It happened yesterday and it happens nearly every time I am training a group of leaders. Many will say they want to learn how to motivate their team members. I certainly understand the goal and purpose for the desire, but I think it is shortsighted and perhaps sub-optimal. I suggest a different approach – one focused on influence vs. motivation.
“How Can I Get More Motivation?”
Motivation, when framed in the leadership or organizational perspective, often focuses on external motivations. The question is: What can we do that will motivate others? And that is usually where the goal of those leaders in a workshop comes from. While this “carrot and stick” approach to motivation can work, it is limiting. It puts the focus on what we can or must do to “get” others to do something.
Another less obvious but more powerful source of motivation is the internal or intrinsic motivation. We can’t “see” those motivations in others directly, since they are internally sourced. But when people follow that internal compass, their motivation is stronger longer. If you want to understand those big internal motivators, consider the work of motivation expert, Susan Fowler. She summarizes our internal motivations as: choice, connection, and competence.
We are motivated when we see we have agency or the ability to choose our path. Generally speaking, the more choices, the better. We are motivated when we are connected to others and something valuable. Choices and connections motivate us to build our competence and skills at things – regardless of what they might be.
If we focus on those more powerful and lasting internal motivations, we can be more successful. But it isn’t as easy as providing carrots, or warning of sticks.
Enter Influence
Leaders become more influential when they find ways to help people get the things they need – choice, connection, and competence. As we help people find, source, and use those things, they will be self-motivated. Influence is something we do with people, not for them or to them. Focus on helping people make more productive, safe, and useful choices rather than providing external motivators. This simple shift changes our success rate and lasting impact as a leader.
The short answer to the influence vs. motivation question? Focus on building your ability to influence more than forcing, pushing, or guiding people with (external) motivators.
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