Warning

There are few words of warning offered by the author, i.e. this method requires the use of empathy and it takes time and effort.    You also don't know what you are getting until you have successfully unwrapped a person and you may not be able to transform every unmotivated employee.    The final outcome may disappoint you but at least you and your problem staff will know either that an avenue for improvement has opened up or agree to disagree.    After all it was the managers' judgment that certain employees worth the effort of being motivated.    Now let us look at some actions in greater details.

Step 1: Create a Rich Picture
The use of empathy is in fact putting yourself in other's shoes.    This important first step requires you the manager to ask few questions and collect information to answer them.   The questions are:

• What drives that person?
• What blocks those drives?
• What might happen if the impediments are removed?

Note also that these questions are asked within the context of these problems occurring and you the manager play a key role in most cases.    The article has suggested many ways of collecting information informally and this must be done careful as the manager may be the main cause of the employee's lack of motivation.     You may have to use a proxy in such as case.