As a leader, one of your most important responsibilities is to understand and nurture the motivations of your team members. This week, I challenge you to spend an hour learning about what truly drives everyone on your team. By taking the time to uncover their unique motivations, you can unlock a powerful transformation in your leadership and your team’s performance.

 

The Power of Motivation

Motivation is the key that unlocks human potential. When people are intrinsically motivated – when they are driven by their own values, interests, and sense of purpose – they are more engaged, productive, and fulfilled in their work. On the other hand, when people are extrinsically motivated – driven primarily by external rewards or punishments – their performance and well-being often suffer.

As a leader, your ability to tap into your team’s intrinsic motivations can have a profound impact. Motivated employees are more creative, resilient, and committed to the organization’s success. They are more likely to go the extra mile, take initiative, and collaborate effectively with their colleagues.

Daniel Pink’s work in Drive (2009), shares that to cultivate a team driven by internal motivation, prioritize three essential elements:

🔸 Autonomy: Foster an environment where individuals are empowered to take control of their work and personal growth.

🔸Mastery: Provide resources and support for continuous skill enhancement, instilling a belief in unlimited potential.

🔸Purpose: Inspire team members to leverage their abilities towards organisational goals or a cause that resonates with their values and passions.

 

Uncovering Individual Motivations

To increase your understanding of your team’s motivations, set aside some time over the next few weeks to have one-on-one conversations with each of your direct reports. Approach these conversations with genuine curiosity and a willingness to listen. Ask open-ended questions that allow your team members to share what truly matters to them.

To explore autonomy you could ask questions such as:

🟠 What aspects of your work do you find most fulfilling?
🟠 What goals or aspirations are you working towards, both professionally and personally?
🟠 What kind of work environment or company culture helps you thrive?
🟠 What types of challenges or opportunities excite you the most?

Pay close attention to the language they use, the emotions they express, and the values they prioritise. This will give you valuable insights into their unique motivational drivers.

To support them in achieving mastery ask them questions such as:

🟠 What are your areas of strength?
🟠 What would help you to continue to develop your skills and capabilities?
🟠 How can I support your development?

To help team members connect in with purpose, you could ask them questions like:

🟠What do you know about our broad organisational goals?
🟠What excites you about these goals?
🟠How are your own goals aligned to these goals?

 

Tailoring Your Leadership Approach

Armed with a deeper understanding of your team’s motivations, you can now adapt your leadership approach to better support and inspire each individual. For example, you might:

🚀Assign projects that align with each person’s interests and strengths
🚀Provide opportunities for growth and development that align with their aspirations
🚀Foster a collaborative, supportive work environment that caters to their preferred work style
🚀Recognise and celebrate their achievements in ways that are meaningful to them

By taking the time to understand and cater to your team’s unique motivations, you’ll unlock a powerful transformation in their performance and engagement. Focusing on autonomy, mastery and purpose will develop the motivation within your team.

Ultimately, this investment will pay dividends for your organisation, as you cultivate a highly motivated, high-performing team.

 

Upcoming Events

World of Work Lunch

Psychosocial Hazards- a Leader’s role  6 June 2024 (Melbourne)

This is a special networking event for HR Leaders.  Small, intimate, and filled with in-depth conversation, these events provide an opportunity to learn from other HR Leaders and build your network. This focus of our conversation will be managing psychosocial hazards in our workplaces and we are excited to welcome our special guest, Mark Butler. Mark is a mental health expert and strategist.  He works with high-performing teams and leaders under high pressure, and in fast-moving environments to help create sustainable peak performance.

For more information and to register, please click here 👈🏻

Upcoming Deliberate Leader Workshops

Over three hours these workshops are designed to build your capability and skills in areas that are fundamental to deliberate leadership.

👉🏻Strategic Visioning Workshop

👉🏻 Leading Change And Transformation Workshop

Visit our website at https://ritacincotta.com/events/ for more details and upcoming events.

 

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