AMP Up Your Team’s Motivation with These 3 Things
I am dusting off a post from a couple of years ago that speaks to motivation. With as much as everyone has going on right now, keeping your team motivated is a critical need for every leader. Recently I shared an article that also spoke to what leaders say and do to create the outcomes we get, in short, motivating for better results. I also plan to dive deeper into this subject in a short series in a couple of weeks.
Motivation is perhaps one of the most significant outcomes a leader can create. Motivation is not a result; it is the creation of an environment that encourages others to be engaged. I would argue that you cannot actually motivate another person, you can only create the desire and the possibility of motivated actions to occur.
When you think of motivation in those terms, you can see that motivated actions could be positive or negative. Most people do not purposefully take an adverse action. No one wants to do the wrong thing unless that is what has been encouraged within the environment. Leaders define that space. Positive interactions will create the desire to reciprocate and also perform positive actions. Conversely, when a leader is generating a lot of negative energy through poor communication, negative comments, little to no recognition, those around them have no desire to work above and beyond their role.
As a leader, how can you generate the positivity that will lead to great things from those around you? Here are three things that can AMP up your space.
Daniel Pink speaks to these three specific areas in his work in Drive: The Surprising Truth of What Motivates Us. He also has an outstanding video that covers these same areas in an easy to understand way.
Autonomy – Assign tasks to your team of associates. Give them the opportunity and space to do the work. Avoid micromanaging. Autonomy is the act of working in a self-directed way. In the retail world, that may be a scary thought, but at the same time, remember when you were building your career – that longing for just wanting to prove yourself. To show others, you coulddo that task without lots of direction. Or, even more, choose to work on something that no one asked you to do that you knew would make something better. Creating a place where those types of activities can occur is a huge step toward a culture of engagement, innovation, and positive results.
Mastery – Encourage your team to learn and try new things. Allow them to practice. Practice with them. Reinforce the skills that will help them be most successful. Create challenges that hone those skills on a day-to-day basis. This support and coaching will develop confidence in their skills and knowledge, leading to expertise in their area. Think about how you feel when you consider yourself an expert. You want to share knowledge and support others. You choose to speak up and move a cause forward with what you know or have experienced. Those decisions are motivated by feeling good about your environment and your mastery of the subject.
Purpose – I am a firm believer that everything comes back to ‘why.’ We all want to know (at some level) why we are doing what we are doing. We want to have a purpose in our actions, our work, our lives. The leader’s role is to supply that in abundance. Most importantly, it is the understanding of what that vision that clearly defined goal leads to – the opportunity to make a difference in that cause through our own actions. We can now select to ‘opt-in’ and contribute to the desired outcome. That vision paves the way for others to motivate themselves into the necessary actions to achieve the results that are being sought.
Each of these items can stand on their own. They become most powerful though when they are combined in the culture and behaviors defined by the leader. If you want to make a difference for your team, choose to create an environment that allows them to feel empowered, build knowledge, and have purpose in everything they are doing.
What will you do to AMP up your team or environment? Share your ideas in the comments section.
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