The Secret to Motivating Others

This article is on motivation…from a psychological standpoint…taking it from scouts to adults to leaders. I would like some feedback from you and some examples that you may wish to share. All of these current and future writings about the secret tools and techniques of leadership, when completed, will be put into an e-book version and developed into a workshop.

How To Motivate Others

If you ever come across a big outdoor scouting event like a winter camp, you will want to stand back. Scouts are busy setting up tents, digging latrines, chopping wood, checking food inventories. All these things are happening at the same time. Somehow, you tell yourself, it’s not a madhouse. Somehow, motivation is not a big problem in the scouts Kanat Wano. These kids are not holding back!

Actually, there are some motivational issues in the scouts, and we’ll discuss those in a bit. But for the most part, scouts don’t suffer from the same kinds of performance motivation issues that adults do.

And that’s easy to understand. They’ve got all kinds of gimmicks to get them excited. Badges, competitions, handshakes, songs, spooky stories. Plus, they’re kids, for pete’s sake. You’re having so much fun, what’s the point in holding back?

The net result of all this fun and excitement is team cohesion and motivation. Which is a very good thing. A team that can be united around a purpose and that can perform at its highest level is a thing of beauty.

That kind of team positively hums.

The trouble with motivation
Of course, things work differently in the working world.

Grown-ups are suspicious of banners and slogans. They don’t go in for orations and cheerleading. They don’t like to be asked to do foolish things. Dig a latrine, or do anything humble or disgusting? Let someone else do those jobs!

We see some scout-style exhortation here and there in the workplace. We see banners strung from tree to tree at company picnics. We see corporate teams work up a sweat when they compete publicly against one another, as in a three-legged race.

If you go on one of those corporate rock-climbing team-building trips, people who don’t say boo to each other at the office are indeed helping one another scramble up a cliff face. That’s great. But it’s make-believe. It’s not the real world. Get those rock-climbers back to the office reality and the old grumpiness, and the old “Have we been introduced?” attitude creeps back into place. Maybe not the day after climbing

El Capitan, but soon enough.

“Motivation” has gotten a bad name because of some of these rah-rah gimmicks. The feeling many is that it excites people for an hour, but then the motivation fades away. They say this kind of “motivating the troops” only works for some kinds of personalities, while others find it repellent and childish.

And this is a big problem for people who hope to lead: Getting people to do what you tell them to. Succeed at motivating people, and you are a big success as a leader. Fail, and no one will bother to classify you one way or the other. You will just be another guy who didn’t have what it takes to lead.

Friends, it’s time we stood back and rethought what motivation is. And pondered what those Boy Scouts pounding and digging in the clearing have to say to us.

Can you really motivate others? No. You can’t. That’s because motivation comes from inside, not out. Think about it. Have you ever received a “to do” (or “honey do”) list from your spouse? Or perhaps wrote one for yourself? Do you reliably do the things on the list? Of course you do. Why? Is it because you’re afraid of your spouse? (It’s a possibility!)

No, not really. You do the things on the list because, once completed, the physical act of crossing it off the list feels good inside. And that’s where motivation comes from; the accomplishment of outcomes.

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