Motivation Where Has it Gone?

Where has Motivation Gone?

Before I get into what is weighing on my mind, let’s look at what motivation is the types of motivation.

Motivation is the desire to act in service of a goal. It is the crucial element in setting and attaining our objectives. Motivation is one of the driving forces behind human behavior. It fuels competition and sparks social connection. Its absence can lead to mental illnesses such as depression.

There are four types of motivation

·????????Extrinsic Motivation – to succeed based on influences like increased financial gain.

·????????Intrinsic Motivation – in internal desire to succeed of desire to self-actualization or self-exploration.

·????????Introjected Motivation – is a negative internalized motivation, similar to negative reinforcement.

·????????Identified Motivation – this is the most complex of the motivation forms because it builds up over time and is not something that can be created or instilled in a person.

In short, motivation has not gone anywhere, or has it just manifested itself into different forms.

Let me explain, I had a conversation with a long-time friend and industry peer recently and within the context of the discussion we both were recalling our careers which are similar in time and length. We were both raised up in the supermarket industry, where we spent decades in the fresh produce department. While my retail career ended nearly a decade ago, he has continued his career and has been extremely successful in doing so.

As the conversation went on he shared with me the incredible challenges his business faces with regards to associates who are willing to get the job done. In our day, getting the job done meant long hours, days, and nights alike. Working double shifts, doing jobs that were not ours to do, but it had to get done. We both recalled examples of the things we did from the beginning of our career which was as a department clerk, then an assistant manager, before becoming a manger and later into merchandising and buying and ultimately becoming the leader of the fresh produce operation for the entire company.

As we were talking over the phone, I realized I was shaking my head and thinking it…but he said it before I did. Where has the motivation gone? And that is what is weighing on my mind today.

So, the question for me is, how did we get here? A personal story

Let me go back about 25 years…it was the late 1990s and my employer at the time had just acquired a group of stores. These stores had been struggling for a number of years and needed a lot of attention. What I remember most as the merchandising team began planning for resets, remodels, and rebranding of the locations we acquired was that we also had to deal with a lack of motivation from the operations team. It was truly for me the first time I had experienced that situation and it puzzled me. I wondered why the employees were not more excited about the opportunity to improve their stores and secure their employment.

After talking with several of them it became obvious…they were beat down and defeated. The previous company did not make good decisions and did not support the store operations teams while the supervision team was cutting corners and taking away their ability to succeed…in short they lost their motivation. I would say these employees needed Intrinsic Motivation…so we went to work.

Fast forward to 2015, I was in my last year of my 35year career in retail. In those years, I had been rewarded with an amazing team…a group of highly motivated professionals who pushed me. The one piece of advice I would offer a leader today is to listen to your team when they are motivated to do more and succeed together. Do not squash that enthusiasm…embrace it, cultivate it, and direct it. They will do the rest.

How Motivation can be your Glory

My dad, who had such a way with words told me more often that I cared to hear it…he would say, “son anybody can get a job, but not everybody can do the job.” For a teenager it just did not strike a chord with me until I arrived in the adult workforce.

Over the course of my career I have run into and led all kinds of people, each exemplifying one of the four forms of motivation…you can usually see right through those who are in it for themselves and not the team, or those who are self-promoters and will step on anyone who gets in their way…or to me the worst is one who will sabotage and try to take down anyone who exposes them for what they are.

But the best are those with Identified Motivation…the person who is so self-determined and I supposed it is the form of motivation I most identify with. The person who is unassuming, humble, and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done…not for prestige, money, or accolades, but because they have a burning desire to do the right thing, the best way possible. I have said it hundreds of times…give me an untrained person with desire and motivation and I can teach them anything. This type of person can go far with direction and a goal to achieve. Ironically, it is this type of motivation which creates the best, most thoughtful and empathetic leaders from my experience.

So where has Motivation Gone

Short answer is that it is still there…but we must dig for it. The workforce have been dealt a heavy blow over the past two years or so. It was not helpful for it to become acceptable for people to sit at home and not work yet get paid via government per diems. Granted, in the initial stages of the pandemic, help was needed…but within a brief time that help needed to be in getting businesses back up and running and people back to work. Now we have over eleven million jobs open and only 67% of the available workforce working at a job. So, is it fair to say motivation was taken from us? I believe motivation is still within every person, we just need to bring it out and hopefully sooner than later.

Another famous quote from my dad, which I shared with my own daughters when they began working. Dad would say, “son, you always give an honest day’s work for an honest days pay, the pay which you accept to work for.” I placed another spin on that phrase to my daughters by telling them this. “Too many people take a job for a paycheck, you take the job to gain a work experience” the paycheck will take care of itself, if you do your job. Is that a form of Dad Motivation? I think it might be…and we need a little bit more of that today.

#Motivation #LearningwhileyouEarn #Purpose