Belief is a part of a managers job and perhaps the most important part. When an employee is asked to perform a new task, they evaluate it based on questions they ask themselves.
1. What are my chances of success?
2. Where is the value to me? (not money but self esteem)
If they answer the first question with something like, “I can’t do it,” they will not try. It makes no difference what their manager or other people think, only what they think.
I have found so many managers are ineffective in dealing with this. Why?
I mention that because the manager uses the old motivation routine of saying things like, “You can do it”. Bob does it, Bill does it, Joes does it and you can too. The motivational approach does not work.
Trying to motivate someone is a waste of time. Motivation is internal and personal. A person either has it or they don’t and if they don’t, we cannot synthetically put it there. What we must do is insure the person has the plan and skills to do the task. This is where planning, training and coaching enter the picture. Depending on the task, question the person to determine why the feel they can not succeed? Help them develop a plan for accomplishing the task and then follow up on how they are working it. If it’s a skill deficiency, train them in the proper skills to accomplish it. Role play with them. Praise their effort. Build their belief in themselves.
As a manager, if you feel this is the issue in question talk to them about the personal benefits to them in succeeding They don’t care about benefits to you or the team only themselves. People will try almost anything if they understand the purpose and see the benefits to themselves. Insure they do!