Changing Team

Motivating a Team to Change

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. – Harold Wilson

Previously we have talked about what motivates people and what can we do to motivate somebody else. The discussion had generally been on self motivation or one to one motivation. Today the focus will be how can we motivate our team to change for the better.  The difficulty level climbs exponentially if we have to motivate more than one person as barriers to change are different for different people.

These barriers to change being

a)       Agreement to Change or Improve  (We should  change or Its time to change)

This is the first step in building a critical mass towards change. However, this is one of the most difficult steps as people are very happy in their comfort zones and perspectives. Convincing them to move out of comfort zones or change perspectives is an uphill task.  Pointing at numbers or graphs may not convince people to change because those who are doing good at numbers  feel no need to change, while others take is as criticism and feel that they are not more needed and hence generally start looking to be part of another team.

To make people agree to change, focus should be to bring them out of “behind the desk” and bring them face to face with reality, so that they see what you are seeing.

b)       Availability of means to Change or improve  (We have the resources that will help in change)

Once people agree to change, they will surely find ways to change as they will start leading their brain  http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/pushing-people-to-give-in-their-best.html

But still they would not have fully moved out of their comfort zone and would start question the availability of resources that will help them in changing, the question being will we be successful in this change. These questions either make them trim the ambitions to change or start waiting for the resources to be available to change. Unluckily, we currently live in a “resource constrained world” hence the team leader focus should be in redirecting the resources to areas with biggest possible payoff.

c)       Wanting to Change or improve (I am motivated to change)

5As of Motivation   http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/motivating-others-driving-others.html (1) Appreciation, (2) Authority, (3) Avoiding Pain (internal to self) (4) Affluence and (5) Association. And the 9 tactics around the “5As” that lead to self / others motivation being (1) Recognition, (2) Trust, (3) Challenge, (4) Direction and Communication, (5) Opportunity, (6) Personal Stake, (7) Freedom of Choice, (8) Incentive and (9) Association with a team or group.

We have discussed recognition, and how it is used to tame killer whales http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/rrecognition-can-tame-killer-whale-why.html

Trust as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/people-respond-to-trust-by-upholding-it.html

Challenge as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/life-challenges-help-us-discover.html

Direction and Communication as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/efforts-and-courage-are-not-enough.html

Association as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/02/camaraderie.html

Motivation via growth opportunity http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/02/growth-1.html

Motivation via personal stake http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/02/own-risk.html

d)       Politics (This change are in alignment with my vested interest)

Vested interest always resist change, the more likely the change becomes, the more loud these voices become. The focus is always to protect one self or one self position. Creating alliances is one way out of the political hurdle, another being making people think win-win and lastly you can always make people focus on the objectives of changing / not changing  rather than the position they have taken towards change.  Position is an emotional state and is difficult to break with the objective is more logical and easy to break / convince.

Again, its not simple as ABC. The importance given by different team members to the above barriers changes with time, hence making it difficult to bring about a quick change. This makes it very difficult to have a formula to change. However, a time comes when a lot of people are “For the change” or “Against Change” and this direction/inclination of the critical mass of people decides will the change be successful or unsuccessful.

Your comments will be appreciated, Please feel free to add...... and visit the full blog at http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.  ~Robert C. Gallagher 

Growth 1

Motivation via Growth Opportunity

Part 1 (What and Why)

The freedom to move forward to new opportunities and to produce better results motivates humans to live in future rather than past.

5As of Motivation   http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/motivating-others-driving-others.html (1) Appreciation, (2) Authority, (3) Avoiding Pain (internal to self) (4) Affluence and (5) Association. And the 9 tactics around the “5As” that lead to self / others motivation being (1) Recognition, (2) Trust, (3) Challenge, (4) Direction and Communication, (5) Opportunity, (6) Personal Stake, (7) Freedom of Choice, (8) Incentive and (9) Association with a team or group.

We have discussed recognition, and how it is used to tame killer whales http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/rrecognition-can-tame-killer-whale-why.html

Trust as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/people-respond-to-trust-by-upholding-it.html

Challenge as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/life-challenges-help-us-discover.html

Direction and Communication as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/efforts-and-courage-are-not-enough.html

Association as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/02/camaraderie.html

And incentives as motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/02/incentives.html

Today our focus will be Growth opportunities as a motivator. In this day and age, everybody wants to move up the ladder in career or in society. Hence, an opportunity to advance motivates us to give our 200% if we know that the hard work will pay off. The three well know theories on management (a) Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, (b) ERG theory and (c) Two factor theory have “Growth as motivator” in common amongst themselves.



Maslow




ERG




Two Factor



Generally the management believes that the staff is leaving a job because of money i.e. “pull of better bank account”. However, in-depth discussion during exit interviews, point towards a different reality i.e. the “Push from management” towards personal growth. No wonder, companies with out a formal career development initiative, are left with less talented people because talented people are primarily motivated by need to grow and move on.

What is growth?. A person / child / adult “grows” when pushed out of their comfort zone. We like to listen to a certain kind of music, read a few specific magazines, drive to office a specific way, cook dinner a specific way, meet other in a particular fashion, move around a grocery store in a set way,  like doing some known things etc etc. This is our comfort zone. HOWEVER, to develop ourselves, to learn about the world, to learn about others, to learn about ourselves, we need to go out of the comfort zone. Its going to a restaurant and ordering a different dish than the usual one. In the end you understand that do you enjoy the new thing or not.

A ship in the harbor (comfort zone) is safe but that is not what the ships are for.

 So its not necessary to motivate people by promoting them up the corporate ladder, but they will be motivated if they are pushed outside their comfort zone and made to conquer the unknown. These unknown can be (a) A new assignment, (b) An unfamiliar project, (c) A new department, (d) Reporting to a tougher boss, (f)Responsibility of more people etc etc (any thing that puts a specific person out of the comfort zone). For a child this can be as simple as taking the first step, or learning how to eat without creating a mess, or use of money at a grocery store.

The gist is we should not get bothered if people point fingers at us and tell us that “you are no good, stop trying, stop doing things you have not done before”, we should also not blame our losses to somebody else, lets not be cowards. Unluckily, the world is becoming a nasty place that tries to beat us to the ground and tries to keep you there permanently if we let it.  In the end, it is not about how hard you are hit in trying a new thing, its all about keep moving forward and exploring new things and ideas.

Your comments will be appreciated, Please feel free to add...... and visit the full blog at http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/

Motivating Others = Driving others towards higher achievement.

We excel in life as a group,  individually we are one drop, but together we are an ocean.....


Motivating Others = Driving others towards higher achievement.

Yesterday we discussed the 5A model for motivation (http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/motivation-drive-towards-doing.html) today lets talk about the 9 Tactics that can help motivate people around us  and how they fit into the 5A's 

1) Appreciation (recognition, acknowledgement, respect etc)

a.   Recognition–  Acknowledging people on all the good they have done, motivate them to repeat the same.

b.   Trust  - Show faith in people and they will move mountains to maintain your faith in them.

c.   Challenge  - Ask people to do, what no body has done before. Word it right, and watch them reach their zenith

2) Authority (Power, influence, control etc )

a.    Direction and Communication –  As humans we don’t want to move out of our comfort zone, hence a comprehensive direction will make us feel in control and move us forward.

b.   Growth Opportunity – We want to move up the ladder, show us the opportunity to advance and then see how we beat your expectations.

3) Avoiding Pain “internal to self” ( Internal sense of duty, Philanthropy, accountability, freedom of choice, Personal Challenge etc)

a.   Pleasure or Consequences or Personal stake –  Pleasurable rewards move people, I personally don’t believe in  threats, at it brings a sour flavor in the relationship.  Let people do, because they want to do it, rather than they want to avoid pain. As humans, we have two ways to deal with one another: Reason or force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuation. Force should be the last resort in social interaction, as force leads to injustice that leads to most of the ills in society.

b.   Freedom of choice and deadlines – People with high internal accountability, work the best against a deadline that they have set for themselves. Also these people generally work best on their own ideas (freedom of choice)

4) Affluence (Wealth, prosperity, income etc) 

a. Incentives – J

5) Association (Being part of a group etc) 

a. Team – Camaraderie help bring the best out of people.

Please feel free to add any other tactic that i may have missed