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I was six years old. She was somewhere
between 65 and dead. She wore a coal black, floor-length dress that had an imposing
hoopskirt with pleats that quivered like tentacles when she walked. A black bonnet
encased her head, tied severely with a black ribbon under her chin. This was a true
Bride of Christ from the old school.
Was she a nun? Or the Angel of Death?
Her name was Sister Merita-Agatha and for 10 months she tortured me and
29 other first graders. I'll never forget that first day of school. She paced
methodically before the class with her hands placed behind her back. "The Board
of Education sets the rules for the students in New York City public schools. But
you are all in parochial school. That board has no authority here," she
bellowed at us.
She raised her right arm-with paddle in hand-from behind her back and
said, "This is the only board you need concern yourselves with."
And she was true to her word. From September to June that paddle
saw action every day. Between the threats and the punishments, she taught us.
And it seemed to work. I have a vague recollection of the other nuns being envious
of her. While their students struggled with the alphabet, we were writing
words. By the time they advanced to words, my classmates and I were composing
sentences. The consequences of failure were just too severe.
Which brings me to the topic of today's sermon: Is fear a good
motivator for salespeople?
The lash certainly played a role in teaching me to write. Does
cracking the whip motivate people to sell? David Kurlan, vice president of the
Objective Management Group Inc. in Southboro, Massachusetts, says yes. "Fear is
a great motivator. We grew up holding authority figures in high esteem. There
are exceptions, but the bulk of the population is afraid of people with authority,"
he says. "Implementing a certain amount of fear within the workplace can be
used to a manager's advantage to increase the bottom line."
But Kurlan stresses that fear can be a very good motivator only if it
is used properly. The key to making fear work is to be realistic with the
consequences. Make sure the consequences have meaning and that you follow through
with them. First, there must be a clear explanation of what is expected of the
salesperson's performance. Once the expectation is clearly laid out and agreed to,
fear need not be implemented unless salespeople do not meet the expectations.
"Offer some consequence if productivity is not increased, such as
reducing the base salary or not paying a cellular phone bill-something to get the message
across to ensure it won't happen again." The second 'or else' should be more
serious-an employee can lose an account or have a territory cut in half. The
third time around say, "do it or you don't work here anymore." Salespeople
perform because they don't have the option of not performing.
Blaine Lee, vice president of the Covey Leadership Center in Provo,
Utah, disagrees. "Fear is not a good motivator; fear is a predictable motivator
that breeds short-term compliance. The people who use fear to motivate mistake
compliance for loyalty," he says. "If an employee has a reason to be
afraid, he will immediately comply, but with the slightest opening, he will fight, rebel
or run away because it's not with the spirit of humans to be dictated to. When your
primary tool is to elicit fear you're trying to control, and the subjects will ultimately
resist."
According to Lee, even if fear appears to be working, underlying things
are happening that one's not aware of. If a salesperson is told that numbers
drastically need to go up and the two people with the lowest increases will be fired,
they'll move-but they'll also lie, cheat, steal, fake paperwork, trade paperwork or do
other crazy things when put in the 'survival' mode. Using fear to motivate is an
artificial way to psyche up employees. Instead, critical information should be
shared between management and employees, " he says.
"We must show people how ugly fear is. If you're willing to
listen to your employees, you can live a life of integrity and experience a long-term
influence that can last your whole life," Lee says.
But Kurlan doesn't buy that. "I recently worked with a sales
manager who used a 'warm fuzzy' relationship approach to get people to love her.
They were happy, but productivity decreased," he says. "When eliciting
fear, morale temporarily goes down, but salespeople soon become more productive and make
more money. It's a long-term motivator."
There may be something to that. Kurlan says, "If you ask
star athletes who their best coaches or managers were, most name the toughest ones.
It doesn't require being nasty or brutal, just being firm. Bill Parcells, coach of
the New York Jets football team, is a good example. He is famous for a ruthless
management style, yet he has transformed the Giants, Patriots and now the Jets from losers
into playoff contenders in one year. And many players on his former team, the New
England Patriots, have publicly admitted that team performance has diminished because of
Parcell's absence."
"The negative consequences of not using fear is worse than using
it," Kurlan says. "I'd rather have an extremely productive sales force
that hated me than have an organization of twelve best friends who were always trying to
get away with something."
I'd have to agree. Sister Merita-Agatha has long since passed on.
Part of me hopes that she's cloistered in an extra toasty corner of hell. But
another part of me realizes that she continues to play a crucial role in my success.
She planted the writing seed in me. As long as I earn my living as a writer
I'll never truly be free of her-and I'll be in her debt.
Damn her. |
