Talking Story

Starting new conversations in the workplace!

  • Rosa’s Books
  • ManagingWithAloha.com
  • RosaSay.com

Newly thinking about~ Motivation

April 6, 2007 by Rosa Say

Management coaching is about tweaking thought processes ”“ we freshen them up so thinking doesn’t go the routes of un-thinking acceptance and auto-pilot. Let’s take motivation.

I often urge managers to stop using the using ‘motivation,’ replacing it with ‘self-motivation’ instead. For instance, when you’re thinking about someone’s just-blah attitude and wanting to improve it, instead of asking yourself, “what can I do to motivate this person?” ask yourself “what’s not right here, keeping this person from being self-motivated?”


Motivation is an inside job
: When you think about it, you can’t really motivate someone ”“ they have to draw from their own Ho‘ohana and self-motivate. Only then will they commit to the actions they take, because in effect, their commitment is to their own intention.

What we as managers do, is create the overall workplace environment they’re in so that nothing stands in their way once they’ve done that, i.e. they

  • Make a personal decision
  • Connect that decision to the intention of their ho‘ohana
  • Commit to the action necessary
  • Take the action and
  • Follow-through completely, because again, it’s their intention

Life at work is pretty sweet when this whole sequence happens, isn’t it! And what do the fans in the stands proclaim? “Wow, that person is motivated!”

Well Tim Milburn’s got a post up at studentl.inc about ‘demotivation’ today, where he is tweaking my thought processes ”

When we talk about improving motivation in our conventional management-speak, what we’re really talking about is not doing some of these things that cause demotivation. These are the things that sabotage a self-motivated person, throwing a wet blanket on their energies.

Click over and take a look at Tim’s post:

How to DEMOTIVATE those you work with

Yes, I have been mentioning Tim quite a bit lately ” can’t help it; he’s on a roll!

Some of the things Tim mentions:

  • Give them MEANINGLESS work.
  • Set expectations extremely low or too high to reach.
  • Ask them to do things you haven’t trained them for.
  • Only talk to them when they do something wrong.
  • Forget their name…or better yet, keep calling them by a different name that sounds similar.

Ouch! What would you add to Tim’s list? How might your boss be demotivating you?

Filed Under: MWA Key 2: Ho‘ohana, MWA Key 5: Language of Intention

Comments

  1. christine says

    April 7, 2007 at 5:12 am

    Put all of their creative ideas on the back burner.

  2. Rosa Say says

    April 7, 2007 at 6:56 am

    You are so right Christine; I wince just thinking about that one.

  3. Saymorre says

    April 7, 2007 at 7:33 pm

    Thank you for this article, it has me self-motivated for my next career adventure.

  4. Rosa Say says

    April 7, 2007 at 7:56 pm

    You are very welcome Saymorre, thank you for reading Talking Story and commenting for me!

Search Talking Story your way

RSS Current Articles at Managing with Aloha:

  • In favor of Wage Equity as our Core Standard
  • The Thrill of Work
  • Evolve into a manager
  • Self-Coaching Exercises in the Self-Leadership of Alaka‘i
  • Do it—Experiment!
  • Hō‘imi to Curate Your Life’s Experience
  • Kaʻana i kāu aloha: Share your Aloha

Search Talking Story by Category

Talking Story Article Archives

  • July 2016 (1)
  • April 2012 (1)
  • March 2012 (6)
  • February 2012 (6)
  • January 2012 (10)
  • December 2011 (1)
  • November 2011 (4)
  • October 2011 (17)
  • September 2011 (8)
  • August 2011 (6)
  • July 2011 (2)
  • June 2011 (2)
  • May 2011 (4)
  • April 2011 (12)
  • March 2011 (16)
  • February 2011 (16)
  • January 2011 (23)
  • December 2010 (4)
  • November 2010 (1)
  • October 2010 (1)
  • September 2010 (4)
  • August 2010 (1)
  • July 2010 (4)
  • June 2010 (13)
  • May 2010 (17)
  • April 2010 (18)
  • March 2010 (13)
  • February 2010 (18)
  • January 2010 (16)
  • December 2009 (12)
  • November 2009 (15)
  • October 2009 (20)
  • September 2009 (20)
  • August 2009 (17)
  • July 2009 (16)
  • June 2009 (13)
  • May 2009 (3)
  • April 2009 (19)
  • March 2009 (18)
  • February 2009 (21)
  • January 2009 (26)
  • December 2008 (31)
  • November 2008 (19)
  • October 2008 (8)
  • September 2008 (11)
  • August 2008 (11)
  • July 2008 (10)
  • June 2008 (16)
  • May 2008 (1)
  • March 2008 (17)
  • February 2008 (24)
  • January 2008 (13)
  • December 2007 (10)
  • November 2007 (6)
  • July 2007 (27)
  • June 2007 (23)
  • May 2007 (13)
  • April 2007 (19)
  • March 2007 (17)
  • February 2007 (14)
  • January 2007 (15)
  • December 2006 (14)
  • November 2006 (16)
  • October 2006 (13)
  • September 2006 (29)
  • August 2006 (14)
  • July 2006 (19)
  • June 2006 (19)
  • May 2006 (12)
  • April 2006 (11)
  • March 2006 (14)
  • February 2006 (14)
  • January 2006 (7)
  • December 2005 (15)
  • November 2005 (27)
  • October 2005 (22)
  • September 2005 (38)
  • August 2005 (31)
  • July 2005 (34)
  • June 2005 (32)
  • May 2005 (27)
  • April 2005 (28)
  • March 2005 (36)
  • February 2005 (33)
  • January 2005 (35)
  • December 2004 (13)
  • November 2004 (24)
  • October 2004 (22)
  • September 2004 (28)
  • August 2004 (8)

Copyright © 2021 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in