A Manager motivates

One of the austerity measures by the wise and learned during the downturn was to either to correct the salaries according to the business realities or to arrest the salary increment in response to business challenges. Everyone ended up doing more with less. So, the universally hated but in fact the friendly neighborhood manager is in a dilemma. How does he combat a gradually decreasing morale while towing the line of “more with less”?

Recently, a friend, who is also a manager, was in a similar dilemma. He had to provide a very critical release for the customer. As usual, this task can easily be done by the high performer in the team. The high performer was a lucky person whose salary was not slashed during the dark phase of market correction! But, at the same time, his salary had been stagnant for almost two years now.On top of the money woes, the high performer was already overloaded and was in no state to understand the criticality.

So, my friend, the manager, approached the high performer.

Manager(M): Hey!

High Performer (HP): *ignores and types on the keyboard*

M: *sits near HP, watches the monitor and then hums*

HP: *irritated* What?

M: Nothing!

HP: *resumes typing*

M: You know what? Interesting thing with the customer!

HP: *rolls his eyes and ignores M*

M: *ignores the royal ignore and continues* C, the customer, says the fix can be provided before 6 pm.

HP: *continues the royal ignore act*

M: *continues to ignore the royal ignore act* No way someone can finish with that by 6 pm!

HP: *still ignoring M*

M: I’m willing to bet against someone completing this on time!

HP: *suddenly interested* Are you ready for a bet?

M: Yes. It can’t be done before 6 pm.

HP: 100 bucks?

M: 50 bucks.

HP: Okay!

The high performer being high performer, he had a deliverable ready before 6 pm. The less in the “more with less” slogan worked. The manager walked away with less Sodexho coupons as he paid off the wager with it.

Picture Courtesy: http://highperformanceadvocates.com

Tags: Musings,Manager,High Performer