This week…Your 10 Keys To Motivating Others
Right now, I’d love to be able to motivate my eldest daughter to learn all her times-tables.
My first approach, not surprisingly, was to use the motivation style that I use with myself and this is a key factor in understanding motivation. We tend to use the same approach with others that we use with ourselves and we also tend to make the dangerous assumption that everyone else is motivated in the same way and by the same things that motivate us.
Anyway, threatening dire consequences if she doesn't (how I generally motivate myself) has not worked. We’re now working on building a big enough incentive and in the end a blend of benefits and consequences with a very strong WIIFM will probably work. On the other hand, you only have to wave a certificate or a gold star or a small reward in front of my middle daughter and she is off after it like a rocket. Lessons in motivation are everywhere when you pay attention!
I was in an interesting experiment once - we were asked to say what we thought motivated other people to come to work.
Our list included things like “for the money” & not much else. We were then asked what motivated us to come to work and, of course, our list included noble things like “achievement”, “progression”, “social contact” etc.
The point was that people don't just come to work for the money - they come to work because it helps them avoid the painful consequences of not working and it meets their deep need for the pleasure of social contact, finding meaning in their life and having a laugh.
The crucial thing for you is, do they see the organisation as getting in the way of meeting these needs or do they see helping the organisation get it's goals as an integral part of meeting their own needs? In other words, what is in it for them to help your business exceed it's goals. If the answer is "not much" then motivation will continue to be a struggle.
Here are some other thoughts:
Bonus Idea. Use the logical levels as a checklist - make sure your motivation affects all the levels: environment, skills & ability, beliefs & values, identity, spirit & meaning etc.
Above all, create for yourself a personal motivation model. Observe groups who are motivated and those who are not. Understand when you are motivated and when you are not.
Understand how (not why) you became motivated. What is the difference that makes the difference?
It's this that you’ll be able to use most effectively with others.
There are so many self-help and personal development books around these days, where do you go if you want to make a good investment of your time and money? I´ve recommended the books in these reviews because I have read them (some many times) and found them to be personally useful or useful at work.
I've recommended this before and no apologies for referring to it again.
Practical, cheap, easy to read and has a very useful motivation exercise that you can get your team to complete and discuss.
The link below takes you to Amazon where you can read more…