Motivation in Today’s World
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Imagine you have an employee you wish to motivate but just can’t figure out what works? Or perhaps a team or colleague you haven’t yet found the right approach to get outputs and deadlines met, let alone ahead of schedule; shouldn’t trusty rewards and punishment be enough? Isn’t it enough for people to know they’re doing great work? The answer for all of these is no, at least not sustainably.
The carrot / stick approach has long been outdated — motivation is more deep and complex than that. There are various theories of human motivation that are relevant and valuable in the workplace. Regardless of which ones you ascribe motivation to, an important universal truth is that people want to matter. They want to be more than a number, more than a contribution to your financial gains.
Give honest and clear feedback.
One way to motivate others is to communicate to them out loud that they matter. For example, celebrate your individual employee’s great work with your words, and be specific. STAR or SBI are both great models for feedback (Situation/Task-Action-Result or Situation-Behavior-Impact). Doing the work to learn skills to give constructive feedback effectively is an additional way you can motivate others - but please do the work to build the skills. (If you’d like tips on books or programs, reach out and I’m happy to share some!)
Speak to the why.
Understanding the context of the work one is being asked to do is motivating and helps the individual retain some level of autonomy and can increase their feelings of competence. It can be demotivating to be tasked with something with no explanation, leaving the employee to wonder the why and the value. And more than knowing one is doing great work; it is motivating when one is able to feel great about the work they’re doing.
Listen, learn, lead.
Leaders who go first are often the one “clearing the brush.” True leaders are willing to blaze the trail and remove obstacles where possible to help their team do their best work. Don’t skip the important conversations of asking what’s difficult and how you can offer support. This invaluably shows them that you care, and are willing to put action with your words. Critically important, you must take action where you can or promise to, otherwise your words will be just that…words.
These thoughts were inspired by an HBR (Harvard Business Review) article; I’ll close with this quote from the summary:
“And remember that if you’re not engaged and enthusiastic about the work you do, it’s unlikely that your team will be. So, check in with yourself about how motivated you are for the job at hand, because employees feel more motivated when their leaders are also motivated.”
Want to read more on motivation? My favorite motivation theory is Self Determination Theory (SDT) - check more info out here. It’s also the foundation for the world-renown leadership development program Situational Leadership by Ken Blanchard Co, inspired by his book the One Minute Manager.
