#favouritemodels No. 7 – Motivation

How can I motivate my employees better? I am often asked this question in my work with managers.

Not at all! You could simply answer that if you take a systemic view – as we do in consulting. However, this text is not about powerlessness, but about helping to meet the complex challenges that arise from the fact that in management we are always dealing with other individuals that we cannot control operationally.

But let’s start from the beginning: why do I not believe that you can motivate people? Maybe it’s a bit of a mouthful, but I am convinced that you can de-motivate people very directly through your own actions, but not motivate them in the sense of a cause-and-effect relationship – along the lines of: I do this and then he/she does that. (Incidentally, this would be called manipulation).

This view of motivation takes much greater account of the complexity of interaction with other living systems and the fact that each person is responsible for his or her own actions as an equally living system.

This ties in very closely with the idea that I, as a manager, am the one who creates the framework for and with my team in which they should and can perform (#favoritemodels No. 1). For the motivation of the individual, we use the image of the manager as a gardener and motivation as a plant that you want to make flourish.

What is behind this metaphor?

In order to have beautiful, thriving plants that will survive the next heavy rainfall, I need to get to grips with the plant. I need to find out what conditions it needs. Which environment, how much sun, how much shade and water, which soil helps to produce larger flowers, etc. Let’s just imagine that the gardener would apply what is good for him personally 1:1 to every plant in the garden – or tweak the plant to make it grow faster. Absurd idea? That’s exactly what we often do when we want to motivate others! We assume that what motivates us will also motivate others. But motivation is an emotional state and therefore always subjective. Although there are common factors that generally have a positive influence on all people – such as perceived self-efficacy, freedom to act, a sense of achievement, belief in the goal and a shared higher purpose – these factors are perceived very individually. What drives one person may leave another feeling cold or helpless.

Motivation can only be encouraged, not provoked.

The great thing is that we can find out a lot about our "plants" if we ask our employees what is important to them.

I particularly like this model because it poses the question anew: who is actually responsible for motivation in the team? I have often noticed how much managers rack their brains and make a real effort to find the best motivational factors for their employees. The metaphor above makes it clear: as a manager, I am responsible for shaping the environment. To do this, I can and should talk to my team to find out which conditions are beneficial and which are perceived as a hindrance. But I can only indirectly influence how much energy, effort and perseverance employees put into their tasks and therefore cannot take responsibility for this motivation. Many managers find this idea very relieving.

How does my #favoritemodel help you?

Do you have the feeling that you’ve “reached the end of your tether”? Have you “tried everything” to motivate your employees? The simple answer: if everything you do doesn’t help, don’t do it! Share ideas with your employees and your team! Ask: “What do you need individually?”, “What do you need as a group to be able to motivate yourselves?” With the help of this information, you as a manager can hopefully create the optimal environment (within the framework of all organizational circumstances). Will this result in the desired motivation? Leave the responsibility for this with the individual, because you have made your contribution and created the conditions for it. You cannot pull on the plant to make it grow faster or bloom more beautifully!

Author

Karen Krogel
Consultant