Why A Little Anger May Go a Long Way

 

If you are like me, you spend some time making sure you don't make people around you angry. You get expected reports out on time, you strive to deliver on time at the expected quality, you don't ignore your budget, you try to work collaboratively with stakeholders, you don't sneeze without covering your mouth. Likewise, if they are angry you try not to interact with them until later.

And when you want to motivate someone to act, you commonly use fear. You say things like: "If your team doesn't complete this work on time, it will lead to a significant budget overrun." "We'll never meet the deadline if we don't get additional resources."

So if you wanted someone you work with to want something more and work harder to get it, would you make them fearful or angry?

New research tells us that it is better to make people angry if we want them to want something in particular. Specifically, people who were shown a picture of an angry face desired objects more and exerted more energy to obtain those objects.

So consider using anger as a motivator rather than fear.

For example, when you are talking to the individual who can approve needed resources: "The shared resource we thought would be available will not be available. We requested the resource far in advance, so I do not blame you if you are mad. Let's get a contingent worker to finish of this work so that we can stay on schedule."

Or

"Other project managers I have spoken to do not think we can get requirements and design completed fast enough to start development on time. They think it is too complex for this team. I hope that makes you feel as angry as it does me. Let's show the doubters what we can do."

A little anger may go a long way.