Motivation isn't a trick - it's a puzzle

None of us are as good at motivating and inspiring people as we think we are. Part of our roles as Project Managers is to motivate and inspire the people working on the project. Even if we think we’re great at it… chances are we’re not. And it’s because people are really really different.

Do you have children? More than 1 child? Are they the same, or are they really different from each other?

Do you have brothers or sisters? Are they the same, or are they really different from each other?

Do you have a spouse or a significant other you spend a lot of your time with? Are they the same as you or are you really different from each other?

People are really really different.

When that comes to motivating or inspiring people, we all need something different, because we are all really different. Some people need a stick, some a carrot. For some, praise is motivating, for others, not so much. For some, a really hard challenge is motivating, for others, not so much. For some, we need people to believe in us, for others, we need people to tell us they don’t think we can do it.

People are really really different.

To make it worse, people are fluid. What works today may not work tomorrow. People change.

So how do you motivate such a diverse group with such diverse, ever changing, needs?

Some of the conventional wisdom doesn’t work

Do you think if you get to know someone, really get to know someone, you can find out what makes them tick? You probably can, but it’s not as easy as you think. What makes someone tick is not superficial, it’s complex. It’s not something you’re going to get to know from taking someone for a coffee. It’s something you get to know from a long, deep, real connection that occurs over time, where you have seen what motivates them. There’s trial and error involved.

And yes, you can do that and it will work. It won’t work tomorrow. It probably won’t work in the life of your project. It’s a long game.

The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t scale very well. Try doing the same approach to the 8 people on your team; or the 80 people on your team; or the 800 people on your team. It doesn’t work at scale.

So let’s create some proxies

Instead, you figure out the 3 or 4 things that work for a large percentage of the team. This also causes problems and you’ll probably see it in others before you see it in yourself.

Before we carry on, let’s just get real. Our 3 or 4 proxies really turn into 1 or 2 over time. OK, it’s one. We all have a preferred motivating style and we gravitate towards that. We might have a few edge-styles we bring out every now and again, but we have 1 preference.

When you have a go-to, it works on some people. Those people become motivated, alive, dynamic. You want more of those people in your team. Consciously or not, you go looking for them. Fast forward a year and your team includes more people who are motivated by your go-to style. Because those people look and feel like they care more, like they give more, so you naturally seek more of those people out.

And now your group, your team, that was full of really really different people, is a bit more same-y than it was. That’s a problem. You lack diversity of opinion, of idea, of thought. You lack the ability to respond to different challenges in as many different ways.

We have all seen teams where the team members look too similar to the team leaders. Those teams are not as effective. But we’re all subconsciously encouraged to build teams like that because we believe those people are “better”. Some of that belief stems from the motivating proxies we use.

So what, are we just supposed to stop trying to motivate people?

There are two schools of thought at this juncture

The first, says that there is a one-size-fits-all technique you can use to motivate people. That technique is to be a fan. Clap more, cheer more, tell them you’re rooting for them. Be the number one fan of the work they do.

There is no doubt that having a fan, having someone in your corner feels great. I think it has limits however. Would it motivate me to put an important work commitment ahead of an important personal commitment? Should it? Would I feel good as the leader if it made one of my team do that?

The questions get deep quickly. I think there’s something in the idea of being a fan for your team. I think it’s probably OK as your number one proxy if you’re going to have one. But I question how deeply motivating it is and it feels a little manipulative, which doesn’t sit well with me.

The second school of thought, is that each one of your team members has something they are passionate about that they are intrinsically motivated by. We all have something in our lives that is motivating for us and we don’t need tips, tricks or techniques to build us up and get us off the couch. We all have something that we drive for. It is not necessary to motivate people, people are self-motivating machines. What we need to do instead is provide the environment and the opportunity where they can find something that motivates them at work and concentrate on that.

This is different. The idea is not to motivate each individual, but let each individual find the place where they are self-motivated. Is this hard? Yup. Do you have the authority to do this on your project? Maybe not to the extent you’d need to. Can you move more in this direction. I bet you can.

What would happen if you expressed the problem your project is trying to address and then asked the group of people available to deliver on that problem to self-organise in a way that enables them to solve the problem. What would happen to the motivation of that team? There’s a lot of evidence that suggests this might be the better way. It might even be the best way.

Motivating is hard

There’s no take-away or trick for you in this post. I realise it poses more questions than answers. This is a hard topic and an important topic. For me, this is a really interesting topic. For me, this is a motivating topic.