Making Workgroups Work
Mentoring and Disciplining Workers
It's a funny thing about motivation -- when it's working right, there's seldom much need for disciplining people. It's unfortunate that military-style thinking is so common with folks trying to lead, because the emphasis on strict discipline, crucial to success in combat, is often so disastrous to morale in civilian work teams.

Motivation is about joining with the people who report to you (knowing them, listening to them, valuing them for their particular contributions and potential) so that they feel moved to join with you in meeting the challenges you're facing. A leader is part strategic planner, part cheerleader, part coach. As Dr. Mitch Rabkin, President of Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, is fond of saying: "Being a manager is tantamount to practicing psychiatry without a license."

And so it is. Whole people come to work each day, not just brains and Right arms. They bring with them their hopes, dreams, talents and hang-ups. The manager who genuinely likes people, finds their foibles at least somewhat humorous, and believes that there's a way to reach almost everybody seldom has trouble with either discipline or motivation. It could be said, in fact, that the two are related this way: When your people start needing to be disciplined by you, it means you'd better upgrade your motivational skills.