You Can Lead a Jeweler
to a Bench
But You Cannot Make
Them Work
When I was a child growing up, I spent a number of days on a farm. My grandfather was a farmer as well as many of my uncles and cousins. I asked my grandfather what are all those hard white blocks laying around the pastures.
My grandfather was a man of few words, and he simply replied, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”
“But Grandpa,” I said, “you don’t have any horses.”
He laughed, and explained to me that, that was just an expression. The same applied to his cows. If they did not drink adequate water during the hot humid summer months, they would become dehydrated and could die. Grandpa said, “We provide them plenty of water but we can’t make them drink.” This is a real dilemma for the farmers. (And not very good for the animals either!)
“That’s nice,” I said, “but what does that have to do with those white blocks.” “Those,” he said, “are salt blocks. The cows lick them, which makes them thirsty. Then they drink plenty of water.” Farmers have learned that although they can not make an animal drink, the animal will want to drink if the farmer feeds it enough salt. Consequently, salt blocks abound on farms, and if that does not work, the farmer will add salt pellets to the feed.
One of the major problems in the shop is the motivation of the bench jeweler. Like the desire to drink, motivation comes from with-in. You can not motivate someone else any more than you can make them drink. The jeweler’s motivation must come from themselves. Fortunately, storeowners can stimulate that inner desire the same as farmers stimulate the desire to drink. In order to achieve this, three items must be meet.
- Determine Desired Results. Salt will make a horse thirsty and come to drink. However, it will not make the horse eat more, run faster, or pull more. Salt works well for the farmer who wants the horse to drink. It is worthless, if the farmer wants one of the other results.
- Find Incentives that will Accomplish the Desired Results. For the farmer who wants his horse to drink, salt is an effective incentive. Salt makes the horse thirsty. If the farmer substitutes sugar, apples, or grain for the salt the desired result will not be accomplished.
- The Recipient Must Desire the Incentive. The horse must desire the salt. If the horse does not lick the salt block, nothing happens. The same is true of the shop. If the workers do not desire the incentive, they will not be motivated to work towards accomplishing the desired results.
Key to Motivation
Former President and Military General Dwight Eisenhower said, “The art of leadership is to get people to do what you want them to do, because they want to do it.” Herein lies the key to motivation, having workers desire to achieve organizational goals. To accomplish this three steps need to be taken.
- Set Objectives
- Identify Stimulants
- Evaluate Performance
Lead a Jeweler continued