i. Great more money, I’ll certainly think before I take any time off
ii. Brilliant, that should get published on a league table too
iii. Fabulous, the company are finally rewarding those of us who turn up all the time
iv. I can see why they are doing it but that isn’t fair. You already get paid for coming to work and what if you are genuinely sick and shouldn’t be at work?
How you answer this will show me what your main motivator is. I’m not saying the others don’t motivate you – just that the one you have picked is your main one at work. At Threedom Solutions, we’ve determined the following four main motivators in corresponding order with the questions above:
i. Profit
ii. Influence
iii. Recognition
iv. Personal Values
The first speaks for itself – it’s about cash, wealth and possessions. Yes we are all motivated by that to some degree but in our research, and in delivering our motivation and influencing course, we have found very few people for whom that is genuinely their main motivator.
Influence is about competition, power, control and independence and how much a person needs it to motivate them. A great sales person is frequently mistaken as being motivated and focused by the cash, when it is actually the competition and control that is their true driver.
Recognition speaks for itself – it is the desire to have a well done or thank you, and Personal Values is about the feeling that you just ‘ought to do it’. My business partner is very Influence motivated and her husband Personal Values. For example, if his mother came to stay and the spare room needed decorating before she came to stay again, and my business partner were to challenge her husband in an attempt to get it decorated by saying: ‘bet you can’t do it by X date,’ he would say, ‘yeh you’re right’. But because she has taken the time to figure out what makes him tick she know she needs to impress upon him his responsibility to do it ie ‘your mum is coming, don’t you think it would be nice for her if it looked better’ and bingo he’d don his overall and crack on with the job.
Personally, I’m motivated by an equal mix of Recognition and Influence. Give me a target and then a pat on the back when I have achieved it (or smashed it) and I’m your girl! My business partner also knows this and uses it to her great advantage!
Now imagine how powerful that could be if transferred into the workplace? Not only will you know what makes you tick and what inspires you to do something, but what if you could get someone you work with to do something for you more willingly just by changing how you ask them to do it, depending on what makes them tick? – let me tell you, you would have a happier employee #WinWin
If you need someone to increase their output and they are Influence motivated try a ‘bet you can’t do X by Y’ or set them a target but a certain date, or even give them control of the project and tell them when it needs to be done by. Have someone with Personal Values you need to work back on a Friday to assist you? Impress upon their good nature and how it would be the right thing to do to help the team. Or if they are like me, and Recognition focused, suggest that they are a great employee and you really value their assistance. Those Reward motivated just throw cash at them! Sounds simple right? but what a significantly powerful influencing tool.
So how will you influence through the use of these motivation identifiers? For more on this topic or any other HR or employee development issues contact us at www.threedomsolutions.co.uk or follow us on twitter @3domSolutions
