Stomp the Elephant

I've been reading "Stomp the Elephant in the Office", by Steven Vannoy and Craig Ross.  One of the key ideas, as I understand it, is that people at work are often far more motivated than we think.  They may not be energized right now about anything they are doing.  They may say no when you ask them to do something.  So we assume that they don't care or that they are lazy.  The authors of this book, however, claim that most people are NOT lazy.  If you can persuade them that a task or project will improve their lives or the lives of others, the authors claim that most people will surprise you with their desire to do the task.  The authors say that people are naturally motivated, naturally inclined to get excited if they really believe the work will make a difference.  Years of boring work might make them skeptical and cynical that the project WILL make a difference.  But if they can be convinced of this, they respond.

I'm not sure if Vannoy and Ross are oversimplifying here.  There are so many differences between people with regard to empathy, energy level, etc.  Can we really generalize this way?  It sounds too good to be true; as if laziness and indifference to others are myths.

But it's worth trying.  What do I have to lose?  So, for the last few weeks, I've been playing with this concept at work.  I've got a project that requires a lot of people located in 6 cities who DON'T report to me to do a lot of work for me.  Just to see what happens, whenever I get a lack of cooperation to do a task, I've had one primary strategy:  explain the benefits of the task for people in the company and for profit and loss.  I'm telling myself to assume that the only thing I need to do to gain cooperation is explain the benefits.  Then, assume that the people will be naturally motivated to do the work, as Vannoy and Ross claim they will be.  As much as possible, I'm avoiding other motivation techniques like talking to people's bosses, pestering folks, etc.

It's probably too early to tell how this is working.  I'm still in the process of explaining the benefits of this complex project.  But my gut is that it's been helpful so far.  And it feels better than going to people's bosses to complain about lack of cooperation.  Less damaging to relationships.