Tipsheet: Motivation vs. Movement

Motivation vs. Movement

Why do some people have such incredible drive, and others seem
to just bumble along, rarely achieving their professional goals? To answer this
question one need only look at motivation, and how it usually is
"achieved" on the job.

Most people have annual job goals or objectives. As an example,
salespeople have commission plans, bonuses, and other incentives to
"produce". Yet sales managers know that if they double the payout,
they won’t get double the sales: they get movement towards goals, not motivation
to achieve them.

Motivation is an intrinsic personal drive, not a result of
external stimulus. The job of the manager is to recruit these people into the
role whose personal motivation is inline with the movement that the manager
requires. Then when hired, the manager’s role is to both remove impediments to
movement, and coach the employee to develop and improve their skills and
efficiency.

Strong managers know that when they connect with the employee’s
motivational hooks, the employee will do whatever it takes to get the job done.
A contest for sports tickets will mean very little to people who aren’t fans. A
family get-together is not likely to be interesting to singles. And so on.

This week’s action item: This week, move your
colleagues to action by hooking into what intrinsically motivates them. They’ll
do a better job, they’ll do it faster, and they’ll be happier doing it. Bonus
action item: What motivates you? (You’ll be happier – and more effective – if
you share this with your manager.)