Motivating People: Be a Motivating Matchmaker

03/06/07

Age and experience; youth and ambition. If you’re fortunate enough to have workers of each stripe, some strategic matchmaking can motivate everyone involved and boost your company’s bottom line.

If I sound like I’m suggesting a little social engineering, well, yeah. Given the right combination of employees, you can be a catalyst for a mutually motivating relationship that makes everyone a winner.

Take your finest craftsman, Ol’ Fred, who’s forgotten more tricks of the trade than some people ever learn. He’s a virtuoso at making cabinets, rebuilding transmissions, upholstering furniture, or whatever your company does. And he’s afraid that the knowledge he’s accumulated during the past forty years will be lost when he retires.

But wait a minute. What about Matt, that new kid who’s so ambitious and eager to please? Sure, he makes mistakes, but mostly because he’s trying to learn everything at once. Wouldn’t it be great if some farsighted manager paired him up with a savvy old-timer and role model like Fred?

I’m sure you can see where this is headed.

If you’re lucky enough to have people like Fred and Matt on your payroll, team them up ASAP. Ask Fred to be Matt’s mentor; make him a trainer; bring them together any way you can.

The product of your matchmaking? A mutually motivating relationship between Fred and Matt that enhances the quality of life for both. On one hand, you’ve given Fred a worthy successor to pass on his storehouse of knowledge to. And Matt, his understudy, learns a bundle of time-honored skills from an old master—skills that might otherwise become extinct.

Do such relationships happen naturally? Sometimes yes, but only under good circumstances. You’ll probably have to work to get the enthusiasm and knowledge flowing.

So before you leave today, think about how you could match up the Freds and Matts (or Fredericas and Matildas) who work for you.

You’ll all be glad you did.