by Beth Banks Cohen, Columnist & Featured Contributor
What is motivation, and what happens to it during a business transformation?
[message type=”custom” width=”100%” start_color=”#F0F0F0 ” end_color=”#F0F0F0 ” border=”#BBBBBB” color=”#333333″]MOTIVE noun \ˈmō-tiv : something (as a need or desire) that causes a person to act.[/message]
[su_dropcap style=”flat”]M[/su_dropcap]OTIVATION IS SIMPLY the drive that moves us to take an action. These drives might be physical (to have a drink of water when we are thirsty); intellectual (to read a book when we are bored); or emotional (to call a friend when we’re feeling sad). As humans, we’re motivated to do what we believe is in our best interests. Sometimes that results in positive achievements; sometimes in (retrospectively) stupid mistakes.
Our beliefs about what our best interests really are can make motivation during times of change particularly challenging for an organization. When a new direction is announced, and involves potentially painful changes like reorganizations, staffing changes or business process restructurings, a quite complex web of motivations can arise:
Employees may feel their ‘best interest’ is simply to survive the change
Department managers may feel their ‘best interest’ is to keep delivering results at any cost – and to survive the change
Senior leadership may feel that their ‘best interest’ is to avoid being blamed if the promised results don’t happen – and to survive the change
But how do you keep an organization moving forward when motivations are evolving, and so many people are going into ‘survival’ mode?
Establishing new direction
As a leader during a business transformation effort, establishing a new direction doesn’t mean simply announcing a new strategy and then walking away as if the business will just continue as usual and the changes will magically appear. It means putting a process in place which encourages and supports each individual as they define what the new business direction means to them.
This isn’t ‘touchy-feely, sing kumbaya’ stuff. This is about managing the bottom line, the company’s profitability – short and long term. But in order to do that, it is critical to ensure that employees understand their role in the transformation, how it will affect them, and what they can do to move forward. Because it is only by helping them understand these things can the business goals be achieved and the ROI come to fruition. After all, as we all know, it’s the people in the equation who make or break a transformation.
Removing barriers
The number of barriers the organization faces to get to that point depends on the nature of the business change. Barriers to change can be as simple as ensuring everyone in a specific department has adequate education in a new technology, or as complex as inspiring an entire organization to buy into a whole new strategic vision and approach to the marketplace. Either way, barriers need to be identified and need to be taken seriously.
Sometimes barriers are physical, like needing a new computer system or a new business process. And sometimes barriers are the employees themselves who create barriers through their perceived ‘best interests’ as the changes are introduced. Engaging the individuals who are involved in or creating the barriers is the first step to easing them. You can motivate a department to become engaged in new technology by helping them understand how it will make their work lives easier; you can motivate an organization to become engaged in a new strategic vision by helping them understand how it will drive their long-term career goals and security.
Providing support
A key role for change leaders is to provide support to the team as they change the way they operate on a day-to-day basis. Supporting an individual means listening, empathizing, and concentrating on their progress through a change. By providing assistance, feedback and counsel, you’re helping them to see that their ‘best interests’ really do involve moving forward with the changes – and that helps keep them motivated to continue.
Remember: Support may also involve reiterating why a change is being implemented, what the goals of the change are, and why the timing of the change is important. Taking the time to explain and re-explain can go a long way in keeping people moving forward and motivating them.
Good leadership = Good motivation
People need leaders to lead, especially during a time of change. Sounds simple, right?
Except that ‘announcing’ a change isn’t the same as ‘leading’ one. Leadership during a change requires a leader who is actively and visibly engaged during the entire process; someone who is seen to be removing barriers, providing support, and communicating the process in a credible way. When leaders do this, individuals become more and more motivated to work towards a goal that doesn’t just benefit ‘management’ or ‘the company’, but their own best interests as well.
Leaders need to show that they are also changing, that the change is also affecting them. Leaders who announce a change and expect everyone else to change but themselves will quickly lose credibility, and in the long term, their ability to lead.
Leaders need to acknowledge the importance and the power of individuals acting in their own perceived ‘best interests’. By using this information to inform implementation plans, a leader can guarantee success and continue to build their organizations’ motivation (and profitability) through change after change.
