Motivating a Team – Part 2: How to Motivate Others

Mon 29 Jan 2018

This blog posts looks at how to motivate your team, and offer some advice on how to promote self-esteem and personal growth, and how to create a motivating environment.

How to Motivate Others

In the last post we mentioned the “hygene factors”, factors that don’t motivate, they are just expected. So, what are the factors that promote self-esteem and personal growth? Well, they are:

Recognition
Challenges
Career development
Status
Sense of achievement

A simple questionnaire was developed based on the extensive research of Fredrick Hertzberg to provide an accurate analysis of a person’s levels of motivation according to specific criteria. The results of the sample give a line which represents the average, a benchmark.

Motivation to Work Graph

Motivation to Work graph

Using the questionnaire you can plot your own graph.

If a particular aspect for you is above the line it suggests that this is an important motivator for you.

If below, it’s more complex. It may mean that it isn’t important or that it’s already fulfilled, it’s become a hygiene factor or that you’ve given up hoping for it.

So how do you create a motivating environment?

Know the type of person you’re dealing with and what drives them, are they towards or away?
What do they value, progression, responsibility, status? This will inform what you do to motivate them.
Communicate clearly with the team so they know the vision direction and purpose of their work. Delegate effectively and contract on the level of delegation to avoid being a micromanager agree or involvement, and stick to it.
Discuss your team’s personal development with them either, formally in the appraisals or informally one to one.
Keep an eye on the hygiene factors, they matter though they don’t on their own motivate, they are a basic foundation.
Maintain a balance of constructive positive feedback and clear developmental feedback. Recognition is more public so think about opportunities to publicly thank or acknowledge team members achievements. Ensure that any reward is of value to the recipient before it’s given.

I hope this series of posts has been useful. Obviously, there is a lot more to the subject, perhaps this will whet your appetite to work with Sun and Moon!