Motivation

Since making the decision to only work for organisations whose values and behaviours are both aligned with mine, and in fact applied and practised in reality, it has it given me pause for thought in regard to how our wants and needs evolve and change over time.

As a young person I was motivated by what I thought were the simple things in life, food, water, money, learning and to some extend right and wrong. Right and wrong are of course products of our environment and therefore in my view specific to each individual. I was fortunate to spend the first 10 years of my working life in the Military and that provided me with everything I needed to establish a sound foundation of general knowledge and experience. It also provided good food, learning opportunities and exposure to all forms of leadership styles (even if they didn’t realise it). You’d be surprised how many people believe there is only one leadership style in the military!

As a middle-aged person, I was motivated by solidifying my place in the world and focusing all of my attention on providing a safe and healthy environment, with my husband, for our family. Stability and risk reduction became the most important things to me. The needs of others (my immediate family) far outweighed my own needs. My motivation was about providing the best that I possibly could, and ultimately for our family, with decisions always made jointly with the same goal in mind, alignment never an issue. I could make and justify decisions based on what I could provide and what was needed to make sure my family had what it needed to thrive. This included job choices, promotions, study, travel etc. Some would refer to these choices as sacrifices, I don’t.

Now I am at a stage where I have done what I could to provide the best possible environment and opportunities for my family to thrive, the rest is up to them to take and make their own. I can sit back and admire the world for what it can provide for my children and give guidance and support when needed. So, what will be my motivation now ……. It is most certainly different than it has ever been.

Simon Sinek’s mantra of finding your ‘Why’ is now much more important for me. Money is no longer the motivator (please don’t equate value for money!), risk avoidance is no longer relevant as I’m now more opportunity focused, making money for others just to make money is very far from on my list of things to do, and doing ‘good’ has always been important. So, what should be my focus?

• Helping others do what they do better?
• Doing things that matter?
• Helping others learn?
• Correcting the record? i.e. what is complexity and why does it matter? What is transformation really? Why do we allow people to do project management like they do and undermine its value?

It is most certainly all of the above, and there are no doubt more, but at this point I am yet to decide what my motivation for the next chapter of my life will be, open to thoughts and suggestions from my network.