Buy a Dictionary, please.

I've had more than one boss, be it a Head of Production or an ECD, tell me that they don't like their staff to get "too comfortable."

Really? Don't like your people to be too comfortable?

Managers who want their staff uncomfortable believe, in some fucked up logic flow, that a person who is constantly worried about losing his job is motivated to try harder. That he or she will spend more time working, and somehow produce more or better product.

There is a term for an employee who is anxious, perpetually worried that his boss will come down on him, and always afraid of losing his job.

That term is "job seeker."

A person who spends so much time worried about losing his job doesn't spend his time doing his job. He spends his time looking for a different job. Which is too bad. I'll bet agencies lose a lot of good people that way.

Maybe you don't want your staff to become self-satisfied, unconcerned and lazy. That makes sense.

But self-satisfied, unconcerned and lazy is not "comfortable." It's "complacent."

There's a difference.

Look it up.

I've managed groups, and I've always found this to work pretty well:

1. Create an atmosphere of trust
2. Take all that other shit off the table
3. Let people become comfortable.

When people are comfortably un-worried about losing their job, they become free to concentrate on actually doing that job. They relax, view problems in a more holistic manner, and find solutions they might never have lit upon with a foot wedged up their ass and a monkey on their back.

If you've hired the right people they will be grateful of this, and not take advantage of your good nature.

Managing people is a lot like training dogs. Both species are basically good natured and loyal, with varying degrees of intellect. And both species possess many of the same motivational triggers. To wit...

Reward
Obey command, get treat. Dogs like treats. Simple.

This works pretty much the same with humans. Do job, get compensated. Do excellent job, get excellent compensation. This is good in theory, although I'm willing to bet that many of us do an excellent job and are not excellently compensated.

However, money talks, and most people will put up with quite a bit if they're getting paid enough for it.

Fear
The dog is terrified and will do whatever is asked because the alternative is worse... the scolding, yelling, and in some cases beating, is more horrible to endure than simply obeying the command.

Fear mongers try to keep you terrified in the belief that it will scare you into doing a better job. There is scolding, yelling, and in some cases beating. Of the mental kind, anyway. Although I'm sure the physical kind happens too.

I used to work for a guy like this. With him, everything sucked. All the vendors sucked. They were too expensive and too slow, and their work was terrible. The talent sucked, the director sucked. The editor sucked. The rough cut sucked. You sucked.

He used to send e-mails about this. Mean ones. We called them "you suck" e-mails. The more he sent, the less effective they became, until finally I just ignored them. I didn't like him, and I didn't like the way he tried to intimidate me.

I did my job, but he didn't get an extra ounce of anything from me... which sucked for him because I've got plenty extra to give.

I've always thought that guys like this lose big, because they don't get anywhere near the best that their people can give. When people loathe and despise you, they don't particularly want to please you. How often do you hear someone say, "I hated that asshole, and I did some of my best work for him."

Love
The dog loves his master and will do whatever is asked because it makes his master happy... the praise and satisfaction mean more to his little doggie heart than anything else he could possibly imagine.

Sometimes you like and respect your boss so much that you want to do good work for him. For the agency and the client too, but also for your boss.

These are the guys who are not afraid to hire smart people, the smartest ones they can find. They don't fear that these hires will have newer and better ideas than they do, they bank on it. When someone trusts you and respects your opinion as a professional it is empowering, and extremely motivating.

I've worked for guys like this, and it doesn't suck.

So, love or fear... which works better? (Let's just forget about "reward" for now, agencies don't work like that)

In 1993's A Bronx Tale, Sonny, the local mafioso, waxes philosophical to his young protege...

Sonny: Is it better to be loved or feared? That's a good question. It's nice to be both, but it's difficult. But if I had my choice, I would rather be feared. Fear lasts longer than love.

Machiavelli posed this question in The Prince. In 1532 he came to the same conclusion that Sonny would come to 477 years later. It's nice to be both, but forced to pick one, he chose "feared".

Maybe this is the right answer if you're running a country, or the Mafia.

When you're running an agency, not so much.