Question about Human Motivation.

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These are interesting and overlapping questions! Let's take a closer look.

1) How does the quality of leadership impact employee motivation?

Quality is an interesting concept as it relates to leadership. To measure quality or define it in terms of leadership terms like good, effective, and high quality leadership versus bad, ineffective, and low quality comes to mind. However, a basic principle of teamwork is: nobody's perfect - including the team leader - and everybody can be improved. (1) However, certain leadership qualities promote higher levels of motivation.

Research suggests, for example, that employee motivation is linked to the quality of leadership through organizational excellence and profitability, meaning that a 'low' quality of leadership (e.g., un-involved, stays in her office, fearful to introduce new ideas, to name a few, evokes isolation, fear, lack of vision, and pessimism...) is linked to lower levels of reported employee motivation and, conversely, 'high' quality leadership is related to high levels of reported motivation in employees.

Instead, effective leadership evokes imagery of inspiration, vision, courage, creativity, passion and optimism... You follow a leader because they are worth following - they inspire and motivate you. Management evokes a quite different image: of steadiness, rationality, analysis and control. You follow a manager because you have to. Management is more about capability, whereas leadership is about the product of capability and credibility. Credibility (trust) is the key leadership quality linked to motivating and inspiring employees to achieve organizational excellence. (2)

Motivation is significant because it inspires high performance and achievement within organizations. However, gaining commitment, nurturing talent, and ensuring employee motivation and productivity require open communication and trust between leader/managers and staff.

2) Why is trust so critical to the implementation of all the motivational applications?

The relationship between trust and motivational applications is an easy one. If an employee does not trust in the leader's ability or integrity, the leader will not be in a position to either inspire or motivate you. In other words, trust is an essential component of the relationship between the leader and the employee(s) as it mediates the motivational process and, thus, the level of motivation. No trust, no motivating power; it is that simple.

Put another way, trust forms the foundation for ...