There are only two way to make people run –Fear and motivation. We can induce same to get things done from any human being or team. Army mixes both well, person could die for the country, or the boss. Both ways (fear or motivation) have their good or bad impacts. All organization are like armies which are providing comfort zones and security of salary and wants people run to get it.
Fear is mostly used emotion in daily management. Most managers run people with it. They left little choice/no choice in front of people to follow their desires, skewed intentions, or management targets to work with least manpower. It is animal way. It uses the hunger or weakness of one human to maximise management benefit. It is old way of management though many still use same way. It gives quick result. Crying on floor, long hours, high attrition are side effects of this kind of management style. One animal runs another animal by fear. It is law of basic nature. HR and top management like it as fear gives desired result quickly. It has huge downside in today’s era. People take short cuts and it leaves management with long term costs, hurts, excessive buying, or making compromises. Safety is just their criteria. They don’t apply mind.
Motivations way of making people run is new way. Management style is changing from fear to motivation. HR is using motivation through events, rewards, learning development. Motivation is human way of doing things. Inspiring people to achieve stretched goals help them to show impactful work. It helps them to realise their potential. This management style too has downside. You can’t keep people motivated for long time. They feel they are free to do anything. And they go in comfort zone. Getting things done becomes difficult and we nurture inefficiency sometimes. This kind of leaders make you fear free. And sometimes employee starts feeling that his job is safe.
Real fact is no one wants to work. It is upto us to make people run. Both extreme motivation and fear are well mix in “carat and stick” approach. It is pure art. Human is least understood machine. They behave in erratic and unpredicted way. Each story is different. So each one needs different tools. There is no one tool. Comfort zones bring procrastination. Playing outside the comfort zone also brings breakdowns. We need a fair balance.
In both the cases, communication is very important. You have to communicate clearly, your vision, your mission and your values. If they are pure, people listen. They want to know each time what is in it for me.