skill and confidence, you can also give negative feedback when they slip up.

Feedback management is based on the ABC technique - activator, behaviour, consequence (feedback). Most of us don’t know if we’re doing right or wrong because there is no immediate feedback. Most times we get feedback only at the end of the year by which time its too late. 

The way to give feedback is – 

Positive feedback - immediate, specific, positive feelings, encourage them to keep up the good work)

Negative feedback (reprimand) - immediate, tell them you're going to give feedback, it's not about them but the act, end on a positive note, be careful where your attention is

Attention is like sunshine. What you give sunshine to grows. 

How – Clarity and Support.

Clarity  
1. Vision, Purpose - makes everyone look in the same direction, feel part of something bigger than themselves, feels like they’re part of a team that has their back. Something that is good for everyone

2. Role clarity – expectations, write them down, most people are unclear 

3. Goal clarity (SMART goals) again write them down, agree on them, SMART goals

4. OKRs – Aspirational goals vs committed goals

Support
5. Monitoring - CFR – Conversations, Feedback and Recognition, Psychological safety

To Reduce Distance Between Superiors and Subs

• Trust people Believe that people do good work, that they have potential and it is up to us to discover or facilitate that - they receive the vibe
• Remember people follow actions, not words
• Remember that justice is the first expression of love, all are equal - if they believe you aren't fair and just, they will never trust you
• Tell them what to do, not how - give them ownership, allow them to figure it out their way, to create, to engage
• Demand the best from them, reward them accordingly, be tough with standards - real talent will shine through
• Help them get better, know and understand them
• You are the mirror - if you notice something wrong with your subordinates, look at yourself

Honest assessment
Watch out for bias - caste, regional, communal etc

Be true to the good of the organisation

Practice tough love - be compassionate with their long term aspirations and be tough with their discipline and work ethic - make them stronger

Love them like your children and they will die for you