Manage people’s desires, not their position.

"Manage people’s desires, not their position".

Thus said Victor Gonzales. A hugely popular motivational speaker in the U.S. It is said in the context of managing change and proper management behavior. Question is -what drives people? If what drives them are the same (i.e $$), then how will we manage?

I quote Victor Gonzalez again" But let's be honest with ourselves for a second, how many times have we really tried to understand the motivation behind an employee? Many of us ask our employees; well what is it that you want to do? But here’s a secret, sometimes, if not the majority of the times, THEY don’t even know. They think they do...or is it maybe that the when they see others doing well they think it's what they want. The grass certainly looks greener."

I believe the answer falls on leadership. Effective leadership that is. Effective leaders who do the right things. (John Maxwell said: Doing things right is efficiency. While doing right things is effectiveness. Managers are efficient people while leaders are an effective lot. )

Bottomline, managers needs to strive to becoming an effective leaders. Leaders who can inspire people. Leaders who can draw their followers to share the same vision and values for the betterment of the organization. Because at the end of the day, people want to led, not managed!

Food for thought...