Don’t Motivate, Instead Engage

A very interesting article on the difference between motivating and engaging the people with whom you work by Sean McPheat of MTD Training popped up in my inbox the other day. Check it out…

Instead of trying to motivate your team, look at engaging them in their work and careers. And what’s the best way of going about that? Think of the acronym MOVE and it will become easier.

This acronym will help you appeal to the prime driving factors that move your staff to bring their best selves to the working environment. Let’s see how we can apply it:

The M stands for Meaning
If a team member does not see much meaning in what they are doing, they may well feel they are simply ‘doing a job’. Just coming to work to get stuff done doesn’t equate to high engagement and may well influence motivation in themselves and others.

• Ensure there is something bigger than just ‘a job’ that the person is carrying out
• Identify the talents that people have and encourage their development
• Maintain clarity of purpose as to why they are important to you and the business

The O stands for Opportunities
We cannot expect someone to be totally engaged if the job they are doing doesn’t offer some form of expansion or development of talent some way. Opportunity doesn’t always mean vertical promotion; it can sometimes mean chances to expand their talent by working with others in different departments or sharing their skillsets with others.

The O here means seeing the opportunity to get better at stuff and expand their portfolio of work chances.

• Offer growth and development chances to everyone
• Look for chances to share experiences with others or get them to mentor team members
• Identify improvement opportunities for those who have the talent to expand

The V stands for Vision and Values
For a person to be highly engaged, they must feel they are working for a company that has a vision they are inspired by and want to contribute to, plus values that they can buy into.

• Have an inspirational vision that makes a person feel like they want to bring their best self to the company.
• Have values that link in with a person’s own way of thinking
• Link the two so people feel they want to commit their time and energy to what you are achieving

The E stands for Energy
Where does internal energy come from? It’s more than likely a mixture of all three components above, along with a personal drive to be their best in an environment that encourages a striving to contribute their best at every opportunity.

• Have an inspiring attitude to your staff so they feel energized and driven
• Become future-focused with them, and they’ll concentrate their energy on making things work
• Find out what energizes each team member so you can personalize your leadership style to their individual drivers

What does all this mean to your company?
It creates a camaraderie that drives potential and a forward-focused momentum that encourages everyone to contribute to a higher level of performance, dealing with challenges and issues in a solution-focused way, with critical and dynamic thinking.