PREFACE:
Knowing ourselves is truly at the core of our success as a leader. We sometimes get a little brainwashed by the apparent expectations of the larger “business world.” The expectation is that we will all be driven by money. But, many of us who are business leaders are driven by other factors. Using my own experience, I can tell you that I am driven much more by the good of mankind (altruism), the need to be independent (individualism) and a sense of fairness (aesthetics).
I’m not saying that money is not important but rather than being a primary satisfier it is much more of a factor that prevents dissatisfaction. Not having an adequate wage can cause people like me to be very dissatisfied with their position while exceeding that minimal level will keep them from being dissatisfied. However, by continuously increasing the compensation package people like me will not become happier in their jobs. It will take other approaches to move people like me into the satisfaction arena.
Knowing what drives us is important. Most of us know a little bit about it but society has a tendency to tell us we ought to be something we may not be. I can’t tell how many leaders have commented to me; “We pay them! That ought to be enough to make them work hard!” That might be true for some employees but it will definitely not be true for many others. If you are not driven by money, you will continue to look for the right fit and may never find the right job in a world that thinks “money makes the world go round!”
THE ARTICLE:
How Motivators Affect You:
In my last article I shared my thoughts about what drives us and I mentioned 7 key drivers. To recap, those 7 drivers were: aesthetic, economic, individualistic, political, altruistic, regulatory, and theoretical.
Each works pretty much as explained last week. But each can also become a negative driver. People with a very low economic driver will be negatively influenced by monetary rewards.
Offering a very low political driver the opportunity for power and position will also be a turn off. When working with people it’s important to understand what drives them. Too often we try to reward people with one-size-fits-all rewards when there are really 7 different types of rewards that meet the needs of people. One of biggest mistakes leaders make is to act on a belief that everyone sees things the same way you do or worse that everyone ought to see the world as you do.
Most often there will be at least 2 factors that will serve as motivators for a person. Usually one will be the most powerful motivator and another factor will be a secondary motivator. Of the hundreds of professionals we have conducted assessments on, we have seen a variety of primary and secondary motivators. Here are some combinations from the clients we’ve worked with. Consider a 100 point scale with 100 meaning highly motivating and 0 being totally non-motivating.
One client has a 68 economic driver and a 65 individualistic driver. These scores are fairly close so either providing some monetary incentives or providing the opportunity for autonomy can motivate this person. Another client is 83 in theoretical and 66 in individualistic. This person will be more motivated by the opportunity for learning and will really appreciate the opportunity to do this independently. A third client is 85 in political and 70 individualistic. Here we see a person who relishes the leadership role, enjoys the power that role brings, yet prefers to be separated from those he leads so that he can do his work in a more isolated setting. Client number four has a 93 in altruistic and a 63 in individualistic. For this individual it is really all about helping others. There is a huge passion for making a difference in the world but secondarily there is a preference for doing this humanitarian work more independently as opposed to being part of a team. The last individual has a 98 economic driver and a 66 aesthetic driver. This person is definitely driven by the opportunity to make money but has this secondary desire to have balance, harmony, and a pleasing work environment. Bonuses will definitely work but not at the expense of a harmonious workplace.
As you can see from these five examples, each of these people is motivated by different factors. In addition, each of these people will engage in the act of leadership from their own experience and preference. With acquiring an appreciation for the various motivators affecting other people they would each have expectations based on their own experiences. Effective leaders must be much more informed about those they hope to lead. So knowing yourself is definitely important but expecting everyone to be just like you is a blueprint for failure. The effective leader understands what drives followers towards the achievement of goals.
SUMMATION:
Although we tend to view every other person in our lives from our own motivational lens, reality is usually quite different. We all have the tendency to project our own motivational process onto the other people in our lives. As a result we can all too often be baffled by why some people do what they do. From your personal motivational perspective what they do just doesn’t seem to make much sense. But, and this is a very big but, every other person is doing the same thing you are doing. And there are probably times when they are thinking about you, “What on earth led her/him to do that?”
When we ascribe our own motivational framework onto the actions of others we begin to make assumptions. What we often assume is that the other person did something intentionally to do you harm. Because we see the action through our own lens and we are looking out at the world from that lens then all of those actions must have surely been taken with you in mind. This egocentricity is at the core of most of our misunderstandings. The test of the accuracy of our own ascribing of intentions is best done by turning the tables on ourselves. Think about the actions we each have taken and then think about every person that might have been affected by those actions. Did we intend to have the affects we had? Were there any unintentional consequences of those actions? Is it possible that other people are doing exactly what you have done?
Understanding motivation is so critically important if we are to be effective leaders. At the forefront of that understanding is making sure we leave the assumption wagon behind. The effective leader understands that what motivates one person does not necessarily motivate others. Furthermore, it is quite clear that what motivates us as leaders may not be what motivates those who follow us. Finally, one of our best tools as leaders is communication. Rather than assume that everyone is on the same page and wants the same things, the effective leader takes the time to ask. By simply asking the question a wealth of usable knowledge can be attained.
One of the best examples I ever have seen of a leader engaging in the practice of asking followers what they want was shown to me by a high school student council president. He was a pretty sharp kid and he paid very close attention to everything I was trying to teach him about leadership. We were trying to get more of the student body engaged in activities designed to acquire more input from students for the purpose of improving student performance in school. We had developed several student teams that were to address a variety of issues that we had determined were impediments to student success. We did all of the usual recruiting activities to try to get students to volunteer to participate on these teams. We weren’t being very successful in our attempt. And then one day kids started coming into the office to sign up to participate on the teams. Before we knew it we have over 50% of the student body engaged on the process.
The student council advisor asked the president what he did to get the kids to volunteer. His answer was simple. He said, “I asked them!” The student council advisor responded, “We’ve been asking them for weeks.” But the president then said, “No, you made PA announcements and put up signs. I went around and talked to the kids face-to-face and asked them to volunteer.” That was a watershed moment. You really have to take the time to communicate and communicate in person not through email, by memo, or through some other electronic form. Get personal. Your followers will respond so much differently when you take it upon yourself to personally get involved.
0 Comments