2019 - 09 - 22 - Motivating Ourselves And Others

To get projects done and be effective leaders need to have the ability to motivate others. And while it's tempting to think in the carrot & stick mindset of the transactional leader and just offer performance bonuses. Those aren't as effective as we'd wish. Once people are paid enough that they aren't worrying about money, money itself stops being a very effective motivation. Instead, there are the "Big Three" Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. These are covered in more detail in a great book by Daniel Pink called "Drive" which I recommend but essentially if you ensure the team knows the work they are doing is important, help them become better at their craft, and then stay out of the way. Chances are they will be more motivated to get the work done. And while there are tons of specific items that motivate people essentially it's our Values that drive our behavior. So being able to identify what people value and playing on their strengths is another effective way to motivate people. I recommend The VIA Character Strengths Survey as an excellent way to articulate your own values and to give some insight into how you might identify the values of others, not necessarily having them take the survey but in general as a way to consider values. The survey can be found at this URL https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register