Comments on: Don’t just motivate. Inspire.

By: Turning Employees into Brand Champions | UpstartHR

Turning Employees into Brand Champions | UpstartHR — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:38:30 +0000

[...] people recommend hiring great people and inspiring them to do amazing things. Sounds like a plan to me. Find a way to make brand champions out of your [...]

By: HRM Today - Blog Archive » Employees are people (not resources)

HRM Today - Blog Archive » Employees are people (not resources) — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:26:32 +0000

[...] recruit, manage performance and focus on development. You stop simply utilizing resources and start inspiring people to do amazing [...]

By: Chris Ferdinandi

Chris Ferdinandi — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:40:45 +0000

@Paul – this doesn’t happen much, but you’ve completely changed my perspective on intrinsic motivation (well done!). You’re absolutely right. I don’t enjoy the process of playing mini-golf as much as I enjoy the fun I derive from being with friends and family. I also love snowboarding (though I’m only ok at it). I enjoy that I’m outside being active more than I enjoy the actual act of snowboarding.

Your comment reminds me a lot of a recent presentation by Tony at Zappos about how almost everything people do is motivated by a desire to be happy.

And I think validation, both internally and externally, is where organizations and managers can get the most bang for their buck. Thanks for the comment – and rocking my thought process a bit this morning.

Chris

By: Paul Hebert

Paul Hebert — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:28:08 +0000

I would submit that you are not “intrinsically motivated” to play mini-golf – you are motivated to have a good time outdoors with friends and family. Golf is simply the mechanism to achieve the true goal. You could probably say the same thing about Bocce Ball, Lawn Darts, etc.

Just like in the workplace we confuse the activity with the motivation. We believe people are motivated to “insert goal here” but forget that those activities are typically vehicles for the true motivation.

I think your second example of validation is the real thing for most people. Knowing whether a wants/needs external vs. internal validation is key. I would also suggest that in almost every case, regardless of the initial driver (internal/external) recognition of growth, change, success is required. Even if I do something for myself – it is always better if someone else recognizes it as well.

I really liked the validation angle.