Motivology Blog

Motivating Employees

Tuesday, 15 February 2011 07:18 | Written by Guy Harris |

Guest post from Guy Harris:

As I teach and coach people about leadership, I often address the topic of human motivation. One model of human behavior model of human behavior helps to explain why people do what they do. The main learning point from this model is that people generally do what they do because of what they expect to happen after they do it.

At times, I get some pushback about these ideas. During one training class, I made the point that only positive reinforcements encourage people to give high-level, maximum effort.

A class participant challenged me on this point, and our conversation went something like this:

Participant: “Are you saying that I have to keep giving people positive reinforcement for their workplace behaviors?”

Me: “Yes, that’s exactly my point.”

Participant: “Why don’t they just do what they’re supposed to do. I told them they were doing a good job once. I shouldn’t have to keep telling them.”

Motivation in Context

Friday, 04 February 2011 16:06 | Written by Kip Ferguson |

Someone recently shared some images with me that were taken inside of old abandoned structures. These images were beautiful, but at the same time they were a little haunting and a little depressing. The individual that shared the images with me is working on a project that would explore various structures in Detroit. I thought that this was a very interesting idea and worth sharing. My perspective on the project, however, was challenged by someone I shared it with.

The individual who challenged my thinking referred to the project as “Ruin Porn”, which was something he could not promote. I had never heard that phrase used before, so I did what I normally do…I Googled it. I found several articles about “Ruin Porn” and read them with great interest. These articles and blog posts discussed the various merits and demerits of the work. Is it art? Is it obscene? What does it say about our society? Does it damage the reputation of the city where the images are taken?

Are You Open?

Saturday, 29 January 2011 14:24 | Written by Kip Ferguson |

Are you open to new ideas? Do you take your everyday life and your experiences for granted? It is important that you always keep an open mind and that you enjoy the experiences you have every day. When you take the time to truly enjoy what you are doing and what your life has to offer you will find that the movement toward your goal is faster. As I was thinking about putting a blog post today I started looking at some quotes to get a little bit of inspiration. Just hoping that there was something there that would help me pull my thoughts together and get them more focused. Nothing was clicking with what I already wanted to post about, and then I found this:

If He Can Do It...

Tuesday, 25 January 2011 06:12 | Written by Kip Ferguson |

Do you put limits on yourself and make excuses? It is easy to blame your lack of taking action on some external force. We have the greatest of ambitions but someone or something is preventing us from doing it. The types of limiting beliefs need to be broken. Look around you at what others have done and are doing. In most all cases the only thing stopping you is you. You want to blame bad luck for your situation or maybe even genetics.

I was recently flipping through the news websites as I have a tendency to do and found an unassuming video that is really inspiring. I wish I could say that it was the story I was looking for, but to tell you the truth I was actually looking at some footage they had of cars in NY that were frozen solid in ice from a broken water main. The next clip was of a blind man who had built a shed and a car. That's right, I had to keep watching.

Let It Snow!

Saturday, 22 January 2011 00:27 | Written by Kip Ferguson |

The last few weeks here in Michigan we have had what can best be described as a wintry mix. A little bit of snow, a little bit of freezing rain, and wildly swinging temperatures. This is pretty standard for January, well, as standard as Michigan gets anyway. Of course, people are complaining. Complaining about snow and weather in Michigan. The state is known for its four seasons. If you live here, you know the weather is going to change. You know it is going to snow. For me, that is part of the reason I love Michigan and why I choose to live here. If someone hates the snow and doesn't like the weather, I don't understand why they have chosen to live here.