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The Directors' Cut: David Taylor on psychology in the workplace
"There is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything. Did you ever stop to think about that? Yes, just one way. And that is by making the other person want to do it. Remember, there is no other way."

By David Taylor

Published: Wednesday 16 February 2000

Dale Carnegie - 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'

The bookshelves are full of books on personal development, advice and guidance. Many of these duplicate the same information, others offer new insights. But more often than not they're written by some psychology doctor who has spent more time in his or her university room than in the real world. One doesn't need a degree in anything to understand some fundamentals about human beings.

Let us learn from the master, and save a fortune on similar books published since. Those words written by Dale Carnegie in 1953 are as true today as they have always been. In themselves they provide a priceless lesson in business life, for all of us, and especially for leaders. People buy from people, and in the service industry of IT - which is all about selling products, services and ideas - we can achieve a great deal from putting some fundamental human laws into practice.

From an IT leadership and service perspective, much can be learned, and achieved, from exploring people's similarities.

The vast majority of researchers agree on the top five motivators that apply to us all.

1. A sense of personal power and mastery over others
The strongest driver for human beings. Many people will not admit it in public, or even acknowledge it in private. Think about gossip and about the last time you pulled away before someone else at the traffic lights, or how you feel when you hear that a business rival is not doing as well as you.

Like it or not, it plays a major part in all of us.

2. A sense of personal pride and importance
This is a feeling within ourselves, of something we stand for. Some may call it ego, or personal status. If you do not believe the importance of this one, try changing someone's job title to "administration assistant," or try to introduce the word "consultant" into your organisation!

3. Financial security and success
Money remains one of the strongest personal drivers and material wealth one of the most powerful displays of how we are doing.

4. Reassurance of self-worth and recognition of efforts
We all strive to be reassured that what we are doing is OK. We often seek out and value the opinions of others over those of ourselves. This covers everything from the power of a well-timed "thank-you" to promotion issues etc.

5. Peer approval and acceptance
People identify with specific groups - be they IT directors, general leaders or social standing in clubs or groups. We all crave to be accepted by people we identify with.

This list is controversial. Whenever people are asked in public what drives them, more often than not they will give the politically correct answer of "caring for others" or "accomplishment of something worthwhile". Although high in the list of human motivators, it's not in anyone's top five.

Whatever you think of the list, or will admit to with regard to your personal goals and drivers, there are strong messages we can learn in all of our communication with customers and our own people.

Putting number three aside (financial security and success), as a lot has been written about this side of staff retention and motivation, let us focus on the other four, "softer" issues, and how they can be put into practice in three ways - for you as an IT leader, by your team in transforming the service you provide, and within your department itself.

1. Sense of personal power and mastery over others

IT director:
Seek out the most powerful player in your organisation and ask him or her to be your mentor. Listen carefully to, and acknowledge, all advice given to you by your CEO, directors and other business leaders, no matter what your opinion of that advice!

Take every opportunity you can to demonstrate that as a leader you work for your department, not the other way around. Put your people's concerns, thoughts and recommendations above your own.

Department:
Set up a panel of senior business customers to provide informal ongoing feedback on your departmental performance. Select some that do not like your department. It will give them a standard to live up to and a formal method of demonstrating their desire to have power over IT - channelled in a positive and constructive way.

2. Sense of pride and importance

IT director:
Ask senior business leaders to adopt an important role in an IT project - such as "Project champion" - it will help to ensure success for the project, and propel their status and involvement.

Ensure people in IT feel they belong to their project and teams and can identify with the roles they perform, as they relate to the final results.

Department:
List the most important, and influential, people in your company, and make them VIPs - such that they receive superior service when they ring the help desk etc. This was covered in more depth in my first article.

4. Reassurance of self-worth and recognition of efforts

IT director:
Make it your personal mission to educate/train your peers in the fundamental issues of IT that they need to understand, and praise them as they make progress. This will have two advantages - you will be appreciated for your efforts, and you will banish forever that destructive phrase "I don't need to understand IT."

Acknowledge good work within your own team, sincerely and often.

Department:
When you fix a problem - make sure you have fixed both the technical and human issues, and go out of your way to acknowledge any and all IT skills shown by your customer. For example, they may have described the problem very well to the help desk, or prioritised the call very well, or whatever.

5. Peer approval and acceptance

IT director:
By ensuring that you are seen as part of the company's leadership team, the decision-makers will identify, empathise, and spend time with, you. Be seen as a mover and shaker in the organisation - someone worth knowing, and your personal influence will soar.

Treat your leadership team the same way, with no obvious favourites.

Department:
Ensure that your department communicates regularly with your business customers at all levels, Through account management, effective communications and strategic seating, the department can easily be seen as a part of the business, and IT/business alignment then follows, automatically, at all levels.

Much work has been done looking at human motivation. An endlessly fascinating subject in itself, understanding the key human motivators is a powerful advantage in our working lives. Recognising what really drives people is key to excelling as leaders of all disciplines, and in all that we do.