Professional people do not need motivating by their managers do they? They know what to do, so you just let them get on with it.
What is your experience? Perhaps leaving professional people to “just get on with it” is not the answer.
Professional people have already shown that they can defer gratification by going through their qualification process. They usually do have a strong and far-sighted view of the right thing.
Managing professionals is on a par with herding cats. They have minds of their own and want to do it their way when they are ready.
But what if doing it “their way” does not match the organisation’s needs?
I managed a design team some time ago. Among a group of highly qualified engineers, there was a particularly brilliant software engineer. He would sit and think for days. He would write nothing down, make no notes and have no visible output at all.
Then in one day, he would frantically produce code that was quite astonishing: he was a truly creative individual.
His other foible was suddenly to take out his violin and play a tune! This did not amuse the other hundred people in the open plan office.
He was a difficult character for sure! I had to find a way to manage his work without stifling his creativity. Patient explanation of his part in the bigger picture helped, as did my acceptance of his thinking/frantically writing way of working. We learnt to manage his part of the projects in bigger but more meaningful tasks. But the violin had to go!
To return to the question – “why are professional people different?” They are not different of course. They just need to have their motivation to work managed in line with the needs of the organisation.
This is not a straightforward management task though.
There is no neutral choice. You either make things better or make things worse.
Good people management is as simple as a maze is simple – just make the right choice at every turn and you reach the prize.
You can always hire a guide of course!