Management Tip of the Day: Elevate Performance without Waiting for a Crisis

Crises often motivate people to achieve new levels of performance. Since you likely don't want to operate in crisis-mode, how can you access the hidden reserves in your company without waiting for a disaster? Tap into the three factors always present in a crisis response:

1. Urgency. People feel motivated when they know time matters. Set clear goals and clear consequences if the goals are not achieved. Don't run fire drills, however; people know false urgency when they see it.
2. Empathy. People want to feel emotionally connected to what they're doing. Show employees how their work will matter to others — their coworkers or your customers.
3. Innovation. In a crisis, there's no time or patience for red tape. Remove unnecessary organizational obstacles to being innovative. Get rid of the time-consuming processes that would be the first to go in a crisis.