Motivation Not Manipulation

Motivation is external, inspiration is internal. When you motivate a person, you are laying the foundations for them to be inspired from within

Have you ever been manipulated within your team? Have you ever seen any of your teammates or colleagues be manipulated? I have been manipulated, and the thing is, I knew I was being manipulated.

I just didn’t have the courage at the time to challenge back and intercept the manipulation. It is not a nice feeling.

Manipulation is a very negative and selfish act. When you manipulate your teammates, you are negatively influencing them for your own personal needs.

When you manipulate your teammates it causes anger within the team and resentment. Your teammates will lose trust in you very quickly if you manipulate them.

Highly effective leaders will never try to manipulate a teammate, or anyone else within their organisation. A highly effective leader will only ever try to motivate their team. By motivating your teammate you are looking for a win/win situation for both.

It is a very positive and selfless act. When you motivate your teammates it makes the team happy, and they will take pleasure in being influenced by you. When you motivate your teammates you are building trust within the team, and your influence will increase.

Whenever you have been motivated, it has come from something outside of yourself. Motivation is external. So, it requires somebody, or something to carry out an act that motivates you.

For example, a motivational video on You Tube. You have been motivated by the video, e.g. the video is the external thing that has motivated you. When something external has caused you to take a certain action with your team, you are motivated.

When something internal from within yourself has caused you to take a certain action with your team, you are inspired. Inspiration is internal and comes from within yourself.

Even though I have been manipulated by some of my line managers and team mates, I have also been motivated a lot more. I have worked with some highly effective team players, and leaders, and they were great at motivating me.

A highly effective leader knows how to motivate their team because, like me, they have been part of teams and worked with other highly effective leaders who were able to motivate them. So they have a lot of experience in motivation.

When you motivate a teammate, you enable them to take a certain action because of you. As a highly effective leader, the fact that you are part of their team motivates them.

Manipulation is a very selfish act, and when it happens to you it is highly embarrassing. It causes you to lose all your confidence in yourself, and any hope that you had.

Motivation is the complete opposite. It is a very selfless act, and when motivating another person, you are looking for mutual benefit and a win/win situation.

It gives the other person more confidence, it fills them with hope, and most of all it makes the other person and yourself happy.

A highly effective leader will never use their position of authority to manipulate their team. They will use their position of authority to motivate the team, which will ultimately inspire the team.

Highly effective leaders who don’t have a position of authority can still motivate and influence their team. They can do this because of their character.

They work on their character every single day to ensure it is the highest level it can be. Character is what brings out the best in everyone, especially highly effective leaders.

Having the ability to motivate your teammates is a must for a highly effective leader. By working on your character every day, your influence will keep increasing and your ability to motivate will continue to improve.

All the best,

Tom Lawrence (Highly Effective Leader)