Some time ago, while working with a company during their annual conference, the topic of “motivation” came up over dinner. It was a lively discussion with lots of opinions. The question — Can you truly motivate someone? — has been thrown around for, I’m sure, hundreds of years. The Internet is full of content on motivation, and there are countless podcasts, books, articles, etc. on the topic.
Everyone has an opinion about motivation. I believe that’s because, in a way, we are all “experts” on the subject. Our opinions generally come from personal experience. We’ve all been motivated by someone at some point. We’ve also been the motivating force for others. And, at some time or another, we’ve all been deflated and unmotivated by someone. We’ve probably also been “the fly in the ointment” for someone else, too.
There’s a huge difference between someone pushing our “want-to” button and another person pushing all the wrong buttons—the ones that lead us to say, “I’m not about to ….”
Motivating people (and keeping them motivated) is hard! Too often, it becomes a case of “the more you insist, the more I resist.”
So, when I came across some motivational information while reading David Cottrell’s worthwhile book Monday Morning Leadership: Eight Mentoring Sessions You Can’t Afford to Miss, I knew I had to share it with you. Cottrell calls his motivation concept “Buckets and Dippers,” and it goes like this:
Every person has a bucket of motivation. That bucket can be filled to overflowing, or it can be empty and desperately need filling. Sometimes the buckets have leaks … and those buckets lose motivation as fast as you can try to fill them.
Every person also has a dipper. In fact, some people have these great big, long dippers that they enjoy putting into other people’s buckets. These dippers represent cynicism, negativism, confusion, stress, doubt, fear, anxiety and any other thing that can drain someone’s motivation.
As a leader, your job is to keep everyone’s bucket filled. You are the Chief Bucket-Filler, and the best way to fill buckets is with excellent communication. In fact, there are four things you have to do if you’re going to keep your team members’ motivation buckets full.
First, a full bucket requires knowing what are the main things that are important to doing a good job.
Second, to keep buckets filled, you need to provide the bucket holders with feedback on how they’re doing.
The third thing you have to do to keep your team members’ buckets filled is to let them know you care about them and the job they do.
The fourth and final bucket-filling requirement is for the team to know how well it’s doing … as a team.
Now, let’s make this work for you.
First of all, I challenge you to keep your own bucket full of motivation—both in and out of the office. (Keep in mind the principles of The 7 F’s of True Success, and you’ll cover all your bases. As a reminder, those are the Fundamentals of work, sound Finances, Family, Faith, Fitness, Fun and the successful Fusion of all these.)
Second, if you are a leader (and we all have opportunities to be a leader—even if we’re simply leading ourselves to increased success), make sure you know exactly what’s required to do a “good job.” Remember, if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Know these requirements for yourself and your own job and for the jobs of the people you lead.
Third, provide ongoing, regular feedback about how everyone is performing in regard to that “good job.” Employees want regular feedback. Show your team how much you care and that you truly want them to be motivated. Again, look for ways to work this into your everyday schedule.
Finally, always, always communicate with your team! Especially if you are tackling something big and important, share the “why” behind the task / project. This is the most important thing of all if you want to motivate people and keep them motivated.
I’ve often said: The first rule of thumb in motivating people is to find motivated people. Next, make sure you and your work culture keep them motivated.
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