Giving Up Control: Why Some Managers Fail

You cannot control another person! YOU cannot motivate them. These are errors in belief that many managers hold. While all this may sound highly negative, there are important lessons to be learned from these two phrases. This summer, I discovered the difficulty in motivating another person to work when they did not want to. In my defense, I was new to the whole management side of the business. Motivating someone to do a difficult job like sales was foreign to me. I was coaching three individuals on a regular basis; one was a top sales person the other two floundered in self pity and skepticism. Why the complete polarity in their behaviors? It has come to my attention that there were many external forces contributing to their failure; forces that I had no control over. At the same time I believe I could have gone about the situation in a different way. I had the belief that I could motivate people, whereas I should have had the mindset of coaching them through their issues, asking questions, so that they would uncover for themselves what would motivate them. Instead of telling them to have a positive attitude I should have asked questions. Sales is asking questions, uncovering a pain and then showing them how doing something will heal this pain.