Page 25 - DIVA_3_2009

ger at those employees who are employees. The answer is troops. This can only be achie-
not motivated is great. The rea- rather siinple: first do what it ved by first reciuiting people
lity is that, even if tl'iey may takes to ensure that they keep determined to succeed and then
have some responsibility, tliey their initial level of motivation - by manag'ng this pre-existing
are rarely the guiltiest ones. - the one they had when they motivation. Inspiring people by
Their boss inight actually be at joined the organization... acting as a role model is one of
fault. The real issue is to find the secrets. Any manager who
out what led unmotivated peo- Things usually start to tiun sour does not spontaneously do that
pie to lose their initial motiva- wlien employees discover cer- will generate presenteeism at
tion. tain negative things about the one point or another.
organization. These findings
Except for certain low-skill affect their implication. It could This puts a heavy burden on
positions, most people stait a be political games, the lack of managers: to avoid presen-
job with a very high level of recogition, compromises peo- teeism tliey must beliave in ai'i
motivation. Unfortunately, it is ple have to make to keep their etical manner and act as role
often the management job, the fear of properly addres- models. Because this is such a
style/SKILLS of their supei'iors sing certain issues, the inade- key factor of success and to
that progressively affect their quate handling of confficts, an avoid the expensive team de-
motivation. incompatible management motivation, etical leadership is

sf5rle,a bad team spirit, etc. becoming more important in
In other words, umnotivated university education. It is, for
employees are demonstrating The worst liappens when peo- instance, a central theme of the
that their management has not ple find out that one or more of Diploi'i'ia of Entreprenein'ship
done what was required to pre- their own values is not being and Business Development
vent this loss of motivation. respected. This triggers an (ME3A-level executive conti-
Managers who complain that emotional reaction giving the nuous education programme
their team is not motivated impression that the organiza- for people who want to boost
enough can only blame them- tion values are not compatible their career: http://entrepre-
selves since they are adinitting with their's. A study has even neurship.unige.ch).
to their own management short- shown that the "nuinber one"
cori'ungs. reason that people give to justi- Real (virtuous) leaders obtain
fy why tliey would change an unconditional positive ans-
It is considerably casier to nur- position is the unetbical beha- wer to the following veiy sim-
ture the initial motivation than viour of their boss or of their ple question: "Do you want to
to re-motivate people who are orgaruzahon. be led by me?" A "yes" means
no longer motivated. In any that people are inspired and
case, the manager whose staff is This is quite understandable: engaged enough to do their
no longer motivated rarely has how can anyone feel safe in an best. Did your boss ask you this
the necessary credibility requi- environinent that is govemed question?
red to motivate them again. by different etical standards.
Their conscious or unconscious Rapha61 Cohen
The art of motivating perception is: "how can I tnist Management Booster and
people an organization that treats Entrepreneur,
clients or other people that University of Geneva
Creating the right conditions to way? If lack of fain'iess and rc@getratex.ch
keep teams' motivation is a fun- recogn3tion are possible here, I
damental managerial duty. may be the next victim...". At
Engaged people translate into a that stage, the safest course of " Pi'icewaterhouseCoopers
real coinmihnent to deliver cus- action is to look for another job.
tomer satisfaction, generate This is the vicious circle.
income, unprove processes,
reduce costs, identify oppoitu- Ethics is directly connected to
nities, etc. This is not only hue people's values. Something
in the private sector; it remains unethical is something that is
tnie in the public sector and in not respecting their values.
NGOs. When people's values are not
respected, they interpret it as
The virtuous circle is: engage- injustice. Again, how caii anyo-
ment brings efficiency and effi- ne feel safe in an envii'onment
ciency biings success. So, suc- where justice is not granted? In
cess requires cominitted that case, it is smarter to aban-
employees. don ship as soon as an opporhi-
nity is identified.
The question at this point is to
find out what can be done to The first mission of leaders
maintain coinmitted should be to mobilize their

3 2009 Diva 23

wwwdivainternationalch