QUOTATION 47

GENERAL GEORGE PATTON ON MOTIVATION THROUGH DELEGATION

WHAT TO DO

• Part of the reason General Patton could make the above statement with assurance was that he didn’t suffer fools gladly. If you were an officer under his command, you either came up to standard or he shipped you out. No excuses and no delay. He only wanted to work with the best, because he believed he was the best. In Quotations 25 and 46, advice is given on how to select the best staff available. However, even if you follow it to the letter, the chances are you will have the odd failure. When that happens, follow all the correct procedures but get them out of your team. This can be time-consuming but the remaining staff will quickly recognise that you want only the best and will raise their game. Their self-confidence will grow and they will do everything they can not to let themselves, you or their colleagues down.
• Having created a team of proud, high performers, they are not going to be stymied by an instruction from you, such as, ‘I want you to do X and tell me when you’ve finished.’ They’ll see it as a sign of the trust you have in them and will welcome the opportunity to impress. Because they will put all their energies into the job, they are very likely to come up with better solutions, ideas or results than if you’d told them how to do the job. Why am I so sure of this? Simple. You don’t have the time to expend all your energies on trying to come up with the best answer/result for every problem that lands on your desk. Therefore, any instructions you gave would be based on a cursory review and would limit their actions as they tried to follow the tramlines you had set down for them.
• When you implement their idea, make sure that you give the person credit for the work; this will enhance their self-confidence and faith in you as a leader further.
• Quotation 46 suggests that only people can motivate themselves. Patton’s approach seems to recognise this. He created the conditions, including an expectation of excellence, which enabled staff to motivate themselves.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

• Who in my team can I trust to surprise me with their ingenuity?
• Do I have the confidence to relinquish control to my staff?