FROM MOTIVATED TO demotivated!

Asking people to improve quality without supplying them with the mechanisms or tools to make it happen will lead to demotivation. As a simple example lets consider a call to competition.

In our competition we will ask for two volunteers to compete for an award and bragging rights. The competition is to drive as many headless 16 penny nails into a board as possible within the hour. The two competitors are put into separate rooms. Competitor 1 is given a keg of nails, a hammer, and a large board. Competitor 2 is given a keg of nails and a large board but no hammer and told to do the best s/he can by whatever means. The competition begins and naturally competitor 1 wins by a significant margin.

It would be fair to say that both competitors were equally motivated even enthusiastic at the beginning, but if you asked for competitor 2 to join in on another competition after s/he has ruined a good pair of shoes driving nails, you most likely will not see the same amount of enthusiasm.

The same is true if you ask for quality improvements but make no mechanism available to enable the improvements. There is a lack of progress and the words ring hollow. Demotivation sets in. Demotivation leads to short term thinking at the expense of longer term priorities.

Although unfair competition could be one reason for a lack of demotivation, my point is that the lack of progress is an even bigger demotivator. Even in conditions when we know a competition is unfair if we are making progress we will keep going. The same is not true if progress is not possible.

In Kristi Hedges Forbes Article 8 Common Causes of Workplace Demotivation she says "When a company can’t get its act together, or when any change or new idea a worker tries to implement has to go through endless layers of red tape, employees lose any motivation or passion that they might have had."

The message is you can't just talk about quality and expect results. If you do you will demotivate your workforce in quality which is the opposite of your intention. You must drive quality improvement with unencumbered initiatives, that provide education in tools proven to work.

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