What causes people to take action or behave in a certain way or different way? What is their motivation?
Motivation in the workplace can be a significant factor in creating greatness or sustaining mediocrity. Motivation is a fascinating and complicated topic.
What are some of the common influences that frequently stimulate our motivation to achieve?
- Charismatic leaders
- Accountability conversations
- Disciplinary actions
- Anticipating an achievement
- Fear
- Desire
- The Future
When you think back to an achievement you have made and are particularly proud of; what made you do it, achieve it, or drive for it? I believe the core principle behind all motivation is a basic dissatisfaction with the current state. We can all get stuck in the current state for any number of reasons. As leaders, we can help others move from the current state to a different future through vision conversations. We all have the capacity to be that kind of leader.
Think about a person who perhaps didn’t make it through college immediately after high school. Maybe that person has been in the working environment for 5 years and she is in her mid-twenties. Or maybe there is a person in his early 30s who didn’t get that advanced degree he always wanted to get. They seem stuck in a dissatisfying current state. They may be experiencing a negative inner dialog which increases dissatisfaction but does not motivate positive change. For example typically self-talk about getting that degree is, “I’m too old and it will take 5 years to complete it while I’m working. Do you realize that in 5 years I’ll be 38?” I have had those conversations with people and my response is always the same. “Do you realize that in 5 years you will be 38 anyway?”
We can help others look at the current state and see a different future so that THEY ALONE feel that inner nagging stress of dissatisfaction with where they are or where they are not. Seeing a better future is the real key to finding, not creating, motivation. Motivation is not an external force that just magically happens. Yes, a motivational speaker can make us feel jubilant about something, but ultimately we become motivated because internally we feel dissatisfied with our current situation and we have the desire to create a future situation that is better than today’s. Without a vision of the future, people can become fearful and may not be able to see themselves in a future other than the “current state.”
Value Stream Mapping (VSM), a tool in a Lean environment, is the ultimate vehicle of the Dissatisfaction-Motivation-Accomplishment (DMA) Cycle. In VSM, we map the current state of a process and then envision what the ultimate future state might look like. Once the vision for that future is established something magic happens – dissatisfaction with the current state and action. Kaizen bursts (mini improvements) pop-up all over the current state, projects become scoped to drive those mini-improvements, and we begin to change our present state towards a more desirous future state.
The DMA Cycle is a concept that leaders in all walks-of-life can use to help others see a better future and create the motivation to act. This concept can be applied in one-on-one conversations, or in larger organizational conversations. You may have read my previous blog post declaring that “Every Conversation is a Vision Conversation” and this concept further cements that idea.
Your ability to encourage others to create a vision for their future through helpful and coaching questions is a significant skill common to great leaders. Try it. Work on it. Become an expert in it. Become indispensable in your application of it.
Great Leaders help others become dissatisfied about the past, get excited about today, and secure their motivation to take action for tomorrow. Let’s help everyone in our organizations become dissatisfied through helpful vision conversations for a better future.
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