Never Motivate

Many times my managers come to me asking me how I motivate people. They look up to me almost as if there is a recipe to follow , a book to read or a course to attend. While there are a lot of materials out there that would help you with engagement, motivation is a whole another ball game.?

Let’s first talk about the knowns. There are two major ways you can help motivate your team members.?

Extrinsic Way?

“You you deliver on this project, I will make sure you get a bonus”?

The golden words which make things happen. Some might say this motivates your employees to get the job done. But would it really motivate them to think outside the box? This kind of approach usually works in sales organizations as many have a commission that they are aiming towards. Extrinsic motivations can be fear or rewards. You can very well tell someone you will get fired if you don’t meet a deadline and make them get the job done out of fear. In such situations, the employee starts solely thinking about themselves and not about the company. This works for mundane tasks, tasks with clear directions. Creativity is something that is absolutely impossible in such cases.?

Intrinsic Way?

The question you really need to ask is do you want your employees to work in an assembly line or you want their creative juices going and use that to benefit your business. Many employees have the ability and self determination to strive for excellence. I personally have experienced employees being passionate about the business, processes and people if you :?

• Spend time in their growth.
• Make them understand the “why” behind an initiative
• Give them freedom to plan and deliver the project.?

Now that we have these two approaches nailed, let's get underneath the hood. Why would someone get motivated for a business they don’t own? What drives motivation ??

Motivation is not about energy.?

It is not the ability to get into the office and give 200%. Along with the quantity it is also about the quality. Everyone, depending on their lifestyle outside work, experiences things that will affect them both positively as well as negatively. At work also, all your employees will have positive motivations and? negative counter productive motivations. We all have employees whom we refer to as someone who are great at their job but are very toxic for the team or culture.?

Humans are hardwired to connect, we do not drive in full capacity unless we are part of healthy groups.?

We need to be careful how we engineer our teams. It's a myth that high performers will pull the low performers upwards. Actually, the low performers drag down the high performers.?

Motivation is not one size fits all?

I need to come in, get a team together and inspire them.?This never works!?

Motivation is our drive to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Pleasure and Pain are the two factors that drive how successful we are in life. It is all about how effective you are in minimizing your counterproductive behaviors.?

Research shows, we can measure motivation and key factors to do so on :?

1. Pleasure side is ambition and accountability. The employees who thrive in this area get motivated by expansions, new opportunities and maneuvering with the unknowns. While motivating these kinds, the conversation should always be around benefits, inspiration and growth.?
2. Pain side is mitigating Risk. These employees have the power of noticing. They notice clues that can jeopardize your existing business. They don't bring new opportunities but they mitigate anything that will ruin our existing business. To welcome these employees to a new initiative you should always talk about the risk involved if we don’t do it. Example: If you dont deliver, we will lose market share.?

Just because someone can do the job doesn't mean they will do the job.?

Usually during an interview, in the first 3-5 minutes we make a decision whether to hire a candidate or not. Decisions are made with emotions.(e.g. “Will I want to drive cross country with this person?”) Remember, If you like someone in an interview does not mean they will be a top performer.?

Takeaways :

• Understand your employees, what motivates them and match them with those initiatives. Do not put someone who is prevention focused on projects which will drive new business.
• Invest in people.?
• Generally, teams hire someone whom they relate to or hire someone who is similar to them. Do not hire for culture fit, hire for culture add. More on this later!?

Lastly, Your employees are already motivated, it's your job how to unleash this motivation. Don't worry about motivating people, worry about NOT de-motivating them.?

References:?

https://youtu.be/7lhVUedc1a4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chpCYb52_wo