Head: (4.5 of 5)
Heart: (4 of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (4.5 of 5)

While most leaders have employees who are easy to motivate and eager to perform, sometimes there is an employee for whom this is a struggle. Perhaps it is a personality issue, the employee's past experience of being burned, or his/her current experience of not feeling supported. Sometimes leaders inherit these problem employees by virtue of a reorganization or promotion, or have contributed to the problem directly. If your current method is not working and you've done everything from giving strong evidence rationale as to why the person should change to threatening him/her with poor performance reviews, then something isn't working. It's time to try a new approach.

Nicholson does a terrific job of providing an explanation for why demotivation occurs. He takes a well-balanced look at how to motivate problem employees. It takes ownership of the problem and commitment to resolving it from both parties. He provides 3 practical steps leaders can take to bring the problem to a resolution. This includes: creating a rich picture, reframing your goals, and then stage the encounter. Although his approach is based on empathy and requires a small investment of time, he makes strong points about how the likely current method most leaders use (i.e., avoidance, judgment, and blame) are no better.