Troy Moritz

Troy Moritz Motivating People To Do Good

Motivation is the key to any change in life. Most people want to do what is right and given the opportunity will. However, some of this depends on many factors like environment, locus of control and reward system. If people are surrounded by an environment that encourages good they will likely follow. If they have an internal locus of control they believe that they can change their environment. Those with an external locus of control do not believe that they have the power to change the situation and may be more willing to go along with those that are not doing the right thing. Another factor is a person’s reward system, those that are rewarded intrinsically by going good will continue on the same path. External rewards for doing good will not produce long term results. These factors are never more present than in the business environment.

In business a leader can make or break a company. If a company is led by a great leader who values doing the right thing, shows workers what is possible and promotes ethics as the exception you will have a company where doing good is the rule not the exception. Many businesses have seen that money is not the way to motivate people. Look at Wall Street financial collapse, stockbrokers had access to a lot of money but with little to no control some abused the system. For some workers money may be the answer but for many just the act of being recognized for a good job will go a long way towards doing good.

Promoting a culture of ethics within any system is complicated but very attainable. If you as the leader set the standard that doing the right thing is the expectation. Workers will follow this standard if it is taught by management and also followed by management. Workers need to believe that what they are doing matters to the management and when leaders fail to recognize good work they set up a system of disgruntled workers. One important component to doing good is to have a code of conduct in your business that everyone follows.