Can we please stop trying to motivate people?

Every time I hear someone talk about motivating people I literally cringe. Can we please stop trying to MOTIVATE people?

 Can we please START focusing on INSPIRING people?

Some people might think motivation and inspiration are one in the same thing. I vehemently disagree. Highly motivated people are that way because they are INSPIRED.*

Inspiration is rarely the outcome when someone tries to motivate you. Ironically, in extreme cases, the result can be the complete opposite of the intent. A classic example are the fitness gym ad campaigns at the end of the year trying to motivate you to get in shape by selling discounted memberships for your already ill-fated New Years goal. Even if you do sign up, you can count the pounds you will gain and the weeks you actually go on one hand.

Motivation is frequently the outcome when someone or something inspires you. I get motivated to write several LinkedIn leadership articles after something or someone inspires me earlier in the week.

They say, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”.

You can’t force feed motivation. THAT has to come from a spark of inspiration deep inside. War heroes don’t throw themselves on grenades to protect their comrades because someone tried to motivate them to do so.

They say, “people want to be led, not managed.” I say, I want to be inspired by my leaders. Inspiration is sparked by leaders – not managers.

It takes a lot less time and energy to inspire someone to get a WOW result than it takes trying to motivate someone who is not inspired (not inspired = not interested) to get a mediocre result. They say “never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig” Perhaps not a perfect analogy, but maybe, just maybe, if you try playing music for the pig, it will start singing on its own.

One of the highest praises I’ve ever received from my teams, or folks I am mentoring, or anyone else on the planet for that matter, just in the last couple months or so is “…you are like a catalyst, you say some small thing that makes me want to do something bigger…” 

I think this is a perfect example and definition of inspiration and I can tell you this individual is HIGHLY motivated. Of course, this person was already genetically predisposed to be a high performer even with zero influence from me. I just provided a tiny spark and a little wind.

Sparks and wind

True leadership does not imply or require any form of authority or even substance for that matter. Unlike trying to motivate someone, inspiration via leadership is truly an almost ethereal state of mind that can be transferred to people in practically any medium of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, emotion, or thought – with a singular impression. “Accidental leaders**” may have a more refined ability in this area, where a lot of line managers probably cannot relate.

To wit, a colleague of mine recently penned a LinkedIn leadership article that they asked me to review prior to posting. Yet, we never discussed writing or posting anything prior to this.

A couple other colleagues are now using the term “extreme ownership” in conversations we have together. We’ve never discussed this. I just posted a picture of the cover of the book “Extreme Ownership – How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win” that I am currently reading, on our team chat a few weeks ago.

Sparks and wind… sparks and wind…

*See my LinkedIn article "Motivation vs. Inspiration"

** See my LinkedIn article "How are Leaders made"