Not every person has the same motivation. For their personal lives. And also for their professional lives. You may have a group of people at your workplace. They’re all doing pretty good work. They’re all doing what the job asks. But they’re probably all doing it for different reasons.
And that’s okay. People can have different motivations. That’s how life works. A key, for many reasons in a business, is getting people working toward the same pursuit. A pursuit that they feel fulfills their motivation.
1. Talk To Your Team, Learn
The first step for this to work is to get to know your team. Sure, you probably know some of them very well. You probably know all of them at least a little. About their work, certainly. But also about what they do outside of work a bit.
But dig in deeper. Ask what they want for the future. Ask what they like doing. What they don’t like doing. You start to learn motivations. You start to learn values. These all help to bring about the discovery of common themes that everyone can get behind no matter their motivation.
2. Identify & Communicate A Pursuit
Once you’ve gathered information from these discussions you should get a good idea for a pursuit. Something that is good for the business and good for the team.
Sports is interesting because the goal is often to the win the championship for whatever league you’re in. Everyone that plays knows that’s the goal. But they all have different motivations for wanting it. The glory. The money, perhaps. The self satisfaction and pride. All kinds of things. It’s the job of the coach to tap into those motivations to bring everyone together.
Once you have a goal, communicate it with the team.
3. Answer Questions
There will be questions. Take the time to answer them. There will be “why” questions. Try to prepare for them. And if you’re not able to prepare make sure to schedule time to come up with answers and follow up with the person that asked and also with the team that needs to know.
You may even need to schedule follow up meetings with individuals. Get them on the same page. Especially if they hold higher responsibility and tasks. Because there is likely a lot of work involved. Work that they may not want to do unless they feel the motivation.
4. Create Small Road Markers
NFL coaches know the goal is the Super Bowl. They talk about it. But they also create road markers. They often break the season down into segments. Quarters. They set a roadmap for how the team will practice throughout the season. Sure, they make adjustments, but usually nothing major. They want to keep the feeling that they are slowly building toward the conclusion.
Jim Collins discovered this concept in his business research. It’s the 20-Mile March. The team that was successful in going to the South Pole broke things down into 20-mile marches each day. No more. No less. If it was a great day they went 20. If it was a bad day, they did their best to get to 20.
Determine your overall pursuit. Break it down into sections. Give your team feedback along the way for how they’re doing while keeping an eye on the bigger pursuit.
Conclusion
A pursuit can bring a team together. But it can’t be arbitrary. It often comes through discovery. You have to talk to your team about their motivations and goals. From that you often get clarity on a pursuit. If it’s a personal pursuit. A project. A dream. You may have to hire the right people that share the goal. Whatever the case, a pursuit can bring a team together. But it has to be the right pursuit in order to bring out the motivation in each person.