What Makes for Motivation?

Motivation.

Such a big word.

It is oft-used in any, but many, people and talent-related discussions.

Questions like:

Is the person still motivated to do his/ her job?

What motivates you to apply for this job?

What motivates you to stay in this company?

How motivated is he/ she to take on this expanded role?

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According to Psychology Today:

From Management Today:

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As I read these Googled definition -- I pick up the key words/ phrases.

Words/ phrases like driving force, spark, purpose, needs, desires, stimulating and accomplish stick out.

In HR, a fundamental tenet is to create an environment where motivation is very high, and demotivation kept to a minimum, lessened, or completely eliminated.

Can it really be done? I continue to wonder.

One can only hope that 100% of their people are 100% motivated. This is utopia.

Motivation is such a big word that it begs the question..

"..how can one find highly-motivated individuals to be able to build a highly-motivated team?"

One thinks about engagement.

Another may think rewards, recognition.

Yet another, culture.

Most will say leadership.

Great leaders develop motivated individuals to be able to build motivated teams.

Is there really one formula that targets motivation?

I don't know the answer.

One can only hope towards arriving at one.

Many years working for the people part of the business, I still don't have one, definitive answer.

For people, humans, are highly-complex beings, operating within another highly-complex environment with complex social dynamics, varying levels of management and leadership styles, within cultural and economic contexts that vacillate almost moment to moment, pitted against another complex set of familial and personal needs and desires that changes with the times.

But if there's one thing that I think targets motivation, it is the heart.

One must first aim to understand the complexities of the heart.

I heard from a leader before that to be able to get the rest of the body going, one must ensure to aim for the heart.

What is inside a person's heart?

What are their needs? What makes their heart sing? What makes it cry? What drives them to wake up everyday, ready to give their whole selves to work? What makes their heart bleed? Where does it get the energy to just live? What gives their heart meaning?

These questions are not questions you can directly ask during job interviews, but these are questions that need to be asked nevertheless, in whatever shape or form.

It starts, always, in knowing the person.

Knowing their story.

Knowing their strengths, their "weaknesses".

Knowing their family, knowing their values, what do they hold most dear?

Who are they taking care of, who are the most important people in their lives?

What was their childhood like?

What is a common theme in their life story?

What do they want to become?

Who do they hope to be?

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In reality, most of these questions are missed in your regular performance conversations.

Conversations that revolve mostly around goals, KPIs, timelines, priorities and less questions around purpose, values, inspiration, or simply asking 'what makes you tick' or 'how can I enable you to deliver your best work' so that goal achievement follows?

And I do not have the answer to why.

All I know is that it pays to look at processes from an angle of being.

Because alas, we are all human beings, with a mind, heart and soul that often just aims to be set free.

I now remember one of the quotes that stuck with me, shared by a manager during one of the wellness sessions and discussions we were having virtually during the pandemic which goes something like this..

In the end, motivation maybe a big word.

But is it really?

It may be simpler than we think, or believe it to be.

Motivation may very well just be about the basic human need to understand and be understood, as Ralph Nichols said, and the best way to understand people is to listen.