Driving Team Performance: Motivation Vs. Inspiration

by Bo McDonald

“I need to find ways to motivate my team…” Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Every credit union that we speak to is struggling with that same issue. The folks who have been on your team for many years are resistant to change and struggle with progress. And then you have the “Gen Y’ers” on your team. They seem “lazy” and you wonder “what’s wrong with this generation?” You’ve offered financial incentives for performance. You’ve given days off, provided pizza parties, and more… But your team just isn’t achieving the results you are expecting.

I have an idea. Stop trying to motivate your staff and start to inspire them. Dr. Lance Secretan explains the difference: “Inspiration is the process of lighting a fire within someone. Motivation, in contrast, is all about lighting a fire under someone and is fundamentally about fear.”

Why do we always use the word “motivate” when it comes to new employee initiatives? Because it’s easier. We as leaders can control motivation. In this fast- paced world we’re looking for immediate results. So we set a brief timeline in which we want to see change. We attach a dollar amount or value to that particular behavior. Sometimes the value we attach is “your job.” If you do “this” you get “that” or get to keep your job. We may get short-term results, but soon enough the changed behavior fades away and we’re right back where we started. You’re looking for new ways to motivate the team, with increased frustration.

In his book Inspire, Secretan says this about motivation: “Most models of leadership are grounded in primitive concepts such as Pavlovian psychology and behavioral science methodology. These theories have their roots in turn-of-the-century thinking based on the concept of rewarding behavior we wish repeated, and punishing behavior we wish discontinued. Thus we become experts in motivation—a fear-based approach.”

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