Why motivation is the wrong goal
What if we stopped trying so hard to motivate our people?
And instead, we focused on improving engagement?
The other week, I posted a short video daring to challenge the role leaders play in motivating their people. (And yes, I’m on horseback in that video - ha!)
I want to take it further.
Today I’m covering:
Why engagement vs motivation
How to engage your people
How to avoid demotivating
Engagement vs Motivation
Let’s start with the challenge.
Accordingly to Gallup, in 2023, only 33% of employees were engaged.
What does it mean to be engaged?
It’s “how much an employee is invested in their job and the company they work for. It's a measure of how employees feel, think, and act, and their emotional connection to their work, organization, and team.” (Bolded emphasis is mine.)
Let’s compare that to the definition of motivation: “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.”
Engagement = active.
Motivation = passive.
And yet, most of us go to great lengths to figure out how to keep our people motivated.
It’s the wrong goal.
Motivation isn’t sustainable.
It’s engagement that keeps you in the game and showing up.
How To Engage Your People
I personally think about 4 things:
Connection
Clarity
Coaching
Challenge
Connection - the extent to which people feel valued, connection with others, and are seen and heard as humans.
Clarity - the extent to which people know what success looks and feels like and there’s alignment on expectations. “The most fundamental engagement element is knowing what is expected of you.” - Gallup
Coaching - the extent to which people feel they are being developed, invested in, and have growth opportunities ahead.
Challenge - the extent to which the work is stimulating, engages their problem solving skills, and leverages their strengths.
Pause here.
Ask yourself these 4 questions, which of my team members:
have low Connection with me or the team?
have 100% role and responsibility Clarity?
have I actively been a Coach for this week?
are hungry for different, stimulating work?
Those questions alone should prompt some low hanging fruit for impacting employee engagement.
And if you’re thinking, “but Katie, I can’t provide 100% role and responsibility Clarity,” here’s my response: maybe you can’t, AND I also bet you can provide at least 10-20% more.
Dare to consider where you’re assuming the expectations are clear, there’s a good chance they might not be.
If you’re ready to take this further, there are actually 12 questions that have been proven to indicate workplace health and engagement:
Make it stand out
Avoid Demotivating
While it’s not our job to provide an endless stream of motivation to our people, it is our job not to demotivate them.
The following samples are incredibly common, and often come from a good and reasonable place at the time. Some of these might even be beyond your scope and are a broader leadership team decision or challenge.
I call them out with a goal to recognize small actions, immediately our own or cascaded to us from above, can have outsize impacts on engagement.
Sample actions that demotivate:
Poor listening
Unattainable bonus structure
Last minute 1:1 cancellations
Frequently changing goal post
Texting/calling nights & weekends
Listening & not doing anything with input
Denying PTO requests (when plenty of notice has been given)
If you’re seeing these and thinking about broader organizational challenges you’re needing to lead and manage through, two pro tips:
1. We vs They - you’re still a member of the organization’s leadership team, don’t say things like: “they decided…” or “they don’t know yet…” You will create a larger divide in trust than you realize.
2. Showcase Clarity & Opportunity - speak clearly about what you do know, invite folks to be part of the solution for the things you don’t know, and help your people identify the areas they’d like to grow into as new opportunities arise from the change.
That’s it for today!
I’d love to hear from you…Comment below and let me know what action you’re going to take from today!
