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Can a manager motivate his employees?

Everyone has heard many times that it is the task of managers and companies to motivate their employees. And we often ask ourselves questions: “How can I do this? To give more money, to give a new position, to send on a business trip, to offer training? ” We do this, but often it does not work. Employees are still unhappy or leave. In her report to TeamLead Conf, Olga Prokhodskaya talked about how a leader can determine and influence the motivation of his team.


Olga Prokhodskaya - HR Business Partner at Wargaming . The company has almost 5,000 employees in 19 offices located around the world. The main value of the company is the players, and there are already more than 20 million of them. The division where Olga works is called the WG Platform and is an engineering organization that develops "non-specific" services for all games in the Wargaming universe.

Despite the fact that Wargaming is a large organization, departments have a lot of autonomy in choosing approaches to working with people. One of them will be discussed in the article.


The Optimal Motivation concept is not an innovative Wargaming solution. It is a methodology proposed by Susan Fowler in the book “Why Don't They Work?” »Ken Blanchard and CBSD are the official methodology providers.

Motivation?


We are used to thinking that all employees are divided into 2 categories: motivated and unmotivated.



On what grounds do you determine motivation, which allows you to conclude that your employee is motivated?

If his eyes burn, he does everything on time, asks the right questions, helps other people, you most likely conclude that the employee is motivated.

If something regularly contradicts expectations: the employee is late, shows passivity, wants to avoid the task, makes mistakes and generally does not show a desire to correct these errors - you think that the employee is unmotivated.

Let's try to get away from the binary system “motivated or not motivated” to its qualitative understanding. We will say thatmotivation is always that each of us has a motive to do something .

There is always motivation


Every person has a motive to do something, and this is a key feature of the concept of Optimal motivation.

For example, you have a reason why you became a team leader, a reason why you give regular feedback to your employees, hold some meetings. If you agree to some tasks, even if you do not like them, you have a reason for this. Or vice versa, you agree, precisely because you like the task, this “like” has the same reason for some reason.

Let's figure it out:

  • what forms the reasons for your actions;
  • what are these reasons;
  • how they can manifest themselves in behavior;
  • how they affect the quality of our motivation and engagement.

You can measure the involvement of a person by observing his behavior. If we see that the employee’s behavior is destructive or runs counter to our expectations, we try to primarily influence his behavior. We come and say: you can’t do this, come on time, do not be late, be more responsible for tasks, stop making mistakes.
By the way, almost all trainings are based on influencing people's behavior, and not on their beliefs.
But how often do we ask ourselves what caused this behavior. Let's try to figure it out.

Talk about our brain


Each time we receive any information, we instantly evaluate it in terms of meaning and emotional coloring. This is a lightning reaction that occurs in the brain. These two factors form our sense of well-being or well-being in a particular situation.

For this, we should be grateful to our limbic brain (it is sometimes called the reptilian brain), it sends us a “hit or run” signal in every situation. Depending on whether he sent us an alarm signal or assessed this situation as safe, we form an intention to behave somehow, and only then do we show this in behavior.

If we want to influence the behavior of our employees, and our personal one, first of all, we need to return to the source of behavior, namely to the very emotional coloring that triggered a feeling of well-being or ill-being in some situation.



Let's try an example. Imagine your subordinate to whom you set the task of adapting a newcomer to the team. If he had a positive experience in the past in participating in such tasks, he likes influencing other people, helping them adapt, fumbling his knowledge, most likely he will perceive this situation as successful, and in his behavior you will be able to mark a willingness to take on this task .

If, on the contrary, he had a negative experience or, in principle, he does not like to spend his time adapting newcomers to the team, you may notice an attempt to dodge this task in his behavior. He can agree to do everything that is prescribed during the adaptation process in your team, but at the same time, he will always say “I am a martyr” on my face, I don’t want, but I do. And of course, he will wait for this task to end soon, and the feeling of his well-being and energy level will be extremely low in this situation.
The reason affects our involvement, our long-term effectiveness, and ultimately our sense of happiness and well-being in life.

Six motivational statuses


In the concept of Optimal motivation, there are 6 reasons or 6 motivational statuses that we are in when we are doing this or that task.


On the “Spectrum of Motivation” they are presented in the form of balls, which are located between two axes: psychological needs and self-regulation.

Auto motivation


Being in automatic motivation, we do not see any meaning and benefit in the task. We don’t think about this task at all, it’s not interesting to us and even boring.

If your engineer is in automatic motivation and at the same time performs the task of adapting a newcomer to the team, he will wish this task to be completed soon. He will speak the memorized text, tell who is the leader, who is the colleague, where to eat, where to get tolerances, passes, to have his own account in corporate systems, but it will not matter to him whether this adaptation is successful or not, his focus will be different.

This is a very non-resource state.

External motivation


The reason we act in external motivation is the expectation of a reward , encouragement, recognition. This may be money, an additional bonus, a new position, role, training, raising one's status, or some other type of recognition. And in the same way, in this case we are not focused on what we are doing. We focus on what we get when we finish the task.

If your engineer is not very enthusiastic about adapting a newcomer to the team and you promise him a prize, then most likely he will take up this task. But the only thing that will keep him afloat is the expectation of a reward, and it will not be so important for him how he copes with this task, it will not be his focus and priority.
Because of the money, a person does not start to work better. He does exactly what he is capable of. He may begin to relate better to the company, but in no way better to the task itself and the content of the work.
And all would be fine when we did something in anticipation of the very award and received it. But it often happens that we ourselves come up with some kind of rewards. For example, we say to ourselves: “If I now drag this project or this task that is not the most interesting for me, they will notice me, raise me in office or offer incrimination.” We do all this, we are exhausted, we are exhausted, but we may not receive a reward. This is a direct path to burnout. It is a non-resource, very energy-consuming condition.

External motivation does not work long and is very exhausting . After achieving the result, the employee exhales, and his effectiveness may even decrease.

Imposed motivation


Unlike Extrinsic motivation in the Forced Status, we are doing something to avoid something . For example, you feel that they are crushing you, expecting something from you and trying to avoid feelings of guilt, fear or shame, and agree to participate.

Your engineer, whom you entrusted with the adaptation of the newcomer, being in the imposed motivation may think: “If I do not agree to this, I will lose the trust of my leader. If I don’t do this, they will consider me a layman, and in general, no one else can do this except me now. ” Reluctantly, he takes on this task, but does not want to do it.
We cannot maintain effectiveness and a sense of well-being when we are in fear or under pressure.
Automatic, External, Imposed statuses within the framework of this concept are considered non-optimal. In them we spend more energy than we get in return, and are focused not on the task and its content, but on something else. Our goal is beyond the scope of this task, it is not very important for us how well we fulfill it.

Agreed Motivation


Consistent motivation already refers to the optimal spectrum. In it, we connect a task or our work with something significant for us. We do not force ourselves to do this; we have an internal desire to do this specific work. We see a clear connection between the task and our goals.

If our engineer plans to become a team lead in the near future, completing the task of adapting a beginner, he can pump up skills in setting tasks, controlling them, and providing feedback. Or is he interested in becoming an internal trainer in the company, fumbling with expertise, holding meetings. Then he can see in this task an opportunity to practice in training beginners.

The key difference from previous statuses is that it is a conscious choice. I want to do this task, I do not want to give up this task.

Integrated Motivation


This is the coolest motivational status. In Integrated Status, we see the connection of the task with our values ​​and vocation in life . This is the most resource motivational status: it gives a lot of positive emotions and energizes. Without hesitation and sometimes without even analyzing, we take on some task, because it immediately causes us delight.

The difference with the agreed motivation is that in the agreed one we are talking about the meaning, and in the integrated one - about the key values ​​and emotions.

Back to our engineer. Suppose its key value is to work in a team of like-minded and professional people, where everyone feels free and can openly express their opinion. Then, in the task of adapting the newcomer, he can see a direct connection with his value: "I want to do everything in my power so that the new member of our team quickly becomes his own."

As a rule, being in integrated motivation, we do even more than is expected of us. For example, an engineer may suggest how to improve the adaptation process.

And also, faced with an error in the case of Integrated Motivation, we think: "Hmm ... how interesting it turned out," and move on. Unlike non-optimal motivation, when a mistake for us is always an obstacle or a feeling of dead end and fear.

Flow


This word is familiar to many. 20 hours we are working on a task, experiencing an inexplicable interest, pleasure from the process itself. We forget to eat, sleep, take a walk, and we dig deeper and deeper into the task itself. Errors are perceived as complex puzzles that need to be solved.

From the outside, this state can be perceived as a lack of focus on the result, because the process itself is more important to us than the result that we must achieve. Often people who enter a stream do not meet deadlines. In principle, they may not produce the result that was needed, because they were carried away and felt that it would be better.

Often people of creative professions flow into the Stream: artists, designers, writers. If there are such people in your team, then we recommend delicately, from time to time, scratching your back and reminding you to eat, take a walk, about the deadlines and about the requirements.

Being in the Stream for a long time, forgetting about some basic physiological needs, you can be physically exhausted, and then recover for a long time.



It is important to note that the concept of Optimal motivation determines the motivational status in relation to each specific task. Yes, it is impossible to ensure that you and each of your employees are, for example, in Integrated Motivation in relation to all the tasks you are working on.

Moreover, in aggregate, if most of the tasks are somewhere in the optimal spectrum, then we can say that in general a person is happy, involved and satisfied. It's all about balance, in proportions.
In optimal motivation, the goal is always inside the task, in non-optimal, beyond the scope of the task.
When we talk about optimal motivation, we always talk about responsibility. About personal responsibility for the work. If your employee is optimally motivated, he will say that he wants to complete this task, this is his choice and solution and he would never refuse this task.

If the employee is not optimally motivated, is in the lower spectrum, then he will most likely say that he is obliged, must, they let him down this task. So we understand that he does not experience a surge of energy and interest from working on any specific tasks. For him, this is not a responsibility, but an obligation.

Key difference:

  • In the upper spectrum, we are involved and maintain the resource state for a long time. It feeds us like fuel.
  • In the lower spectrum, we are exhausted, we spend more energy and almost do not replenish the internal resource.
  • Optimal motivation allows us to maintain efficiency over a long distance.

Autonomy - Affiliation - Competence


You probably know about different typologies of people's needs:

  • Physiological needs: sleep, oxygen, water, basic safety, etc.
  • The need for emotions. Emotions are fuel, something that inspires and nourishes us.
  • Psychological needs.

The concept of Optimal Motivation says that there are three basic psychological needs . They are applicable in our daily lives, but we will try to put them on work activities.

Autonomy is an inborn human need to influence events, to have a choice, to be able to decide for yourself, to show your will, focus on your feelings, and be in contact with yourself.

The need to influence the choice of terms, approaches, tools, methodologies. Desire for opinion to be taken into account. In the end, the right to abandon the task, if it is contrary to attitudes and values.



In contrast to autonomy, some managers always tell their employees what to do, when to do, how to do, with whom to do. A step to the right, a step to the left - execution, fine, deprimination. This brings up the so-called learned helplessness - people always sit and wait for instructions. From such people it makes no sense to wait for proactivity, responsibility, some ideas, decisions. The effect of this becomes especially noticeable in a situation of change, complexity. When we need the support of the team, and they sit and talk - but you did not tell us.

A cool question that allows you to quickly understand whether the need for autonomy in relation to a task is satisfied or not satisfied: “If you had the opportunity to abandon this task and do something else, would you do it?” If an employee says - I want, I am interested, then we proceed to check the next need, it is called the need for Accessories.

Belonging is one of our most important needs, which is associated not only with psychological well-being, but also with survival. It was formed in the process of evolution, when belonging to a tribe was a condition of survival. Until now, somewhere in the depths of our brains, in capital letters, has been carved "Belong or die!"

It is important for us to know that we are part of something larger than ourselves: a team, company, product, idea. That we can trust other people, we can count on their support, that they will help without hidden motives. If you make a mistake, you can come honestly tell your leader about this, and he will help you find a solution.

If you want to find out if one of your employees is satisfied with this need, ask him about such questions.



If an employee says that mistakes are the business of the one who made them, there is no need to distract colleagues, everyone must take care of himself, then he is not doing well with belonging.

If we talk about the opposite of affiliation, recent studies by neuroscientists have shown an interesting thing: in our brain in a state of loneliness the same neural circuit starts up as in a physical wound. We simply do not have nerve endings that would make it possible to feel it on a physical level, but each of us knows how hard social isolation is experienced.

Competence is related to the fact that it is important for a person to feel that he is right. It is important for us to demonstrate current knowledge, skills, to be competent. Competence is also about the fact that it is important to develop in the process of work, to learn something new, to acquire new knowledge, skills.

Imagine a one-year-old baby learning to walk. He walks with difficulty, falls, but at this moment he does not say to his parents, “Do you know what? Homo erectus is not mine! I crawl perfectly and crawl where I need to. In general, upright posture is a strain on the spine and knees, so I probably won’t learn to walk. ” This does not happen, the child falls, gets up, falls again and gets up again, and this happens until he learns to stand firmly on his feet. After that, he takes true pleasure from independent walking and running.

The same thing happens with adults - we are born to develop , to feel that our competence is changing along with our professional path.

As a leader, you can influence the need for competency to be realized as follows:

  • Set goals, given the strengths of your team.
  • Talk with people, clarifying what is important to them, what they want to learn.
  • Set goals in accordance with their career plans and aspirations.

Questions to clarify this need:



At this moment reflection starts, the person thinks: “Indeed, a year ago I did not know this, a year ago I could not do some things, but now I can.” And first of all, he himself understands that he does not stand still.

So, you had a conversation with your employee, asked him questions about autonomy, affiliation and competence and came to the conclusion that:

  • All three needs are met. In this case, we believe that the person is in Optimal motivation. In which status, it is possible to determine, based on specific answers, human emotions.
  • If something from the agro-industrial complex is not satisfied, then most likely your employee is not optimally motivated. Maybe he believes that the task does not develop him in any way and he is marking time. Maybe he has a conflict with a colleague and he feels uncomfortable in the team, or maybe he just missed the task, not asking his opinion.

If we understand that the employee is not optimally motivated, further actions:

  • If the reasons are objective (there is a conflict in the team or the employee does not receive regular feedback and does not understand their value), then it is worth repairing the objective reality: settle the conflict, set up the process of regular feedback in the team.
  • If you see the reason for the dissatisfaction in beliefs and inner attitudes, then you should try to work on a subjective picture of the human world and help him change this attitude, help him enable the so-called "self-regulation", which we will discuss below.

Self-regulation


This is a person’s ability to make informed decisions and respond to a situation. This process makes us different from animals. Along with them, we have instincts, there are emotions. But unlike them, we have thinking, higher nervous activity.

Awareness - Goals - Values


To help ourselves or our colleagues move from non-optimal to optimal motivation, we can talk with our employees and help them increase their awareness, see a possible connection between tasks and goals and values.

Mindfulness. If we imagine that we are looking at the world, lighting it with a flashlight, then awareness is the ability to “deploy a flashlight of attention” inside ourselves and see, understand what is happening to me now. What do I think I feel in this situation? What am I focusing on? Do I like my condition?

Ask yourself: why I work in this company, why participation in this project is important for me, how I feel most of the time at work.

Goals. The ability to see the connection of the task with their personal goals leads to an increase in motivational status.

If our engineer has the goal of becoming a team leader, he can see a clear connection between this goal and the specific tasks that he is currently working on.

You can ask questions like this to find this connection:

  • Why is this task important to you?
  • What will change when you complete this task?
  • What is your goal for six months or a year ahead?
  • How now do your tasks help you move towards this goal or vice versa lead you astray?

Values. A sign of an adult mature person is the presence of conscious values ​​that guide him in his life. If goals are our driving force, incentives that give us strength and energy, then values ​​are our guiding force. They help us make decisions in difficult situations. They change extremely rarely, unlike goals.

The theme of values ​​is extremely delicate. Not everyone is ready to talk about them. Awareness of the connection of current tasks with the implementation of values ​​is a powerful tool to increase motivational status and internal involvement.

Value Areas


John Demartini says that there are 7 value areas and 4 types of resources.



If we, as adults, clearly understand what are our values, we can competently invest resources in them without spraying on the unimportant. Moreover, as a rule, only 3-4 value areas are the most important for us.

A classic example of the not-so-skillful distribution of its resources: a father from childhood inspired his son that his son could become a successful man only if he achieved social success, headed the business, or became a top manager of the company. The boy, having received this installation, goes to her all his life. He studies, graduates from university, managerial courses, builds his career, pours in time, money, emotions, resources, everything that he has.

By the age of 40, he is sitting in his large office, being the top manager of a large company, but there is no happiness. There is no satisfaction. Then he understands that he probably would have been much happier if he had taught foreign literature at the faculty of Moscow State University.

This is a very sad story when we understand that all our conscious life, the most resource time, we spent not on what is really important to us.

Correctly and appropriately discuss with the team their awareness and goals. You can and should discuss this with your team if you are interested in its development.

The theme of values ​​is very delicate and not suitable for every team. If you think that in your team relations are formed at such a level of awareness and trust that people are ready to openly discuss their values, find a connection between them and their current work, please talk about it. If you are not sure, start with yourself and think about what your values ​​are, what you do in accordance with your values.

To summarize, try using this concept in a dialogue format: it can be your regular one-to-one or any other informal conversations.

  • Ask about the person’s attitude to the task. Ask questions about autonomy, affiliation and competence. Make it clear that all three needs are realized, satisfied.
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Tip: do not set a goal to switch a person to the optimal motivation in one meeting - as a rule, this is impossible, it takes more time. Do not set a goal at all costs to transfer a person from non-optimal to optimal motivation, it happens that this is also impossible.

Applying this concept in working with people, you demonstrate first of all the care for people. From experience I will tell you how pleasantly they are surprised and revealed during such conversations. Employees feel attention to themselves, and this is often not enough at work. “Wow! They see in us not only task performers, they see people in us with their opinions and attitudes towards work. They help to realize their calling in the profession. ” This is a great confidence building tool for your team.

Be in Optimal Motivation! :)

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