Motivation: Part 1 in a series
This will be a multi-part post about “motivation”, i.e., getting people into action. Here’s the starting point:
- What does it take to get people to do what needs to be done?
- How do you get people into action?
- Why are people not doing what they are assigned?
We often get these questions from managers who are trying to get things done “through” other people. Some managers get so discouraged with how hard it is to get other people to do a task, or do it right, that they tell us things like:
- I might as well just do it myself,
- It’s just not going to get done so we’ll do without it,
- We’ll have to work around that problem.
In other words, they’d rather give up than deal with people’s resistance or non-performance. (Note: It can be hard to tell at first whether someone is resisting direction or just not able to perform a particular assignment).
Another thing we have noticed is that most managers believe the source of these problems is that people simply are not “motivated” (whatever that means). Many managers we know are working on motivating their people, in the hope that they will become more productive and cooperative.
What makes the motivation problem even more frustrating is these managers tell us that it is their job to motivate the people who work for them! So if you are a manager and your people are not motivated to perform well, then it must be YOUR fault. Just to seal the fate of these managers, most management textbooks agree, identifying motivation as one of the primary functions of being a manager.
The irony, however, is that almost every manager we have ever known has a list of things they want to accomplish but never seem to find the time to do. Does that mean managers have trouble motivating themselves to do things? Take a look at your own “to do” lists – anything on there that’s been around for more than a month or two? If we can’t always motivate ourselves, how can we know what works to reliably motivate others?
We’ve been studying managers for years, and have noticed what they do to motivate their colleagues, spouses, friends, and children. In other words, we have seen them “motivating others” in formal settings and in informal settings.
What works is – you guessed it – some well-designed conversations. Nothing tricky, nothing you don’t already know how to do. But the way you use either Understanding Conversations or Performance Conversations– or a combination of the two – can make all the difference. Imagine that: a dialogue where you actually listen to the other person, or a clear request and promise, or some of each of those, might just “motivate” them.
And it works on you too. I’ll show you how. More coming soon…