What is loot?

So you now have come to realization of, "Oh crap! The fear of being fired can only motivate them so far, in fact they may work to undermined me while I'm not looking if they are too scared! What is an aspiring buccaneer leader to do?!"

Some may say, "Simple! Give them lots of rum and loot, that's what!" While drinking in the modern day office may not be a good idea (at least during business hours while clients and high mucky-mucks from HQ might drop by), loot should be a simple matter of just give them more bonus and raises, or is it?

The happy (or sad fact depends on how you look at it) fact is money alone are not what people want from a job. Granted more is always better, but at some point it you have diminished return when it comes to enthusiasm and new ideas. I mean, how many sports car can you actually drive at the same time?

Something I remember reading from "First, break all the rules" by Buckingham & Coffman (great book if you ever get the chance), that most people leaves their jobs because of their managers. So what you do and say has great impact to how many people decides to stay on board with you, or jump ship soon as you hit the next port.

What is a captain to do to keep the crew happy when mere money alone isn't enough? Perhaps a more apt question is what would make you decide on choosing a job if the money were equal? Then pose similar questions to each of your team members.

While certain professions tend to attract people with similar attitudes and aspirations, each person's "coin" is different and you must take time to learn them. This means you must spend time and talk to your team and understand what makes each person tick, what drives them. Because how can you manage and lead, if you do not know who you are managing and leading?

At the end of the day, it's important to remember what each person perceives as a reward are different, so you must match the person with what drives them. In addition, you need to remember exactly what outcomes/behaviors you are rewarding. Basically what are the incentives, and what are you incentivizing? And remember, you are reinforcing it through every single act that you do and say to your team and crew.