Development Suggestions

1. Follow the basic rules of inspiring others as outlined in classic books like People Skills by Robert Bolton or Thriving on Chaos by Tom Peters. Communicate to people that what they do is important. Say thanks. Offer help and ask for it. Provide autonomy in how people do their work. Provide a variety of tasks. “Surprise” people with enriching, challenging assignments. Show an interest in their careers. Adopt a learning attitude toward mistakes. Celebrate successes, have visible accepted measures of achievement and so on.

2. Know and play the motivation odds. According to research by Rewick and Lawler, the top motivators at work are: 1 – Job challenge; 2 – Accomplishing something worthwhile; 3 – Learning new things; 4 – Personal development; 5 – Autonomy. Pay (12th), Friendliness (14th), Praise (15th) or Chance of Promotion (17th) are not insignificant but are superficial compared with the more powerful motivators. Provide challenges, paint pictures of why this is worthwhile, create a common mindset, set up chances to learn and grow, and provide autonomy and you’ll hit the vast majority of people’s hot buttons.

3. Use goals to motivate. Most people are turned on by reasonable goals. They like to measure themselves against a standard. They like to see who can run the fastest, score the most, and work the best. They like goals to be realistic but stretching. People try hardest when they have somewhere between 1⁄2 and a 2⁄3 chance of success and some control over how they go about it. People are even more motivated when they participate in setting the goals. Set just out of reach challenges and tasks that will be first time for people – their first negotiation, their first solo presentation, etc.

4. To better figure out what drives people, look to: What do they do first? What do they emphasize in their speech? What do they display emotion around? What values play out for them?

• First things. Does this person go to others first, hole up and study, complain, discuss feelings, or take action? These are the basic orientations of people that reveal what’s important to them. Use these to motivate.
• Speech content. People might focus on details, concepts, feelings, or other people in their speech. This can tell you again how to appeal to them by mirroring their speech emphasis. Although most of us naturally adjust – we talk details with detail oriented people – chances are good that in problem relationships you’re not finding the common ground. She talks detail and you talk people, for example.
• Emotion. You need to know what people’s hot buttons are because one mistake can get you labeled as insensitive with some people. The only cure here is to see what turns up the volume for them – either literally or what they’re concerned about.
• Values. Apply the same thinking to the values of others. Do they talk about money, recognition, integrity, efficiency in their normal work conversation? Figuring out what their drivers are tells you another easy way to appeal to anyone. Once you have this basic understanding, you need to follow the basic rules of motivating others covered in this section.

5. Turn off your judgment program. In trying to reach someone, work on not judging him/her. You don’t have to agree, you just have to understand in order to motivate. The fact that you wouldn’t be motivated that way isn’t relevant.

6. Be able to speak their language at their level.  It shows respect for their way of thinking. Speaking their language makes it easier for them to talk with you and give you the information you need to motivate.

7. Bring him/her into your world. Tell him/her your conceptual categories. To deal with you he/she needs to know how you think and why. Tell him/her your perspective – the questions you ask, the factors you’re interested in. If you can’t explain your thinking, he/she won’t know how to deal with you effectively. It’s easier to follow someone and something you understand.

8. Motivating is personal. Know three non-work things about everybody – their interests and hobbies or their children or something you can chat about. Life is a small world. If you ask people a few personal questions, you’ll find you have something in common with virtually anyone. Having something in common will help bond the relationship and allow you to individualize how you motivate.

9. Turn a negative into a motivator. If a person is touchy about something, he/she will respond to targeted help. If the person responds by being clannish, he/she may need your support to get more in the mainstream. If he/she is demotivated, look for both personal and work causes. This person may respond to job challenge. If the person is naive, help him/her see how things work.

10. The easiest way to motivate someone is to get him/her involved deeply in the work he/she is doing. Delegate and empower as much as you can. Get him/her involved in setting goals and determining the work process to get there. Ask his/her opinion about decisions that have to be made. Have him/her help appraise the work of the unit. Share the successes. Debrief the failures together. Use his/her full tool set.

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