You cannot motivate people!
By Dr. Selim Erhan, TLT Editor | TLT From the Editor April 2026
But on the other hand, people do want to grow, develop and be fully functioning.
I recently had seen a book on this topic, and I was curious. When I leafed through the book, I found it very interesting. So, I bought it and read it carefully. It helped change some of my thoughts, helped me look at some events from a different angle, solidify certain ideas and strengthen some others. I am sure quite a few readers, especially ones in the management roles, will find it interesting, too. The title of the book is “Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work … and What Does” by Susan Fowler.
It is mentioned that in quite a few establishments there is an erroneous premise—assuming people are not motivated. Perks, carrots, rewards or punishments follow. Whereas an overwhelming number of studies have shown that people are already motivated. The goal is to be able to direct this motivation into the right channels.
The book mentions six different types of motivation or different reasons. These factors affect the quality of people’s energy. Effective leadership should be able to tell the difference between suboptimal outlooks such as disinterested, external and imposed, which are low-quality motivations, and optimal outlooks, which are aligned, integrated and inherent.
The studies that are mentioned in this book point out that people do want to grow, develop and be fully functioning. People have a yearning for self-identity, growth and a meaningful connection to others. People by nature are social animals and feel whole when they function together. Workplaces can either facilitate and enable our flourishing or disrupt and impede it.
I will leave the details with the readers and move on to a lighter story. My father told me about an incident from his mandatory military service. He was in a group of English-speaking officers who were tasked with translations on certain afternoons. Each officer would translate 15-20 pages per afternoon. Then a new commanding officer arrived and came to inspect. He announced that he wanted discipline in his group and demanded 10 pages from each officer per afternoon. Everyone gave a resounding “Yes, Sir” reply. As soon as the 10 pages were over, they started telling jokes and played games like Battleship. Battleship is a mind game, easily played on paper, and was very popular before computers, cell phones and other distractions. It was a great way to pass the time but unfortunately not what the army needed. On the other hand, if a few well-chosen words were used to channel the energies of these young minds, they could have given back much more.
I think that most people do not know the importance of their contributions. We are like the links in a chain. The chain only functions when all the links stay connected. No matter what we do, our work is important. When people realize it, they have a much better sense of connection, a feeling of being part of the whole, a feeling of being part of the team!
If we stop and think about it, wherever we work, it could be in a company or in any kind of job involving teams, we are not really working for someone, but we are still working for ourselves. Our contribution is like a piece of a mosaic, which becomes whole when all the pieces are in place!
Dr. Selim Erhan is president of Erbur Solutions in Trout Valley, Ill. You can reach him at selim.erhan@outlook.com.