After trying to deal with company after company, getting people who won’t even return a phone call to save their own lives. I ask myself this question: How do you get people to take initiative? Can a good leader get people to take initiative? Can you bribe people just to do their damn jobs? It is unbelievable how difficult it is just to find someone who does their job. I am not talking about doing a great job, or even being nice about it.
I am surrounded by lazy and uncooperative people on all sides. There are people who do a good job, but will slack off the minute you stop watching them. There are others who rarely do what they said they would do. Then, there are the story switchers. On Monday they claim to have done x amount of work while on Tuesday the story changes.
Some companies feel that to get good workers there needs to be engagement, hope of advancement, fun, good salaries, and more. Statistically, these things work. But, what if you have a boring job with no hope of advancement because you run a small company. No matter how much you pay, it seems that nobody reliable will ever do that job. You will keep going from negligent person to negligent person until you finally offshore the job to Quezon City in the Philippines where at least you have a chance of getting your job done semi-correctly.
I hired programmers. I started with $100 per hour for a programmer who wouldn’t return emails or phone calls no matter what. Then he quit and I hired someone for $120 per hour who left me high and dry because he had another project. Then I offshored my project to India for $20 per hour and got people who couldn’t even function. Then, I tried an older American for $90 per hour who didn’t even start after six weeks. Next another younger American in Arizona for $85 who left four jobs half done and demanded payment. Next, I found someone in San Diego for $140 per hour who quit right after he began. Then, I found someone on Northern California for $145 who is really nice, but also doesn’t return phone calls or call at the appointed times.
For those of you who think that money motivates — money is only part of the picture. I’m not convinced I know what other factors are the other parts of the picture. I think that most people just are not motivated and there are not so many ways to motivate them other than fear of losing everything. Let us know if you have any suggestions for finding ways to get people to take the initiative and just do their job!