How to motivate myself

 

I talk about motivating employees and the people we lead. But sometimes I too need help with motivation. I have been running an indie game design and publishing studio for the past 5 years, having released one game per year. This is my side hustle. I do it alongside my work as a leadership trainer. When I tell people I am a game designer and that I publish games, they are impressed. However it is not as glamourous as most people think. I spend much time, effort and money, creating and testing games, traveling and exhibiting at conventions, attending public events, managing logistics and sales. And sometimes I question myself - for what? What have I achieved? Is it worthwhile? Sometimes when I am bogged down by many issues, or tasks I'm poor at, or tasks that are necessary but unpleasant to me, I feel like shutting down and walking away. When you lose passion for your passion project, that project will probably die a slow death. 

I try to spend time with my friends and my community. Relationships and people are an important source of support and inspiration. When there are other people as crazy as you are, you don't feel lonely. They are jumping in right beside you. I sometimes take a break, do something else, come back refreshed. I think most importantly I need to remind myself I always have a choice to walk away. If I don't like this, I can walk away. There are costs and losses, and I just have to accept them if I choose to walk away. And then I find that I choose to stay. This is something I choose to do because I believe in the value behind it. I make that choice every day. 

How do I motivate my employees? #5

 

As opposed to looking at what leaders need to do to motivate employees, let's look at what they must not do because it demotivates people. What demotivates good people? Mediocrity. If I work hard and achieve results, but the guy next to me who just cruises gets the same pay and bonus as I do, I will question why am I going above and beyond. Good work must be recognised. Poor work must be penalised. It takes conscious effort to make sure these are done. 

Motivation is not about endlessly creating new incentives. It is just establishing a fair and merit-based culture. 

How do I motivate my employees? #4

Being leaders, one challenge we often think about is how to motivate our people to do good work. Here is one important angle on employee motivation shared by Jim Collins in the book Good to Great - Don't motivate your people. If your people need to be constantly motivated, you are doing it wrong. You should not have recruited them in the first place. 

Bring the right people on board, and put them in the right roles. You want people who motivate themselves and want to do well. You want people who enjoy and take pride in their work. Not people who need babysitting and constant pushing. 

How do I motivate my employees? #3

 

I learned this concept from one of my students. I was conducting a training session about motivating employees when I posed this question to the class - what motivates YOU at your work? Now according to the course content, the three major intrinsic motivations are autonomy, mastery and purpose. I waited for my students to mention reasons which were related to one of these, so that I could expand on them and explain the concepts. One answer took me by surprise because I could not easily fit it to any of the three. That answer was "I am motivated because I have a good team."

Many leadership principles and frameworks being taught in leadership training are developed by authors and thinkers from the west. That is why autonomy is one of the biggest motivators. Western culture is more individualistic. Here in the east, we have a different culture. We are collective. A feeling of belonging and being supported is often more important than the freedom to do things my way. 

As leaders, do we create such environments for our people? Where people enjoy working with their colleagues. Where people respect one another. Where people are always ready to help one another. I realise that in my own past experience, several times when I had difficult periods at work, it was because of, or for, the team around me, that I was able to persist. 

How do I motivate my employees? #2

 

To understand employee motivation, the concept of intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation is important. Extrinsic motivation is when people want to do a good job because it helps them achieve something else. I want to excel in my career so that I can be rich. I want to get good grades because my parents promised a prize. Intrinsic motivation is when people want to do a good job because they want to do a good job. I find what I do meaningful. I enjoy doing what I do. 

This is not to say extrinsic motivation doesn't work. It does, and sometimes it works very well. Sales incentives, bonuses, promotions. But once it is achieved, or when it is taken away, is the employee still driven to do a good job? I have witnessed first-hand how well a profit-sharing scheme worked in boosting sales over three quarters, and how sales immediately stalled when the scheme ended. 

As leaders, we must help our people discover their intrinsic motivation. That is what lasts, and that is the stronger motivation. Taking pride in your work, finding meaning in how your work serves the world, and being part of a supportive and high-performing team. There are more. The driving force is different for different people. We cannot enforce one. There is no single answer. We help people find their own answer. 

How do I motivate my employees? #1

 

This is one of the questions I get asked many times. Let's do a series to explore this topic. In the context of the workplace, the elephant in the room is compensation. All of us work for money. Don't believe anyone who tells you money doesn't motivate employees. It does. Just that it is not the only thing, and often it is not the most important thing. 

Money is several things at once. Money is survival. If we don't pay enough that our employees worry about making ends meet, they will not be able to focus. Money is fairness. If they are paid the same as a low-performing colleague, they will not be motivated to do well. Money is recognition and appreciation. A good boss gives praise for good work done, and also wants to give you tangible rewards. 

Money is a sanitary factor. If you don't pay enough, your employees will not be happy. If you pay enough, paying more does not increase employee satisfaction significantly. Once they are in a financially stable position, they look for more than money. As leaders we must think about what money means to our people. Money is not just money. 

Do you lead with fear?

 

Some leaders think they should lead with fear. They want their employees to fear them somewhat, because that's the most effective way to get things done. Some leaders who do lead with fear deny it even to themselves. They cannot bear to think of themselves as a bad boss that employees fear. They think of their employees as unconfident, incompetent and passive. 

Fear is a poor motivator. It motivates people only to avoid mistakes. It teaches people to avoid responsibility and accountability, because the less of these that you have, the smaller the chances of getting blamed. People who operate under fear are not creative or innovative. They do not dare to escalate issues they see for fear of getting penalised. They just want to stay out of trouble. 

I have observed one situation of an employee delaying telling their boss problems and waiting until there are several before escalating them all at one go. By then it is already rather late to address some of these problems. The rationale is if I'm going to get scolded by the boss, I'd rather just get scolded once for several things, instead of getting scolded several times separately. This sounds absurd, but this is very real. 

Motivate employees by pride in their work, by the drive to provide for their families, or by a sense of belonging. Don't motivate by fear.