Is Motivation Really the Problem?

Business Leaders are often looking for new and innovative ways to motivate their team members. In our recent Coaching Gold Podcast, Small Business Coach Erin Myers joined us for a discussion on motivation and how working with a coach can help leaders create environments that support employees in finding motivation and drive business success.

Understanding Motivation

Process over motivation.

The first point that Erin emphasized during the podcast is that motivating others is something that leaders spend too much time thinking about and not enough time doing. There is a myth that motivation is to be found before engaging in an activity. The reality is that the act of doing a task is motivation in itself. Psychology today explains that "motivation is the desire to act in service of a goal". Instead of trying to determine how you are going to get your employees excited about doing a task, leaders should focus on

1. Defining what needs to be accomplished.

2. Who is best capable of doing tasks?

3. What support is needed for successful task completion?

What needs to be accomplished?

One of the biggest derailers to motivation is a lack of clarity. Unclear tasks present four primary problems.

1. Unclear objectives and desired outcomes can make it challenging to pick the right employee to do the tasks. 

2. Lack of clarity on how you want tasks to be completed can be the cause of delays, overspends, and other inefficiencies.

3. Poorly defined goals can create anxiety for employees because they are unsure of your expectations.

4. Solutions can be over-engineered when the scope and key requirements are not defined.

Taking time to clarify objectives can help you pick the right person for the job, and ensure that that person understands what they are being asked to do.

Assign tasks based on Team Goals.

Once you have defined the business objective and desired outcome, it is time to determine who should be responsible for the task. With the Power6 Leader model, we teach leaders to use the ACES framework, which is a standard for assessing who should do the tasks based on the greater good of the team, communicating your expectations, empowering the employee to do the work, and supporting them along the way.

 When assessing who to assign tasks to, we encourage you to understand employees' strengths, competencies, and frustrations. The Working Genius Assessment can be a helpful tool as you strive to understand better what type of work your employees find motivating. Both Dorian and Erin use this tool to help leaders better understand their employees and how realigning roles and responsibilities can unlock greater productivity.

Employee motivation sours when employees spend more time working within their strengths. The increased motivation comes from their needs being fulfilled. Humans desire safety, community, recognition, and purpose. When you can design and assign work to employees that allows them to meet their financial objectives while also fulfilling other needs, you tap into the full potential of your employees.

Providing Support

After you have defined the objective and expected outcome and delegated the task to an employee, it is vital to remember to provide ongoing support to your employees. Support is going to look different based on the employee's experience and competency. Experienced employees may only need guidance and occasional check-ins. New employees may require training and ongoing counseling. Partnering with the employee to define the type and frequency of support they need can create trust, support effective communication, and improve the odds of the employees delivering on expectations.

How Coaching can help.

In 2022, the International Coaching Federation surveyed over 10,000 people and asked them about their primary reason for participating in coaching. 37% stated improving communication skills as the primary reason they sought coaching. Motivating employees comes down to communication first, because listening to employees, understanding their strengths, passions, skills, and experience is vital to putting them in a position where they are doing work that is intrinsically motivating for them. Second, your ability to effectively communicate what needs to be done, why it is essential, how you want it done, and by when can provide the extrinsic motivation employees need to support them in doing a task. Getting work done is all about combining an employee's internal motivation with your direction, support, and guidance (communication) to complete the task.

If you are interested in learning more about Erin Myers and her coaching program, you can find her on LinkedIn. To learn more about Your Path Coaching and Consulting, visit our website at www.yourpathexecutivesolutions.com or schedule a free consultation using this link.https://yourpathcoachingandconsulting.hbportal.co/schedule/635fe8e75275fb003103425c

Listen to Podcast on Spotify