Page 217 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

196 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

the time. The talented team doesn’t believe in itself, and it just keeps
falling on its face every game. A key player expects to drop the pass
in critical situations—and so she or he always does. It can take some
time, but great coaches move people from feeling helpless and hope-
less to peak performers who believe they cannot do anything but win
the championship.
Many of your mobile workforce will be very confident. You hired
successful people to start with, didn’t you? Maybe some are computer
jockeys, cocky as all get out. But some won’t be. And a person might
be confident in one area but not so much in another. That’s when
you come in. People develop self-efficacy by developing mastery—by
learning how to do something well, by watching and learning from
successful people with whom they can relate, and by getting encour-
agement from people whose opinions they respect. Whatever you do,
don’t just let your employees sink or swim. You might just see some
valuable people drown who didn’t have to.

principle seven: set Challenging goals
Goal setting has been rated the most important management theory
by organizational behavior scholars. In fact, hundreds of studies have
been conducted to increase our understanding of what kind of goals
are the most motivating. Almost every human endeavor—sports, ca-
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reer success, relationships, exploration, health—has a better chance of
success when the right kinds of goals are established. Without goals,
people and organizations meander; with them, amazing accomplish-
ments can be achieved.
It turns out that specific, difficult goals that people are committed
to and believe they can accomplish are the most likely to get the most
out of your folks (more effort, focused on something that matters, for
a longer period of time). Easy goals simply aren’t very motivating.
Confusing or vague goals aren’t either. And people who don’t believe
goals can be accomplished (they think: it’s too much of a stretch to
get there, there’s not enough management support or commitment,