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As leaders we need to be continually moving towards a goal or vision and we need to have those who follow us helping us to get there. The key to getting this help from others is in our ability to keep them motivated to help.
In my last article I looked at why money doesn’t always provide the sustained motivation that we’re looking for. But if money doesn’t do it, how do we keep folks motivated to follow us?
Some time ago I wrote several articles about understanding why people behave the way they do and suggested that our values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations determine how we react to the things we experience.
I also introduced the metaphor that as we go through life it’s as though we are walking along a dirt path with a bag or sack hung over our shoulder. Along the way, we find rocks on the path that we pick up, put in the bag and carry with us. These rocks represent our values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations. Some rocks are big, some are small and some we discard when don’t need them anymore after we pick up new ones that fit us better.
I’ve also suggested that not only do we need to understand what rocks we are carrying around but we also need to take the time and effort to see the rocks others carry around in their bag as a way to better understand why people behave the way they do. Being able to see the rocks that followers carry around with them and understanding why they behave the way they do can also help us to understand what motivates them.
What Motivates Us?
Each individual has a unique set of rocks that they carry around. Because of this, motivation is also unique to each individual. There are any number of things that can motivate us in the workplace. In fact here’s a list of some of the things, other than money, that I found when looking at the results of different surveys:
Having a challenging job
Having a boss who is supportive
Recognition for doing a good job
Doing work that matches the level of training
Having an opportunity to be a high achiever
Working for a company with high values that I share
Doing meaningful work
Being useful to others
This list is certainly not exhaustive, nor should anything on this list be surprising. It’s clear from this list that different things can motivate different people.
But my intention here is not to create a checklist of things we can do today to motivate our employees. There are plenty of resources that can be found that show us how to motivate employees. These resources help by telling us how we can motivate someone who is motivated by any given factor.
Motivation is Individual
Since we are all different in what things motivates us, it’s a colossal waste of our time and energy to try to treat all of our employees the same by offering the same motivators to everyone at the same time. My solution is simple, but far from easy because it takes time and energy. But in the long run it will produce motivated and loyal followers.
To me the best way to create motivated and loyal followers is to practice something that I call Follower Reflection. When we take the time to understand our followers by recognizing the rocks that they carry around with them, we are able to find those things that motivate each individual. Instead of trying to motivate the masses we need to motivate folks individually, based on want works best for them.
Follower Reflection is an ongoing practice. Since life is so dynamic, circumstances often require us to change and adapt. When these changes occur, what motivates someone may also change. By practicing Follower Reflection on an ongoing basis, we are able to recognize these changes and adjust our approach to motivating folks as we need to.
What motivates each individual may certainly be something on the list above (or something else) and we need to be sure that we know what we are able to do to provide those things that motivate someone. But it all begins with Follower Reflection allowing us to understand who our followers are as individuals.
Leader’s Reflection: As leaders we need our followers to help us work towards our goals or vision. When we are able to motivate our employees they will provide that help. By using Follower Reflection we are able to find what motivates each person individually, allowing us to produce motivated and loyal followers.
