One of the things that people ask me about most often when I run events, talks and workshops is motivation. I meet people who are keen to motivate themselves in their life, career and other areas. I meet those who manage or who supervise teams or who run businesses who are looking to motivate and engage their team and staff. It’s a topic that comes up a lot as a coach and of course as a motivational speaker. If you are looking to motivate yourself or others then the clue is in the word…

The core of the word motivation is the word ‘motive’. So in order to motivate people you need to naturally understand what their motives, drivers, values and priorities are. Motivation is no something that you do to others to make them more inspired, engaged or productive.  There is only really a small degree to which this is true and it only works when – once again – you know what the values, motives, drivers and priorities of yourself and others are.

Just stop and thin for a moment about your life and your career. Think about the managers who you have had who have been great. Think about those who have been awful. Thinks about those friends and family members, teachers, colleagues, peers, people who you have met who have had a rich impact on you and those who have had a poor impact. Think a little bit about businesses and service providers who you you have had dealings with. Think about politicians and leaders. How effective are those people whose agenda is that they want to influence you, win you over and get you to do this or that. How effective are they when they don’t listen to you, when they don’t understand you, when they don’t ask you, when they don’t learn what makes you tick.

Turn your attention once again to those people in your life who have taken time to get to now you, who listen o you, who are genuinely interested in you, who ask and find out what’s important to you. How effective are they? How rich are those relationships? How easy is it to get things done in these circumstances? How productive have you become in these circumstances? How much have you learned? How easy is it to learn? How many more hours have you put in in these circumstances?

In the video above I explore this topic far more closely. Once you understand motivation more deeply it’s amazing how powerful and profound it can be. If you are a business owner, a manager a supervisor or have a role in which you need to engage and influence people in any way then you’ll find this useful.