Hi! Managers: Lighting fire from within

Imagine, for a moment, that you are 100 years old. A much younger family member asks you: ?Hey, wise grandparent, I am a bit lost. Could you please give me some advice about how to lead a fulfilling Life??

What three recommendations would you offer?

According to Marshall Goldsmith in his book ?What Got You Here Won?t Get You There?, American researchers actually asked that very question to real 100-year-olds. Their answers were remarkably similar: 1. Be happy, now; 2. Spend time with those you love; and 3. Try your dreams.

What if you were a high-potential executive courted by executive search companies? What would make you stay with your current company?

Goldsmith asked 200 high-potential leaders and found that their answers were very much alike: 1. I love what I am doing; 2. I feel happy with my colleagues; and 3. I enjoy my freedom to take initiatives.

The similarity between the advice of 100-year-old people and the retention factors of high-potential leaders highlights a few fundamental satisfaction drivers at work. Could these be further leveraged around your work situation? How?

Imagine this scenario: your compensation and benefits are fair ? just at market average, your company seems to have a safe future, you feel you belong there, you have status in the workplace and you are learning quite a lot in your job.

Another organisation wishes to hire you. What scale of salary increase would you demand in order to take the risk of leaving your employer?

I have raised that question in many workshops all over Southeast Asia. Invariably, answers range from 30 to 50 per cent. A cynic may comment: ?so much saved on salary for just meeting the basic human needs listed by [humanistic psychology founder] Maslow.?

By the way, how are those ?basic needs? met for yourself and your colleagues?

May I suggest a simple exercise to investigate what motivates your subordinates and how well their needs are met? Just ask them ? one on one ? to rate their satisfaction level at work on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (absolutely) for belonging, self-esteem and status, learning and anything else they find important. Then discuss what can reasonably be done to move up one notch on each topic (discard salary and job-security because they are not so easily controllable). Actions are likely to emerge that will strengthen your subordinates? engagement and loyalty.

Imagine, now, that it has been a great year for your company. Profits exceed targets and your team has performed very well. Yet today your head office tells you: ?Next year is highly uncertain, competitors are getting fierce, we can?t increase any salaries, even though our rivals will do so. Please share this information with your colleagues and motivate them to overperform in 2011.?

What kind of speech will you make?

Another motivation model called ?SCARF? could help you prepare that pep talk. David Rock, in ?Quiet Leadership?, reports that neuroscience has identified five major factors controlling our brain responses and motivation: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness. You need first to tackle the perceived unfairness of the salary freeze. Highlighting what is certain ? no lay-offs, lower fixed costs than competitors, and so on ? should bolster confidence. Recognising the performance and value of employees (status and self-esteem) can build up hope. Use the degree of autonomy available and the relatedness among employees to develop a sense that strengthening and winning through austerity is possible.

Whilst equitable compensation and fairness in the workplace are fundamental, these things on their own will not engage people into achieving greatness. We, as leaders, can make this happen ? and grow in the process ? by playing with the vast arsenal of motivational drivers to ? as Stephen Covey puts it: ?light fire from within?.

JEAN-FRANCOIS COUSIN leads 1-2-Win Executive Coaching (www.1-2-win.net) and is a former managing director of a Fortune-500 company in Thailand.