Find the hidden energy in you and your team

Three questions to think about

What is Motivation Really?

Motivation is the motive or internal reason we have which guides us to act and certain ways and to follow certain directions. It guides our decision making and our view on the world at large and the people in it.

 

Our motivation is linked to our past experiences, our present needs and wants and our thoughts about the future.

 

Motivation is more than a thought; when we are feeling high levels of motivation, we feel an energy and equally when we feel that energy flow away, we say we are feeling unmotivated.

 

Motivation stems from the Latin term “motivus”, which means moving. And motivation is exactly that, something that moves us towards accomplishing a goal or doing any other action. In other words, it’s the driving force from within, that pushes us forward.

 

Because, it's inside us, it's often invisible to other people, and sometimes to ourselves.

Where’s the Hidden Energy?

Gallup consistently reports that that only 25% of the workforce are actively engaged and 15% are actively disengaged. That means 60% use just enough energy to get through the day. 

Throw in the new challenges of hybrid working and the reported difficulty of recruiting and retaining team members, we can see why all types of organisational leaders and mangers tell us they are always challenged with productivity and improving performance.

Let’s say that the energy level of the “just enough” group is 65% of what they could offer. What if you could increase that to 75%?

 

This is where you will

find "the hidden energy"

 

What would that extra 10 % of energy mean for your team’s productivity and performance?

To do that as a leader, you have to create the conditions in which team members are motivated,. One of these conditions is being highly motivated yourself, otherwise why should team members go the extra mile themselves?

 

So how motivated are you right now?

Do you find that hard to say?

 

That's because it seems intangible and hard to describe, let alone measure.

Motivation or Inspiration?

Some people seem to mistake motivation for inspiration. They think that both words have the same meaning, and they often use one word for the other.

Looking at the origin of the term inspiration helps:  “inspirare” means “to breathe into” in Latin, and pretty accurately describes what inspiration is. In other words, it’s a kind of “inner awakening” that comes from something that happens externally.

These are two completely different terms. The main difference comes from the fact that motivation is directed from inside us to something “outward”, a goal to which we strive, and the force that pushes us towards that goal.

 

Inspiration is something that is triggered by something on the outside that connects with us in some way and motivates us. This releases energy that we direct to achieving goals.

As a leader you can only aim to inspire people, they have to motivate themselves.

 

As a leader, looking to tap into hidden energy, you have to find an apapproach which appeals to every indvidual member in your team as each will have different motivators or "buttons."

The Challenge with Motivation – The 3 Is

“Motivation is an inside job with outside consequences “ 

Peter Thomson

 

It’s Invisible

We can sometimes see the physical signs of high or low motivation as they are usually obvious.  They are usually temporary, and do not help with developing performance over time.

 

Most of the time, we cannot really tell how motivated someone is and how much extra energy have to give.

 

Leaders need to find a way to make the invisible, visible so they can help team members improve their motivation.

It’s Intangible

Motivation is an internal state. How one person thinks and talks about it is very different from the next. 

 

As a result we don’t have a common language to talk about it easily. This prevents us from making sure that motivation is being looked after and extra energy is being made available.

 

Leaders need to find a way of having a conversation about motivation that is understood by everybody.

It’s Individual

What motivates and energises one person is always almost very different from the next.

 

Indeed what energises one person may demotivate the next.

 

Leaders need to find a way to have the right motivational strategy for each person in their team.

Motivation is required for results

We are all interested in getting results whatever form they take. To achieve those results, we need three things.

Direction: This is an understanding of what we want to achieve and claity on the pathway that we need to follow to get there.

Skills: This is the ability to do what is necessary to do the tasks that mean we will achieve our goals.

Motivation: This is the energy used to apply the skills or the drive that helps us follow the direction in an energetic way.

Imagine that you are going on a journey, you know where you want to go, you have a car that’s ready and you know how to drive.

Yet if you have no fuel or no way of making the car go, then you’re not going to get anywhere.

“Motivation is the fuel necessary to keep the engine running”

Zig Ziglar.

Use a Motivational Map to overcome the 3I's challenge and improve results

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