Leadership would be easy if it weren’t for those we lead. As any leader or manager knows, getting people to actually want to do the tasks you need them to do can be a challenge. People will not fully commit to a task unless they’re motivated to desire your goals and objectives or the reason behind the task.

Unfortunately, many managers and leaders rely on external motivators to get people to do things. For example, using rewards as enticements, or threats of punishment, are approaches aimed at obtaining obedience and compliance. They overpower, rather than empower. Telling people what to do and then rewarding them if they do as expected, or threatening them if they do not, increases stress while diminishing professional relationships.

Because these management approaches are manipulative, the results are never as effective as cultivating internal motivation. Manipulative approaches are something you do to other people and they have little long-lasting effects. This is in contrast to working with people to empower them.

Whenever you impose something on someone, it only produces short-term results because the person doesn’t have any ownership in it. Think about it. If these external motivational approaches were effective, getting employees motivated to carry out the company’s needed objectives would be easy, not something managers read countless books about.

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