Deon Barnard

The power that drives any successful group, team or effort is motivation. I call it the “M” factor. I’ve seen, over and over again, skilled and professional teams of people fail at their tasks because of a lack of motivation. All the other factors may be in place: financial know-how; academic qualifications; physical capacity; resources; a worthy cause… but when the most important factor is missing (motivation), it all fizzles out into frustration and failure.

In this article I want to introduce the “M” factor by describing what motivation is and what motivation is not. This will be the first in the “M” factor series and the articles that follow will be practical guides as to how to introduce the “M” factor into different types of groups and circumstances. So let’s start with:

Understanding your motivational generator

There are many academic theories on what human motivation is and how it works. Two popular theories are Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and Hertzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory. I particularly enjoy Hertzberg’s theory because it separates the factors that simply prevent dissatisfaction from those that truly motivate with long term effect. We’ll look at some of these when we discuss what motivation is not. I see motivation as a combination of faith and hope. It is that invisible voice that speaks to our depression and fear and says, “get up; get going; you’ll be OK; you can do this; this is going to be great!” Without this we are defenseless, we are overcome by anxiety and the instinct to give up, hide or run away. When we are motivated we have energy, strength and endurance. When motivated, men can overcome: adverse conditions; unpleasant bosses; impossible tasks; ill-health; and even great personal loss or trauma. Imagine if you will that motivation is a generator in your soul. For most people this generator’s power switch is off by default. For others, intermittent access to the correct kind of fuel has the generator powering on and off throughout the day, not unlike a typical hotel in Lagos. For a few people the generator is on all the time and they know just where to find the fuel to keep it going. The fuel is the “M” factor!

Let’s discuss this fuel for a minute. Maslow says that if you’re hungry you will be motivated by food (on the bottom, physiological layer of his pyramid). Your need to survive is the fuel that motivates you to get up and do something about it. This kind of fuel is not long lasting though, and the moment you eat something you are no longer motivated in the same way to do what you have to do to survive… until you get hungry enough again. The higher you go up Maslow’s pyramid the longer-lasting the fuel for motivation. At the top of his pyramid is the self actualization segment which involves things like: vitality; self-sufficiency; meaningfulness; creativity and authenticity. You will notice that these factors have nothing to do with money, possessions, fast cars or fancy clothes. What people are looking for (in all the wrong places) is to achieve a sense of being happy and at peace with themselves. If Maslow is correct then achieving this goal may require first working with the fuel to be found in the lower segments of the pyramid like: a sense of being safe; feeling loved; sexual fulfillment; feeling important; recognition; and a sense of achievement – again, notice that I’m not talking about money and possessions here. When you understand how to access this fuel for your own generator and to use it to refill the generators of others you will be mastering the art of motivation.

What motivation is NOT

Motivation is not keeping people happy and submissive so that they refrain from grumbling or disagreeing with you – this is easy to do through trinkets, discipline, fear and manipulation, which are very short term motivators and in the long term have the opposite effect. They are also not giving people things they ought to have already for the purpose of coercing them into action – these are what Hertzberg calls ‘hygiene factors’ or ‘factors which may prevent dissatisfaction’. I see too many managers and leaders trying to motivate their staff or teams using hygiene factors instead of true motivation. Here are some hygiene factors that do not motivate, but may cause dissatisfaction if not present:

• Salary
• Bonuses
• Good working conditions (lighting, heating etc)
• Policy and procedures
• Resources to accomplish the job
• Relationship with boss
• Supervision

These factors are not fuel for the motivational generator. I might say to you, “Joe, if you meet all your targets today I’ll increase your salary”. This may ‘motivate’ you to achieve some short term goals, but how long will that motivation last? Until you’ve spent your increase and the novelty wears off! After that you may ask yourself, “Why should I do anything for this company? They never pay me enough, even when I meet all the targets”. Your well meaning financial incentive may end up having precisely the opposite effect. Effectively you’re using jumper cables to kick start someone else’s generator, but the moment you remove your cables, their generator, which is running on empty, splutters to a grinding halt.

Many people use negative motivators to try and achieve a positive result. I see this everywhere, but particularly with parents and their children. “If my child is scared of me she’ll do what she’s supposed to do”. “The more I beat my child the more ‘motivated’ he’ll be to obey next time”. “The louder I scream the more my child listens to me!” So dear parent… how’s that working out for you? You’re just creating rebellious children, and if it hasn’t started manifesting outwardly yet, believe me it’s happening on the inside and one day you’re going to regret the monster you’ve created.

So what IS motivation?

First, it’s important to understand that motivation is personal and different for every individual. Our generators are not all the same model or size and they don’t all require the same fuel to run. Our individual capacity for motivation is influenced by many factors. In some ways Maslow is correct in that a hungry person will probably not be as motivated for philosophical conversation as someone who has everything they need. So it is critical to understand needs – your own, as well as those you want to motivate. However, having said that, my experience has led me to believe that everyone can be motivated by self fulfillment, even the hungry, if they understand what that self fulfillment looks like and get a taste of what it feels like.

The secret to motivation is tapping into the dream – the dream of the individual. Every person’s dream is unique, and although it is possible to get people motivated for a dream that is not their own, it is more powerful and beneficial to link your motivational efforts to each person’s own dream. The reason so few people are self motivated is because so many of them have no idea what their dream is. Many have never even considered the concept; they simply live their lives according to the expectations of the rich or powerful around them. They have become victims of circumstance and don’t know what to do about it. I have asked many people to describe their dream for me only to get answers like: “I want to be happy” or “I want lots of money” or “I want to get out of this job”. When I ask: “what will make you happy?” or “what will you do with your money?” or “what do you want to do instead of this job?” I get blank expressions. This is the hunger speaking; the loneliness; the lack that Maslow identifies at the bottom of his pyramid.

In my exercise “the Dream Walk”, I help people uncover their personal dream for their future. They literally draw the dream on a piece of paper and then we discuss what needs to change for them to achieve that dream and what will potentially prevent them from achieving it. When we understand people’s dreams we understand what they’re ‘about’ and we have clues about what will really motivate them. That means that to be ‘motivational’ you have to genuinely care about people and their needs and their lives; and to motivate yourself you have to start by understanding your own dream and what it’s going to take to get you there.

In the other “M” Factor articles I will specifically deal with motivating yourself, your kids, your colleagues, your friends and how to be motivational as a trainer, coach or speaker.

Watch this space!

Tags: management, motivation, motivation at work, motivational theory, staff, work

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 11:48 and is filed under career & finance, children, motivation, relationships & love. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.