By James A. Baker · Founder, Baker Communications
The biggest mistake managers make when it comes to motivation is to assume that everyone is motivated by the same thing. Usually, we assume that it is money. We believe that all we have to do is dangle bonuses, incentives, rewards and raises out there and people will jump higher and run faster for the sheer joy of making more money. Surprisingly, this is not always true. As a matter of fact, a large number of employees will list something other than money as the thing that supplies motivation for them in their job.
Now, before you go whacking the payroll in half, let me hasten to point out that employees prefer to be paid more rather than less, and if you consistently underpay good employees, you will eventually lose them. Still, money is a condition for getting employees to come to work; it is not always a condition for inspiring them to work hard once they arrive.
