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Security and safety are two basic human needs. Our brains are literally wired to look for danger and make us do what it takes to keep us safe. But there are some people who are also really driven and motivated by this.
By that, I mean that they actually get their motivation from both feeling safe and secure and also from creating that safety and security for themselves as well as for others.
Change is one of those things that our brain deems scary.
So, how do you make sure in this ever-changing world, that those people in your team stay motivated in spite of all the changes?
In this second article, in my series on motivation, I want to help you identify those people who are motivated by safety, security, belonging, and public recognition, which has one of the groups and the Motivational Maps.
If you have not read the first article in this series yet which discusses why Motivation is Critical to Performance and that you can ONLY motivate yourself and not others. Find out WHY by reading the article. Click here.
I want to help you recognize them and also give you some tips on how you can help them find the motivation that they need to perform. Change is constant and this is something that we hear said all of the time now.
In recent times, we’ve had plenty of examples of this. Keeping people engaged and motivated during changes is hard enough. We naturally, as human beings perceive it as something dangerous, but when someone needs safety and security to feel motivated, then it’s even harder. This group of motivators is called the relationship motivators in the Motivational Map language and they include security and safety belonging and external or public recognition, people who are mainly driven by these needs want to feel safe and secure. Now this can mean lots of things.
For example, it can mean that they want certainty, that they want job security, or maybe they want to feel that they’re able to do what they need to do without taking too many risks. Some people in this group also want to feel that they belong, that they’ve got good relationships, that they can collaborate with others.
Then there are those who need to feel valued by getting that public recognition and validation. They want to hear you publicly tell them that they’ve done a good job. The first thing I want you to do is to see this as true for them. It may not be what you need to feel motivated but that doesn’t mean it’s not valid.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Yes, that’s so me” then it’s amazing because now you know what you need in order to feel motivated.
So let’s take safety and security as the first motivation in this group.
Now you may be thinking that there is absolutely no way that you can give people security and certainty in such a bowl of tile, an ever-changing world and you’re right – you can’t.
However, what you can do is to make sure that in your communication, you pay equal attention to what you can give certainty on what is staying the same and their ability to take a change on and make business.
Very often, we only focus on communicating the change. The thing that is changing and we forget to tell people what is staying the same.
For some that is critical to them.
Now, when it comes to someone who is motivated by external recognition – figure it out and give it to them.
It can be as simple as a public pat on the back and well done or it can be something more elaborate like an employee of the month scheme or other public recognition system that you could dream up for your organization.
Thirdly, you have those people who are motivated by belonging.
These are people who are the glue in your team. They’re the ones that will know whatever is going on for everybody else and the team. They’re the ones who are going to want to do the get-togethers after work and they’re the ones that are really keen to collaborate with others inside the team and outside the team.
So relapsed them – make sure that they are the ones that get involved in organizing those skeptic apps and ensure that some of their work involves collaborating with others. As I’ve said, both inside the team and outside the team. If you have these people working on their own for too long, you will literally see them start to do this. That energy will start to drain and they will start to wander to try and speak to other people.
How do I know? Because I’m one of them. I know how much energy I get from collaborating with others.
This may seem obvious to some of you now but one of the things about people who are motivated and in any of these three ways is that they are much more focused on what happened in the past.
Think about it. So those that want security and safety want things that they already know exist already because that’s what’s going to keep them safe and secure. Those that are motivated by belonging, are driven by the relationships that they’ve already developed. And those that want public recognition want to be recognized for things that they have done.
That’s why it can also seem that these people are more resistant to change.
How can I be safe? If things are different? How can I belong? It’s the people I work with no longer here. And how can I get recognition for things that I’ve done? If none of that is valid. However, this doesn’t mean that they can’t adapt to change. You as the leader just have to be able to communicate it in a way that is going to resonate with them that’s going to enable them to understand the change, adapt to it, and then support them through that transition.
In one of my upcoming articles, I’ll go through the motivators that are much more grounded in the present and in the future.
Big hint – that’s where you’re going to find both your change champions and your change managers.
So how do you figure out what it is that drives you and each one of your team?
Well, I’ve got a short FREE video course that’s going to take you through the motivators and help you identify what it is that drives. You can get your access by clicking this.
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