Motivation

Finding motivation can be one of the hardest things to do in both school and in the workplace. The thing that makes it so hard for managers is finding what motivates each specific person since it varies from person to person. Many geeks are different from not geeks when it comes to motivation because they are not driven by the same things. Finding what motivates your team may be one of the hardest things you have to do, but once you figure it out it could be one of the most important and beneficial things as a manager.

Finding motivation can be one of the hardest things to do in both school and in the workplace. The thing that makes it so hard for managers is finding what motivates each specific person since it varies from person to person. Many geeks are different from not geeks when it comes to motivation because they are not driven by the same things. Finding what motivates your team may be one of the hardest things you have to do, but once you figure it out it could be one of the most important and beneficial things as a manager. One of the things that seems to motivate everyone is money. Money talks no matter if you are a geek or non-geek. Geeks will be motivated simply to obtain the money, but will not be motivated to do a better job. This can be a problem since you will then feel like you are wasting money on employees who are not actually doing a better job. Non-geeks will use money as an incentive to do better and actually improve their work. Geeks are more driven to get better purely for the expansion for their knowledge and advancement of skills. Geeks are more motivated by things like new technology or food. Especially food. When doing these things it must be done only intermittently. If it is done too often, it will become normal and not special anymore and will then no longer be a point of motivation. Geeks need problems that have objective solutions. If there are projects with loose deadlines, geeks will procrastinate since they do not feel pressure or motivation to get it done. This is something that I struggle with when it comes to getting school work done. Personally, when it comes to work, I am very motivated and driven by money. I also want to do the best job that I can so that they will want me to come back again to keep making money. If geekdom was a spectrum, I would put myself right in the middle. I feel motivated by things that motivate both geeks and non-geeks. One form of motivation that does not work for me is disingenuous appreciation. I hate it when someone compliments my work, but either do not mean it or they do not know what they are talking about. Other things that will work for geeks are defining specific problem statements, and by building small focused teams.

Geeks have a very specific way of being motivated to get things done. There are many things that do not work when it comes to geeks. Money is effective to geeks, but only to a certain extent. Free food seems to be one of the best motivators among geeks, however, it cannot be the motivation every day or else it will wear out. If you can find out how to motivate your team, you can be very effective.