The Laws of Motivation

Richard Dennywww.motivate-to-win.co.uk

The Laws of MotivationFor those of you who have that great responsibility in managing,leading and motivating others, let me ask you these two questions:

What sort of manager would you like to bemanaged by?

And secondly:

Are you that sort of person?

These are two really pertinent and soul searching questions thatevery manager should ask themselves regularly, as they must build a foundation for the principles that will be conducive to a healthymanagement style.

Here we will look at the laws of motivation. One could argue thatthey are principles rather than laws, but I prefer to use the word‘laws’ because it implies that if you break them, you will receive a penalty.

Law 1We have to be Motivated to MotivateIt is impossible to motivate another person if you yourself are not motivated.

What sort of manager do you want to be managed by? The manager whoarrives at work before anybody else, who is enthusiastic, positive, always has abit of good news to pass on, is loyal and leads by example? A manager whohas a purpose – in other words, a MOTIVATED MANAGER?

I have met so many managers who demand and expect that their employeesshould be more motivated, yet in looking at these managers themselves it isabsolutely apparent why they are not getting what they hope for.

I chaired a conference for some two hundred senior managers of a major UKpublic company. It became apparent that this was their second conference atattempting to launch a new management style and strategy. Not only was thenew system not fully understood but it had not been enthusiasticallyembraced by the senior executives. It came to light that one of the rootcauses for the lack of enthusiasm and motivation to change lay on theshoulders of one person. They key manager responsible for the roll-out of theprogramme had been made redundant shortly before the first conference andwas then invited back for a six-month contract just to communicate andimplement the strategy. What an odd management decision!

If you want to motivate another person, you have tobe motivated yourself.

Law 2Motivation Requires a GoalIt is impossible for any individual, or for that matter, any team orgroup of people, to be motivated without a clear and specific goal.

Motivation, as I have already said, is about striving towards thefuture and without a goal, there is no purpose.

It is sad that so few people do have goals and even more devastatingthat many have no hope. In fact many people wake up in themorning and their first reaction is one of surprise – that they havesurvived the night! They have no purpose, no goals and nothing thatthey are looking forward to achieving or doing.

We all know how apathy can creep in when there is no hope. All ofus must have hope.

We must be looking forward to something andso goals and objectives must be set.

Law 3Motivation, Once Established, Never LastsThis law stems from a common management misjudgement. Iattend many conferences every year and one of the main objectivesof company conferences is to get everybody together, impartinformation on past performance, tell them the news and set out thegoals and plans for the future. The overall objective is to send theparticipants and delegates back home with their batteries rechargedand highly motivated. And most conferences do achieve thatobjective. But that motivation and warm feeling does not last. It is abit like blowing up a balloon – if you don’t tie a knot in the inlet, theair will come back out again. Motivation should and must be an on-going process. It is not a once a year booster.

Some organisations have a yearly appraisal where each member ofstaff meets for private discussion with their superior and where theirperformance is appraised. This, of course, can be a motivationalexercise as well as a demotivational one. But the purpose ofappraisal, if it is conducted correctly, is motivational – where onediscusses strengths and weaknesses and draws up plans of actionand self-improvement for the future.

But in some organisations this is the only time a person’sperformance is discussed with a superior – just once a year.Therefore, accepting that appraisals can be motivational, apart fromthe essential requirement of correcting unproductive performance orbehaviour, it makes sense to have a more regular, perhaps quarterly,schedule of mini-appraisals as well.

That is only one example of on-going motivation, but please doaccept that just because an individual might be motivated today, itdoesn’t mean they will be motivated tomorrow.

A person can be motivated at their workplace and be demotivated intheir home environment and vice versa. That alone is a good enoughreason why every individual should understand the power ofmotivation, understand themselves, how they feel and why theyreact; what causes them to be happy or unhappy and what inspiresthem to do just that little bit more.

We must all understand what reallydemotivates us and then take steps to preventit happening as frequently as possible.

I can be demotivated by a motor car that won’t go or a letter on aSaturday morning from my bank manager. I have since taken thesteps necessary to prevent or eliminate those causes ofdemotivation. Regular care and maintenance of the vehicle iscertainly extremely effective. As far as the bank is concerned, when Ihave either changed banks or my manager has changed, we have aninterview and I explain the terms upon which my account will beconducted and if ever a letter arrives on a Saturday morning, theaccount will be removed!

Law 4Motivation Requires RecognitionThis is such a powerful law. Continue to break it and you will neverhave around you people who are truly motivated.

Recognition comes in so many different forms: from the Peerage tothe ‘thank you’ letter; from the way you introduce somebody to theadmiring of a vase of flowers at home.

People will strive harder for recognition than for almost any othersingle thing in life. Recognition can be a compliment. If you are aparent you no doubt have experienced your child returning homefrom school with some work. It may be a picture he or she haspainted, and you as a parent admire that picture, show it to othermembers of the family and pin it up on the wall. The result will be,as I am sure you have noticed, not only a motivated child but alsomore pictures.

Genuine compliments are a form of recognition and it takes a ‘bigthinking’ person to give another a compliment. Small minded peopleare unable ever to recognise the achievements of others.

In business, companies give recognition at conferences where theythank members of staff for performance, achievement and loyalty,etc. It is a golden rule that when giving recognition, nobody shouldbe forgotten.

At one particular conference I attended, the chairman was awardingbottles of champagne to star performers and these bottles had beenearned by sales volume achieved. As he finished handing out the lastbottle, he asked the audience whether he had left anybody out. Onepoor individual raised his hand in the air. A dumfounded expressionappeared on the chairman’s face and he was overheard to say to theassistant on the platform. ‘Who the bloody hell is that?’ Fortunately,the assistant knew the salesperson’s name. They both peered into abundle of record forms and in due course the chairman announcedthat, yes, the individual was right. They had made a mistake but,luckily, they had a spare bottle and the poor fellow came to get hisreward. An otherwise successful recognition event had beendevalued.

It takes a ‘big thinking’person to give anothera compliment.

Law 5Participation MotivatesThere has been an enormous trend, starting in the mid-1980s, ofcompany management buy-outs, and in many cases what previouslywere fairly unprofitable companies were turned round to becomeenormous successes. In many of these schemes there was greatershare ownership with the employees demonstrating thatparticipation does motivate.

People are often more motivated by how they are used in a job thanby how they are treated. Where people feel they are part of anexperiment or part of a project they will show a much higher level ofmotivation.

So by getting people involved you will create a more motivatedindividual or group of people.

Many managers do not share their plans, goals and objectives. Theydo not let people experience a pioneering spirit. In January 1993, Iwas running a two-day sales course. Having arrived at the hotel, Imet up with some of the delegates and discovered a demotivated

and demoralised group. I discovered, by asking a lot of questions,that there had been a senior management change. The sales teamnow felt that they were being dictated to, that their opinions were nolonger sought or valued and that they were not involved in decisionmaking. Here was a situation I had to resolve. Next morning, I metwith the new manager and we spent two hours successfully sortingout the various viewpoints. The new manager had not beencommunicating at all prior to our meeting.

Sell your ideas. Don’t just tell them. Get yourpeople to embrace them.

Law 6Seeing Ourselves Progressing Motivates UsThis is another law that you must understand fully.

When we see ourselves progressing, moving forward and achieving,we will always be more motivated. When we see ourselves goingbackwards, we will be demotivated

In the early 1990s, the UK experienced a period of dramaticdemotivation. This was in part caused by the rapid decrease inproperty values in the late 1980s. Due to world economic problemsand various other factors, house and land prices fell from anythingup to 50 per cent in certain parts of Britain.

People saw themselves as less wealthy, albeit paper wealth, and theresulting response was a dramatic loss of confidence, uncertainty,demotivation, a feeling of being out of control and very littleunnecessary expenditure. Money was channelled to the essentialsrather than the luxuries.

Also during this time there was a tremendous demotivation amongstthe property owning fraternity as they saw houses rapidly losingvalue and mortgages exceeded their new net worth. The nation andits people were in recession and they saw no proverbial light at theend of the tunnel – so there was massive demotivation.

This is an example of demotivation caused by circumstances outsidethe majority of people’s control. This, in turn, led to massive under-

confidence. The importance of this example is understanding why orhow one feels. This knowledge will help people’s action to becomemotivated and, in turn, they will find and develop ways ofprogressing.

I have met many people who find tremendous peace of mind afterbankruptcy. The devastating period of desperation and worry isremoved once the bankruptcy takes place. From then on, one canonly go back up again.

It’s the fear of wondering what else can gowrong or can happen that causes thedemotivated feeling.

It is a human characteristic that when we see ourselves progressingin whatever form that may be, we are definitely more motivated.Whether in our private or business life, our hobbies, sports andinterests, when we see ourselves moving forward, we just want to gofurther.

This law has to be used, worked on, managed and planned in orderto maintain a high level of motivation.

Law 7Challenge Only Motivates If You Can WinA challenge will only motivate a person if they think they have achance of success.

I have seen too many contests and competitions organised by salesmanagers with the object of inspiring people to greater sales results.They have not understood this law and then wondered why only oneor two people were motivated by the contest to raise theirperformance, grasp the challenge and reap the reward.

Contests, competitions and challenges are extremely effective andmost certainly do inspire people to greater activity. But those whoshould be participating must believe that they have a chance to win.

I have seen an instance where a company provided a two-weekholiday for two in the Bahamas as a prize. It was open to allmembers of a forty strong sales force. The prize was to be awardedto the person who got the most sales in a three-month period. Threepeople out of the sales team of forty set out on the challenge. Thesethree had the biggest area by territory, had the biggest volume ofcustomers and enquiries all ready to handle. They had alsoconsistently been in the top three for the previous two years. Theremainder of the sales force were in actual fact demotivated by thischallenge as they knew they had little or no chance of success. Thedifference between them was so vast that it was near enoughimpossible to make up the ground.

Challenge does motivate. People will rise to the occasion. Challengethem to get something worthwhile done and nine times out of tenthey will do it. More and more managers are finding that work initself can be a motivator. Not just work as a drudgery but otheraspects of work such as responsibility, challenge and a feeling ofdoing something worthwhile.

One can make a person’s work more challenging by giving them thebiggest job he or she can handle - and with the responsibility must,of course, come the credit of achievement.

Those who should be participating mustbelieve that they have a chance to win

Law 8Everybody Has a Motivational FuseThis law says that everybody can be motivated. They may have thefuse but we don’t know at what point it will ignite. Sometimes it isjust not cost effective to continue trying to spark a person intoactivity or greater performance.

Every one of us does have a fuse, and an effective motivationalmanager will try many ways to spark somebody into a moremotivated mode of behaviour. When one tries and fails, the managerin many cases blames himself; and for any manager one of the mostunpleasant duties is to fire an employee. But sometimes this can bethe best course of action because, as we have already said, it may bethe environment that is not conducive to effective performance. Onthe other hand, it could be the attitude of the individual that isdeterminedly unwilling to change; the individual that perpetuallypoints the finger and says: ‘It’s not my fault, it’s everybody else’s. It’sthe company, the product, the paperwork. It’s the manager. In fact,my job is a lousy job.’

Isn’t it extraordinary how jobs don’t care about people? It is whatpeople care about the job that makes the difference. One person canquite emphatically state and believe it is the worst job humanity hasever created. Yet another taking on that same job, with a differentattitude, will say and believe it is the greatest job ever created andhow fortunate they are to have it.

So in handling this law, as a motivator, you must understand thateverybody does have a fuse and they can be sparked into life. Equallyyou must accept that sometimes the effort and time involved justmight not be cost effective.

You must understand that everybody doeshave a fuse and they can be sparked into life.

Law 9Group Belonging MotivatesThis law emphasises the importance for people to have a feeling ofbelonging. The smaller the unit to which they belong the greater theloyalty, motivation and effort.

When you were at school, no doubt there was a school team andthere was a house team. I suggest that when the house teams wereplaying each other, greater excitement, emotion, loyalty andmotivation was apparent than when the school team was playing.

Let’s extend that analogy. What causes more emotion amongstsupporters and in turn raises the ticket prices on the black market –is it the Cup final or the national team playing another country? Thesupporters of local teams show who they belong to by wearing thescarves, the hats and the badges of their team – they want to belong.

Everybody, of course, is an ‘employee’ by being part of a company ororganisation, but a good motivational manager will also make theirpeople part of a team.

In some cases it may be a name that is created; for example, theleader of the team’s surname is used as the team name. In otherorganisations group belonging is created by their department: theproduction department, the marketing department, the salesdepartment and so on. And where one has created this feeling ofgroup belonging the good motivational manager will create extracurricular activities that draw their people together. These mightinclude a summer barbecue, a trip to the theatre, regular teammeetings and briefings. T-shirts, pens and diaries can also create afeeling of belonging to a team.

But do accept that group belonging motivates people.

Pocket Reminders• We have to be motivated to motivate

• Motivation requires a goal

• Motivation, once established, never lasts

• Motivation requires recognition

• Participation motivates

• Seeing ourselves progress motivates us

• Challenge only motivates if you can win

• Everybody has a motivational fuse

• Belonging to a group motivates

Did you know?

The Richard Denny Group is a leading provider of all kinds oftraining to help your business. We specialise in:

• Leadership training

• Sales training

• Communication training

• Motivation training

• Customer care training

LicenceRichard Denny is a highly successful businessman. Chairman ofthe Richard Denny Group, he is also the author of four bestsellingbooks, Selling to Win, Motivate to Win, Communicate to Win andSucceed for Yourself. For over 20 years, Richard Denny has beensharing his ideas on success and achievement around the world.A highly sought after motivational speaker, he has helped literallythousands of people to success. He is married with five sons, andlives in Gloucestershire, UK.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. This means that you arefree to copy and distribute this ebook (in particular by email or byhosting on your own website) as long as you attribute the work tome, do not use it for commercial purposes, do not alter it in anyway and make clear the terms of this license to those you share itwith. You can read more about the terms here:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/

You can buy the full book of Motivate to Win online atwww.motivate-to-win.co.uk

"If every manager practised the message from Richard Denny’s bookon motivation, people would enjoy their work and the results would be awesome."

Philip Williamson, CEO, Nationwide

Some other websites that might be useful

The Richard Denny Group: www.denny.co.uk

Richard Denny for speaking and conferences: www.richarddenny.co.uk

The Richard Denny blog, Thought for the Day: www.denny.co.uk/thoughts

ebook design: www.ebook-design.co.uk