When I share time with managers, no matter where I am, the conversation always gravitates either directly or indirectly to motivation. The constant challenge is “how do I motivate my team or team member?”
First things first, what is motivation? Let’s put it into a context. On example may be Skippy is asked to do something and he doesn’t do it. Does that mean he isn’t motivated? Could it be “I don’t know how” (knowledge), “I can’t” (obstacle), “I’m not there yet” (habit) or “I don’t want to” (willingness)? Motivation is tied to skill or will. You can look at fixing the skill and it can impact one’s motivation. It is very hard to affect one’s will. You see the real reason, the real root to one’s motivation is tied to something incredibly challenging – an internal decision making machine within us all.
Motivation is the choice of the individual. They choose their own behavior. It is not yours to give or make, but rather something you can only influence or stimulate. You must change your question from “How do I motivate him or her?” to “How can I create an environment where he or she motivates themselves?” This is shift of mindset on the part of the manager.
Here are two questions from managers and things to consider.
How do I keep people motivated when we are having a bad week and it seems no one is listening?
Motivation is tied to personal choice – plain and simple. I am motivated today to answer these questions, what about tomorrow? What if my wife calls tonight or in the next two minutes and my little Sarah has a fever (God forbid)? It is extremely hard to make people motivated to complete a task, any task. It is hard to expect them to have an attitude when completing tasks. Everyone has a bad day or week. You cannot manage or lead an attitude – you can only influence a behavior. The best thing any manager can do is to provide a motivational environment. This means being very clear about the “Why, what, how supported and to what extent” something is required. Even in the worst of days, if those things are clear in my mind, I am more likely going to meet those expectations than if they are not. This means my goal changed from trying to motivate attitude to trying to influence and stimulate behavioral choice. That is easier.
What is the best way to keep everyone motivated (including myself) day after day?
I cannot motivate any of you, just as are not able to motivate your team (despite your efforts and intentions to do just that). Not really. Attitudes and motivation are not your choice. How much do you recognize efforts? Do you give more positive feedback than negative? How much do you involve your team in brainstorming and collaborative decision making? When you ask your team to do something, is it a balanced clarification of what, why, how and to what extent? Think of your last two or three days in the store, how many times did you say thanks? I am not talking about saying it so much it begins to sound disingenuous. It is given at the right time in the right way for the right reason. Review the questions above as a benchmark for some next steps
Motivation is becoming too big, too personal with way too many possibilities, variables and root causes. At a minimum, just get to know your team and identify their motivational triggers. I have some other considerations and it will require you to contact me for those.
Cheers