Motivation isn't rocket science. All you need is love.

Something's got me thinking about passion and staff engagement - about some things I’ve seen recently from big brands, and where public loyalty might go in the future.

Now, forgive me my taste for heavy reading. Since an early age, I’ve been drawn to people who speak out from under oppression. That’s why this morning, on the 8:50 from Clapham Junction to Hounslow, I was reading the speech-from-the-dock of Sir Roger Casement, following his conviction in the Easter uprising of 1916. One passage struck a chord with me.

“Loyalty is a sentiment, not a law. It rests on love, not on restraint. The government of Ireland by England rests on restraint and not on law; and, since it demands no love, it can evoke no loyalty.”

This set my mind off on its usual wiggly path. Come with me for five minutes. Let me start with a story.

We have run a regular all-staff survey at Luvata and have gone to great lengths to get high participation. We have just over 70% blue-collar workers in a global, industrial B2B company.

From the 2009 results, we plotted commitment to the company alongside the feeling of involvement. Someone who felt both was ‘motivated’. Someone who was committed but not involved was ‘frustrated’. Someone who was involved but not committed was ‘satisfied’. Someone who felt neither was ‘alienated’. At the end of 2009, our staff were 12% alienated versus 59% motivated, with the rest evenly spread between frustration and satisfaction.

With deeper research, we found that the vast majority of the alienated staff were not united by age, sex, location, education or position, but by their distance from the end result. They simply didn’t see how their daily efforts made a difference. In answer to this, we began a campaign of simple clarity on our strategy and (which was more) of story-telling; of giving everyone wonderful stories to tell of the things made possible by our company. We set about answering a question for ALL our staff: “What do you speak of with pride when you talk to your friends and family?”

By 2012, our staff were 77% motivated versus 5% alienated. This gets me to thinking about ‘love invoking loyalty’.

Last night, I saw an advert for Persil washing liquid. What struck me was not how it claimed superior cleaning power or fragrance, but how its owner, Unilever (in the UK), cared about the future across its whole portfolio. That’s a stark and impressive change. More and more, companies are recognising that audiences relate to a reason-to-be – being not so aligned with what’s being sold as much as why.

What a huge step this is – to rise above the sentiments that we used to aspire to; the self-serving ideals that a brand might make us personally stronger, bigger, richer or more beautiful. I think we’re really seeing a world that is starting to break its addiction to self-love (that demon of the 1990s that cried out "greed is good") for a bigger, more productive love.

In 2010, a study by the CEB found that 100% of active-positive consumers - the brand-advocates who award 9 and 10 on the Net Promoter Score - were motivated by emotional affinity to their brand choices above other factors such as financial and product performance or even environmental credentials.

So, 10 out of 10 to Unilever (or Henkel depending on where you are).

But, my quote this morning also gives me thoughts of caution. “The government […] rests on restraint and not on law; and, since it demands no love, it can evoke no loyalty.”

I’m reminded of the era of 'greenwashing', when certain companies paid tribute to environmental issues about which they didn’t always exhibit genuine care. The Web2.0 generation, which shines the brightest and most penetrative of all spotlights, showed that those companies’ actions contradicted their claims. The result left them in a much worse position than if they’d said nothing at all.

So, similarly, my advice to companies who want to win loyalty through love by being a champion of their reason-to-be, would be to do it thoroughly and throughout the company. Put your reason-to-be at the core of every function - don’t leave it to marketing and communications. When GE launched Ecomagination, it wasn’t simply a campaign, but a driving force that was visibly woven into every activity, from brands to delivery and from internal culture to the customer front.

In short, don’t just look like you mean it. Mean it. Invite love, and loyalty will follow - the motivational effect will create an overflow from the inside out. Integrity is contagious; it will lift your staff and spill an indelible message over your customers.

Altogether now: “All you need is love… ta da-da da-daaah”