People fuel

Have you ever seen people contribute enthusiastically towards a project and then lose that enthusiasm until they're only doing the bare minimum to get by?  It's like they had tons of fuel and then it ran out, making any further progress painful and slow.  Previously enthusiastic team members start resenting the project and, sometimes, even each other.

I watched this unfold recently and I started wondering what happened?  What went wrong?  How can someone who is normally so helpful and generous become so reluctant and stingy?

My theory: people need fuel to work.  In particular, they need respect and appreciation.  Imagine working in a group where people are disrespecting you and ignoring your contributions.  How much extra work are you going to contribute?

It's not hard to give respect and appreciation.  It's a matter of listening to people's opinions and giving them due consideration.  It's giving people responsibilities commensurate with their abilities and resources.  It's answering emails -- even if the answer is 'I don't know'.  It's trusting people and not second-guessing them or asking them to defend every single decision they make.  It's thank you's and recognition of their contributions.  It's amazing how far people can go with a little fuel -- and how difficult it is to move forward when that fuel is missing.

Thanking people

There's a hadith that says whomsoever does not thank people, has not thanked God.  And there's a verse in the Qur'an that says "If you are thankful, I will surely give you more." (14:7).

If you look at the verse on it's own, the connection between being thankful and getting more is not that obvious.  Of course we believe that it's true, but how being thankful can get us more is not clear.  We believe in the connection as an act of faith.

The hadith, however, gives a clue to at least one mechanism through which being thankful can get us more.  People are far more inclined to give to those who appreciate their efforts than to those who don't.  So, by thanking people, we endear ourselves to them so that they will be inclined to give us more.  It's one way that God gives us more if we are thankful.