Motivation! Where did you go?

Do you know the question? I have heard it a lot. People saying:  “I am really not motivated” or managers questioning why employees are not satisfied and therefor not performing at their best. I have also heard at lot of wondering about the rising rates of absents.

I would like to give to you my oppinion on how to solve some of the above. As a start I provide brief basics about motivation and then I will give you my suggestions to how companies will succeed with both motivated employees and better results.

Motivation, what is it really about?

To understand motivation, it is a good idea to separate into inner and outer motivation. If you do a given activity because you are genuinely interested and the activity itself is enough for you, i.e
. you are motivated to do the activity just by thinking about it, it can be considered as inner motivation. Outer motivation is when you are motivated to do any given activity because of the results that you get by doing it is called outer motivation – i.e. when the goal is different than the activity itself. Simplified you can think about inner motivation as something you get when you know your needs and what you really want. Outer motivation is the opposite – when factors or people around you is the primary motivator for your actions such as money, material benefits, and social relations.

Achievement motivation is the desire to do something well compared to a certain standard of quality. We talk about and an inner motivation and achievement motivation that involves a positive attitude to achieve and not primarily relates to a desire for reward. Achievement motivation is evident when you set goals. Often this will involve two driving forces in an activity where you have to perform (e.g. job or sports): the desire to succeed and the fear of failure. If the fear of failure is stronger than the desire to succeed you will hesitate to get started, and the stronger the fear of failure the more it will hamper your work.

Therefore, I encourage you to set clear goals you can control and that you really want to achieve

. A question that can be quite rewarding to ask yourself if you have doubts about your goals is the following:

Will I do it for free?

My belief is that if you love what you are doing so much that you are willing to do it for fee, then you will have all the resources needed to succeed. Would you not do it for free, I would allow myself to ask if it is the right thing to do?

Need

Most people have a predisposition for a social life and a desire to be active, to perform, and to benefit others. We also have natural and learned needs. Here are six basic needs:

1 RECOGNITION – the need to feel unique

2 SOLIDARITY – the need of belonging

3 SECURITY – the need to feel safe and secure

4 CHANGE – the need for change and renewal

5 DEVELOPMENT – the need to learn, improve and develop

6 CONTRIBUTION – the need to give to others or make a difference

If you know what your needs are it is much easier for you to set your goals and find your inner motivation to succeed and to continue to succeed. Please be conscious of these needs whether you are a manager or a person seeking your inner motivation.

So know your needs and be true to them. Think about how you get motivated. Set some goals which you can controll. Now you are well of to achieve better results.