When working at Six Flags years ago, I was responsible for a class on motivation. I had prepared a review of numerous theories on motivation. I spoke of Maslow, Herzberg, McClelland, BF Skinner. I would finally reach McGregor. He described two contrasting views of employee motivation and management styles. Theory X assumes that employees are inherently lazy and require strict supervision, while Theory Y posits that employees are self-motivated and thrive in supportive environments. In the exercise I would call Theory X assholes and Theory Y angels. Each person would pick a side of the room and we would debate the approach.
I would argue the asshole approach in order to get the conversation started. One specific year, this particular activity became quite heated. I had a young man who had worked for me for 3 or 4 years. He was a model employee and leader. He proudly debated the Theory Y philosophy. As I argued the opposite. I pointed out that work was not as natural as play for him. He paid good money to watch the Atlanta Hawks – I had to pay him to come in everyday. I shared that I had manipulated him time and time again to get the results I needed.
The entire group was able to see the transformation in him as I said this. He literally started to tear up and shared that he never knew I felt that way. He went on to say that he didn’t even want to come in to work anymore. I immediately stopped the exercised and profusely apologized to him. I shared just how much I respected him and how much joy he had added in my life. I explained that he had just so perfectly shown the rest of the group exactly how much a leaders attitude impacts an employee and how their behavior mirrored that leader’s belief.
From there, we moved on to have a great discussion about self-fulling prophecy.