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A New Twist On Motivating Ourselves and Others
"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."
Jack Welch
In previous newsletters I have mentioned how your thinking style impacts your behavior. If you will recall, people who prefer the left side of their brains when thinking are typically analytical, safekeeping and problem solvers. Those who prefer their right brains are risk takers, big picture thinkers and entrepreneurs. According to an article titled Do You Play to Win or to Not Lose? in Harvard Business Review dated March 2013, the authors Halvorson and Higgins suggest that there are two types of personalities that need different styles of motivation; promotion focused (right brained) and prevention focused (left brain).
In a nutshell, promotion focused personalities concentrate on the rewards they will receive if they reach their goals. In other words, they play to win. Prevention focused personalities believe that goals are responsibilities and they need to play it safe. They worry about what may go wrong and they hang on to what they have.
Promotion focused personalities are motived by inspirational stories of people they want to emulate while prevention focused personalities are motived by cautionary tales of people who experienced hardships that can be avoided.
So, how do you determine which type of focus you have? Ask yourself if you are motivated more by the rewards of winning or the fear of failing? You may answer yes to both but typically you have a dominance that is slightly stronger than the other. In other words one of the two phrases resonates more with you; striving to win.... or not lose. You could ask your direct reports this same question to help them determine their preferred focus as well.
So, how do you motivate others depending on your motivational focus? Try these tips for promotionally motivated personalities:
- Show your confidence in their ability and recognize and praise their good work
- Share stories of top salespeople or great leaders that have reached their goals
- Share the reward they will receive if they hit their goal, i.e., bonus money, feeling better about themselves, helping others, etc.
- Be careful of using constructive criticism too much without praise as this may demotivate
Prevention focused motivational tips include:
- Offering constructive criticism to help them reduce the chance of failure
- Sharing stories of what went wrong with others and how they can avoid the same mistakes
- When stating a goal use the "don't miss more than 2 of 5 goals versus the promotional statement of needing to hit 3 of 5 goals" In a German study of soccer players coaches used the "don't miss more than 2 of 5 penalty shots" statement with prevention focused players and they scored twice as often.
- Don't pour on too much praise and make sure to offer constructive feedback to eliminate potential errors
The article gives the example of how British Petroleum (BP) reframed its goal statement from providing bonuses for those that hit their target goals of safety to taking bonuses away if the safety targets were not hit. Many times promotional right brain thinkers can take risks that are not necessary to reach their goals. By offering bonuses for hitting safety goals, they take short cuts or overlook critical details to reach their goal. By taking away bonuses for not hitting their goals, this may cause promotional thinkers to slow down and be more careful in their decision making. Because of BP's history with oil spills, using the preventative motivating statement best matched the need for increased safety.
Question for You:
Do you find that you or your direct reports are more motivated by winning or the fear of failing? Do you find that your style of managing may not be working with the people that report to you? Do you find that your boss's style of motivating may not match your own?
Action for You:
Reflect on what motivates you more winning.... or the fear of failing? Let your boss know what motivates you and create goals that reflect this way of motivation. If you have employees that report to you, find out what best motivates them and adjust your leadership style to better fit their motivational focus.
"Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish."
Sam Walton
"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."
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