Do your homework or you’re in trouble!

Imagine driving down a road and you see a speed camera.  Naturally you’ll slow down.  The only reason you’re slowing down is because you risk getting a ticket and points on your licence.  This is controlled motivation.

Why do you comply to the processes and procedures at work?  For many, it boils down to controlled motivation.  The only reason you’re doing it is because if you don’t, you may feel the wrath of HR!

Controlled motivation isn’t just about punishment.  Reward is also controlled.  Your manager might ask you to do a task at work and in return you can finish early.  You aren’t doing the task because of the love of it, you’re doing it for the reward.

You see controlled motivation with teenagers.  “Do your homework or I’ll take your phone off you” or “Do your homework and we’ll go to McDonalds” Either way, they are only completing the homework due to the carrot or the stick. 

But what if we could move away from controlled motivation.  What if people at home and at work could do things because they genuinely wanted to?  What if they were autonomously motivated.

What would make you autonomously stick to the speed limit? There could be lots of reasons.  You or someone you know might have been in an accident.  You might have children in the car.  Of course, you might be a law-abiding citizen!

What about at work?  You might choose to treat people properly, complete your tasks, follow all the process and processes because you love your job and the people you work with.  You do it because ethically it’s the right thing to do.

Think about your own team and the people you work with.  How are they motivated?  How can you get them more autonomously motivated?  Here’s a few tips:

• Meet their values & motivational drivers
• Involve your team in problem solving and decision making. Get them involved
• Attempt to understand, recognise, and acknowledge their perspectives
• Engaging in active listening and show interest
• Avoid pressurising individuals to think, feel or behave in a certain way
• Create Phycological Safety
• Communicate reasons for change & help them to understand
• Show high levels of trust and support
• Being careful not to use controlling language such as “have to,” “must,” and “should”

Whilst there will always be an element of controlled, by shifting your team to autonomous motivation, you’ll be helping to create trust, rapport and engagement across your team

Need a hand tapping into the motivational drivers of your team?  Contact us for a chat to see how we can help