Why Motivating People Doesn t Work... and What Does The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging. Rating. Take-Aways.

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1 Why Motivating People Doesn t Work... and What Does The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging Susan Fowler Berrett-Koehler pages [@] Book: getab.li/24274 Rating 7 Applicability 6 Innovation 77 Style Focus Leadership & Management Strategy Sales & Marketing Finance Human Resources IT, Production & Logistics Career & Self-Development Small Business Economics & Politics Industries Global Business Concepts & Trends Take-Aways People never lack motivation. Your task is to find out what motivates them. You must motivate your team, but you may not have the means to do so. This is the motivation dilemma. Create optimal motivational experiences for your team. Recognize team members need for autonomy, relatedness and competence (ARC). People s values drive their actions; to motivate people, discover their values. Counteract pressures at work by using your self-regulation skills: mindfulness, values and purpose. Practice self-regulation to manage your own feelings before helping others. To reach optimal motivation, establish where you stand, decide how you want to shift your motivational outlook and reflect on your decision. When things go sour, consider holding a motivational outlook conversation. Helping your team with their motivational shift also helps you and your organization. To purchase personal subscriptions or corporate solutions, visit our website at send an to info@.com, or call us at our US office ( ) or at our Swiss office ( ). getabstract is an Internet-based knowledge rating service and publisher of book abstracts. getabstract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this abstract. getabstract acknowledges the copyrights of authors and publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this abstract may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, photocopying or otherwise without prior written permission of getabstract Ltd. (Switzerland). 1 of 5

2 Relevance What You Will Learn In this summary, you will learn:r1) How to cope with the motivation dilemma, 2) How to recognize your team s psychological needs and underlying values, and 3) How to support your team with motivational outlook conversations and provide optimal motivational experiences. Review In this practical, provocative piece on motivation, you ll find a dilemma you can solve, a little theory, a set of skills you can learn and some guidance on how to shift your work team to optimal motivation using neither a carrot nor a stick. Motivational researcher and coach Susan Fowler illustrates her credo motivating people does not work because they are already motivated with personal storytelling and lots of examples. getabstract recommends her manual to managers, team members, HR personnel, and anyone with an interest in the motivation dilemma and how to solve it. Summary Motivation Dilemma People never lack motivation. The question is: What motivates them? What motivates you to get out of bed every morning? Achieving your goals? Being independent? Engaging in activities that match your values? A great irony of leadership is that motivating your people doesn t work because people are already motivated. People are always motivated. Teaching leaders about motivation is difficult because they believe their job is to motivate others not themselves. Consider Billy Beane, the respected manager of the small-market Oakland A s, who rejected a historically lucrative offer from the Boston Red Sox, one of the most renowned US baseball teams. Neither fame nor money motivated Beane. His values, his family and his dedication to sports fueled his decision to stay in Oakland. Motivation plays a big role in any workplace. You may tend to think that having more motivation is always better. But your degree of motivation doesn t predict your success in life. Success rests on the essence of your motivation, not the quantity. As a manager you face a dilemma: You are accountable for motivating your team members, but, in fact, you lack the means to do so. All you have are carrots and sticks to use as rewards or corrections. However, neither one taps into the essence of motivation. You must explore the underlying psychological needs that create motivation and ask your staff what motivates them. Three Psychological Needs The new science of motivation can help you understand and overcome the motivation dilemma. Three psychological needs drive human action: 1. Autonomy The feeling that you can choose what you are doing. 2. Relatedness The desire to care about other people and have them care about you. 3. Competence The sense of being effective and able to demonstrate your capabilities. Imagine that your manager is a very controlling person who doesn t allow you to decide your next course of action. You don t feel autonomous, and that might affect your sense of Why Motivating People Doesn t Work... and What Does getabstract of 5

3 The motivation dilemma is that leaders are being held accountable to do something they cannot do motivate others. The essence of the answer lies at the heart of the science of motivation and the revelation of three psychological needs autonomy, relatedness and competence. being effective and competent. The negative spiral might descend even further. You could lose faith that your line manager cares about you. The absence of autonomy affects your three psychological needs like dominoes falling. You might soon wonder whether you should be looking for another job. Drive Theory People often say that someone has drive when they mean that the person has a lot of motivation. The lexicon of motivation features many composite terms that include the word drive, such as driving for results, driving for success and driving performance. These terms derive from the so-called Drive Theory, which holds that when you feel a need like thirst or hunger, you are driven to drink or eat. Once you satisfy these needs, you no longer feel driven. Externally motivating drivers, such as money, a bigger office or a new title, harbor a risk: They undercut and diminish the internal motivation that builds from autonomy, relatedness and competence (ARC). Acting independently, caring about your colleagues or completing a project energizes you over a longer period of time. People who experience ARC are thriving. They do not need something or someone else doing the driving. Self-Regulation The ability to regulate yourself can help you manage your feelings and protect your psychological needs as you handle work-related pressures and constraints. Self-regulation includes having the ability to compensate and deal with situations that trigger your emotions or distract you. When your workplace conditions prove unreliable or even unsafe, you face a higher need to self-regulate. In a more stable environment, your need is lower. Since workplaces change all the time, try to enhance your ability to self-regulate, which has three aspects: Peak performers are not goal driven. Peak performers are valuesbased and inspired by a noble purpose. Even with the new science of motivation, many organizations will continue to bank on motivating people through external means that appear expedient, easy and controllable. 1. Mindfulness Be sure you see and realize what is going on around you right now, without judging or jumping into conclusions. 2. Values Identify the factors that are important and precious to you; at work, your values might guide you in promoting good practices and stopping bad practices. 3. Purpose Find the reason behind your actions; it might be a noble intention with social significance. The Spectrum of Motivation In your daily routine at work, you may attend many meetings. Do these meetings motivate you? Your answer might be yes, no or somewhat. Asking that question outright reveals only a little understanding of your personal motivation, because actually it is the wrong question. Instead, take a better approach and try to determine what factors motivate you to take part in meetings. Your conclusion will fall into a spectrum of six motivational outlooks. The first three of these viewpoints are suboptimal drivers or motivational junk food. You may relish them at first, but afterward you could feel remorseful, unsatisfied and physically drained: 1. Disinterested motivational outlook You think the meeting is a waste of time. You cannot appreciate being there. 2. External motivational outlook You attend because you want to show your power and position. You expect rewards for being there. Why Motivating People Doesn t Work... and What Does getabstract of 5

4 3. Imposed motivational outlook Everybody else attends, and that puts pressure on you to attend. You feel guilty if you don t participate. Motivation is a skill. People can learn to choose and create optimal motivational experiences anytime and anywhere. Leaders are so immersed in five motivation-eroding beliefs that they find it difficult to hear, see, or do something different. Devoting time and effort to help people shift their motivational outlook pays off in countless ways for them, your organization and you as a leader. People need highquality self-regulation to help manage their workplace experiences if they ever hope to have an optimal motivational outlook. The last three outlooks are motivational health food. You feel energized and you can sustain that energy when these factors drive your participation: 4. Aligned motivational outlook You feel that you can learn from others at the meeting, and learning is one of your goals. The meeting aligns with your values. 5. Integrated motivational outlook You welcome talking about work issues close to your heart. The meeting is a forum for exploring purposeful matters with colleagues. 6. Inherent motivational outlook Attend the meeting? Of course! It might be fun. Three Skills for Optimal Motivation Leaders first job is to motivate themselves. Therefore, apply this optimization model to yourself before using it to guide others. Teaching leaders to practice relevant skills can be more difficult than you expect, but good things happen when you shift to or maintain an optimal motivational outlook. Select a project, goal or situation you struggle with at home or work. Apply three skills or analyses to that project, with the goal of reaching optimal motivation: 1. Explore where your motivational outlook stands This is the first skill to exercise to reach optimal motivation. Ask yourself if you re really interested. Does this project matter to you? Do external rewards, such as a pay raise or completion bonus, motivate you? Does your motivation come from an imposed state, a reaction to pressure to do the project so you won t feel guilty? Are your aims and activities aligned with your values? Are you working toward something rewarding and purposeful? Is this project integrated with your commitments? Does the task feel inherent because it comes naturally to you, so you enjoy doing it? 2. Decide where you want your motivational outlook to go Do you want to maintain your current outlook, or do you want to move it to a more positive, satisfying state? You may remember experiencing the feeling of flow when you were so absorbed in a task that you forgot everything around you. Time flew by, and you felt positive, energetic and happy with what you achieved. Positive flow is hard to reproduce from scratch. You are more likely to achieve it in the context of an integrated or inherent motivational outlook. Flow is mostly good for you just watch out for spending too much time playing video games. They are a good distraction and can give you an inherent sense of flow, but don t go overboard unless you have a positive reason for playing. You might feel drained and remorseful later, unless you can link game play to a noble purpose. 3. Reflect on your motivational starting point and your potential shift This skill helps you to revisit your emotional outlook. How do you feel about your motivation? Have you moved your projects, goals and activities forward so they positively influence your motivation? Reflecting on your emotions might not come intuitively; businesspeople tend to pay more attention to rational analysis and less to feelings. But everyone has feelings, so why not acknowledge yours? Emotions play a vital role in influencing your well-being the core of your motivational outlook. Outlook Conversation Your colleagues and staff members have their own motivations. As a manager and leader, you must support their outlook and help them shift to optimal motivation. Does a team member regularly submit work late or undermine other members by being in a bad mood Why Motivating People Doesn t Work... and What Does getabstract of 5

5 or reacting with strong emotions? Do your organization s values seem out of sync with an employee s priorities? These worrying situations call for holding an outlook conversation to determine where your employees stand, asking them to decide whether they want to change or stay as they are, and having them reflect on their choices. Mindfulness provides a view of reality without the filters, self-centered thoughts and historical conditioning that tint your outlook. Rewards may help people initiate new and healthy behaviors, but they fail miserably in helping people maintain their progress or sustain results. You are not applying these skills to yourself. You are facilitating your staff members use of them. Invite your colleagues individually, as needed, into the conversation; ask permission to investigate their motivations together. Develop and clarify their personal values and their general purpose in coming to work. Inquire about their current motivational outlooks. Practice mindfulness, and notice the dynamics of the conversation. Accept that you will never know in advance about the result of the conversation or how your colleagues will connect with their needs and values. Your goal is to generate the opportunity for positive outcomes and individual well-being in alignment with your organization s needs. Outlook conversations aren t easy, but they do become easier with practice. Beware of several pitfalls, notably trying to solve others problems, imposing your values and expecting an automatic shift. Prepare for the conversation, trust the process, and seek buy-in from your team members and a commitment to work on their motivational shift before closing the conversation. Masters of Motivation Who is the best person you ever worked with? Are you thinking of a former boss, director or colleague? What did you like about that individual s style, values and sense of purpose? Did this person have a mindful approach to leadership and create a workplace in which people could grow and advance? Meeting people with such qualities is an enriching experience. Consider two exemplary masters of motivation: Phil Jackson, president of the New York Knicks basketball team, won eleven national championships. In his book Eleven Rings, Jackson doesn t pressure his players or restrain their resourcefulness. He seeks each player s genuine, profound motivation. Jackson wrote, That kind of awareness takes time to develop, but once you ve mastered it, the invisible becomes visible and the game unfolds like a story before your eyes. Not all beliefs are values, but all values are beliefs. The quality of your beliefs determines the quality of your leadership values. Colleen Barrett, now retired from Southwest Airlines, helped craft the airline s unique service standards and renowned people-oriented culture. Whether advocating more casual uniforms or giving the crew members creative license and endorsing their sense of humor, Barrett fought aviation bureaucracy. A noble purpose inspired her: She wanted Southwest employees to feel the maximum sense of autonomy possible in their highly regulated industry. She helped build the culture of autonomy, relatedness and competence that drives Southwest Airlines success. You can make a difference in people s lives. When you communicate with the people you lead, you can unlock their motivation: The conversations you initiate and the words you choose will make a difference to the people around you. About the Author Susan Fowler, lead developer of The Ken Blanchard Company s Optimal Motivation program, is a researcher, consultant and coach in leadership development and employee motivation. Why Motivating People Doesn t Work... and What Does getabstract of 5