The John Adair Handbook of Management and Leadership

Chapter 7: Motivation and people management 167

Choosing people well (and mistakes are made which should be

confronted and remedied early) means looking at motivation, ability

and personality and you should, when interviewing, look for real

evidence behind the interviewee‘s facade.

Looking for the Michelangelo motive (where the quality of the work

itself is a key motivator) can yield good results in selecting highly

motivated individuals.You should look for:

• a sense of pride in the individual’s own work


• an attention to detail


• a willingness to ‘walk the extra mile’ to get things right


• a total lack of the ‘its good enough, let it go’ mentality


• an inner direction or responsibility for the work (without the
  need for supervision)


• an ability to assess and evaluate own work, independently from
  the opinions of others.
  It should be stressed that perfectionism is not what is called for –
  the best can be the enemy of the good.
  Managers should check whether individuals are in the right job with
  the right skills and abilities, otherwise motivation techniques will fail.
  The aim is to select people who are motivated for the most
  appropriate job.

Treat each person as an individual

Find out what motivates an individual, do not rely on generalised

theories or assumptions. Enter into a dialogue with each team

member – help them to clarify what it is that motivates them – and

use what you find to mutual benefit.

In each person you should engender a sense of:

• trust


• autonomy