Sales&Marketing Management posts this online article – Iron-Fisted Management – regarding negative motivation. Being a psychology major, I am always drawn to these discussions.
From the article:
Matt McCann, district sales manager at ACSIA, a Darien, Illinois-based long-term insurance agency, agrees. “I think [negative incentives] are counterproductive. You may see short-term success, but I think it builds resentment,” McCann says. When he’s seen or heard about negative motivation, it’s yielded the same result: short-term profits, but an office inferno. Those who are the objects of punishments “start saying they don’t want to bend over backwards. They wash their hands of the situation, look for other jobs, and try to get away with as little as possible.”
Mr. McCann would not be a sales manager for me. I bolded some of his comments to show his perceived over reaction to using negative motivation for correction. Fear is a good motivator when used properly and in small doses.
We recommend using negative motivation – we call it punishment. The proverbial “stick”, if you will. The issue here is that if a manager is unwilling to use negative motivation at any time, they will be unwilling, or unable, to hold their people accountable. In sales, the sales manager who does not hold their salespeople accountable will lose control of the team. Forecasts will be fictional, success will be unpredictable and many of the team’s actions will be detrimental (sounds like Muhammad Ali wrote that sentence).
I believe the incredibly negative connotation that accompanies negative motivation is the thought that the manager only uses that method. I have worked for sales managers like that and they are awful bosses. However, a well-rounded manager incorporates rewards and positive reinforcement (“carrots”) along with negative motivation when appropriate. These leaders are the ones who command the attention and respect of their teams.
Typically, they are the most successful too.