Depending on their motivation, a team will interpret a difficulty as an opportunity to grow, or an opportunity to see how many swear words they can string together
In his TED talk The happy secret to better workSean Achor says, “Only 25% of job success is predicted by IQ… 75% of job successes are predicted by your optimism levels, your social support, and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat.”
Or as Ben Hunt-Davis succinctly says in Will it Make the Boat Go Faster?, “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, either way you’re probably right.”
Remember everyone wants to be motivated
Nobody likes to be bored, unfulfilled or uninspired. If your team ever slips into a dulled mindset, it’s because something else has gone missing. It could be that things have become a little vague.
“All organisations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year,” says Simon Sinek in Start with Why.
Somewhere, in the organisation, there are “bold, extravagant goals” that “fire our imagination and kindle our desire.” (Ben Hunt-Davis, Will it Make the Boat Go Faster?) and we owe it to our team to bring them to the surface.
But then there are also specific, personal reasons why motivation can go amiss…
Inspire people according to who they are
As summarised in the Guardian article, The 9 types of employees and how to motivate them, different people are inspired in different ways. Or in other words, you can’t motivate a lion with a carrot on a stick. A few people at Ghyston thrive off the feedback they receive, or the ideas they get to share, while others just love the sense of belonging they find here each day.
We’ve found that when people on Ghyston’s team are motivated, they’ll show it in totally different ways too. Some become competitive, others become patient, some become sociable and others become very precise in their work.
Download our guide for more information on how to structure your team for happiness and productivity.
