motivation Archives

Image of person thinking - reflecting on uncovering motivation

#043 – Uncovering Motivation

30/11/202130/11/2021 by Mike Clargo

Increase your motivation by making clearer connections to your purpose – Use the Five Whys technique to gain new insight on your goals and how to get them Image of person thinking - reflecting on uncovering motivation

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Why take this challenge?

Increase your motivation by making clearer connections to your purpose

Prune and refocus your workload to better align it with your goals

Identify new creative opportunities to deliver what you need to happen

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

George Eliot wrote “What makes life dreary is the want of a motive”. This insight is taken significantly further by two powerful minds in Simon Sinek (Start with Why) and Dan Pink (Drive).

Losing sight of why you are doing things not only makes work harder, it also makes it seem harder still. When our work loses focus on our outcomes, it quickly becomes inefficient in pursuing them. And when all we can see is the next task, our sense of purpose fades and ceases to energise and inspire us. Work becomes more of a effort and time begins to drag.

When this happens, if we have not fallen asleep, we need to think about uncovering motivation.

One of the simplest and most powerful tools we know for doing this is a Japanese discipline called ‘The Five Whys’. It was invented by the founder of Toyota back in the 1930s. And it is best understood by imagining a small child meeting every answer you give them with “… but why?”

Often, by the third ‘why’ it is not uncommon (if we are honest) to realise that we haven’t really thought about it that much. And when we do think about it, it is not uncommon that we can spot other, better, ways of doing it.

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

A dreary task

So the green track this week is simply to take one of your most dreary tasks (or at least one that motivates you least) and ask ‘why?’ you do it.

Then, when you have written a clear answer to that, ask ‘Why?’ of that answer. And then again, writing down ‘Why?’ and your next-level answer until you have completed five whys.

Having done so, there are now two further questions you can ask yourself as you reflect back on the five answers you have given. The first is – “Is that ‘why’ really important to me?”. And the second is “Is there a better way of getting there than what I am doing?”

Don’t expect the Five Whys to necessarily give you a clear outcome. Like all of these adventures, it is simply about exploring new pespectives. When you begin to gain that perspective, what you do with it is up to you. The Adventure is only about the view. And from your viewpoint you may see places where you struggled in getting there. If so, feel free to adjust your route.

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

Uncovering motivation with a friend

You can do the Five Whys on your own, and most times that is the most practical option. Alternatively, you can enlist the help of a trusted friend or colleague to ask the five whys of you. And if you do, this can add a powerful dimension to the exercise.

To illustrate this, my friend Adrian Ashton sent me this link to a short and very humourous video on the 5 whys.

It seems trivial to have someone ask you a question you can ask yourself. And yet, their eyes and ears have a positive effect on your discipline to seriously and honestly think through every answer. Even if those eyes and ears do nothing more than pay attention.

Try it and see how you get on.

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Uncovering motivation for the team

The red track this week is to try out the Five Whys in uncovering motivation with your team.

One option for this is to pick an aspect of the team’s activities, customs or practices. And then for you to act as the questioner and invite the whole team to reach agreement on each of the answers.

Sometimes, immense value can be obtained simply in the dialogue around the answers. Reconciling the different perspectives can provide new insights for people, and build greater mutual understanding and alignment. For one client, some years ago, I planned 45 minutes for a similar exercise as part of a 3-day workshop. In the event, it took 11 painful hours. And yet, the team thought it was the most helpful exercise they had ever done together.

Another option is simply to pair the team up and repeat the blue track in each pair – first one way and then the other. This can help them work on individual whys rather than a big collective one.

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

Let us know how you get on.
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Useful links:

Introduction to Leading by Adventure  |  What we mean by spirituality?  |  Why Adventure
Adventures to date   |  I did it, but it didn’t work very well   |  How do I know if it is working
Bringing this thinking into your meetings   |  Adventure & Mental Health
Leading by Adventure community   |  Explore Strategic Support options

Man walking along steps through storm - metaphor for motivation and force field analysis

#017 – Mapping Motivations

27/04/2021 by Mike Clargo

Understand the forces that shape the behaviours around you – Learn to better modify behaviours through forcefield analysis Mapping Motivation - header for exploring force field analysis

Why take this challenge?

Gain greater insight into why people act the way they do

Help people better adopt the behaviours they need to succeed

Make change easier and more lasting

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

Have you struggled to implement new ways of doing things? Launched a new approach and found the takeup somewhat variable? Seen change initiatives falter and never really get going?

The problem is often that what may seem obvious to us is not so obvious to others – even after it has been explained. And the struggle and tensions that are obvious to them, and not always properly understood by us. But if we don’t understand those tensions, we struggle to help people rebalance them. And that imbalance will resist change.

And what is true for others, is also true for us. Are you struggling to maintain a change in yourself? Have you fully appreciated all of the forces that create that struggle?

An extremely useful, and deceptively simple, tool to map these out was devised by Kurt Lewin. Called Force Field Analysis is simply plots out all of the motivations that promote and enable a behaviour on one side. And all of the demotivations that make it difficult or unpleasant on the other.

Lewin’s contention was that our behaviour operates at a point of equilibrium in these forces. And that a change in behaviour requires a shift in the point of equilibrium. In other words, we don’t need to make it all positive, we just need to tip the balance.

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

Looking at our own motivations.

So the green track is to revisit a behaviour that you are struggling to change in yourself. And to map it out using the Force Field Analysis tool – You can find a copy of it in the Pack section below.

At the top of the Flipchart write “Hmmm, shall I [X}’ where X is the behaviour you want to increase. Then, start on the left and write down all of the things that encourage and support that behaviour. What you know; how you feel; what you get back; why it’s good; skills or knowledge; what it means; … And then, on the right, list all of the obstacles that hold you back or drain your enthusiasm. Difficulties; awkwardness; consequences; cost; effort; distraction, …

Try and get everything down – even the small stuff. It really helps to have a complete picture. To name some of those things that you haven’t really questioned before. Now, just circle three things. The things can be on either list. But they should be choices that are relatively easy to improve. And things which would really help shift the balance positively. Things which increase the encouragement and/or reduce the demotivation.

What you do with them is up to you. But hopefully you will get the sense that bringing them out in the open has given you just a bit more control over the situation.

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

Making your team more effective

For the blue track you could simple extend what you did in the green track with your team. And, if you want to accelerate some change within your team, that will be fine. But if you are up for something else then I would encourage you to consider the following.

The most common use of the Forcefield Analysis is in looking at what influences the behaviours of others. And it would be good to develop some practice in this.

Increasingly, your team’s effectiveness is likely to depend on other teams who support or enact your conclusions to deliver its benefit to the business. It may be however, that their efforts don’t have the full impact or speed that you hoped for. To understand why, you might use the ForceField Analysis to explore their motivation in their efforts to implement or progress your ideas.

Write at the top of the Force Field Template “Hmm shall we … [X] ?” where X is the behavioural change you require in them. Then try thinking of them in their situation – putting yourself in their shoes. And ask what encouragements and discouragements you experience in enacting that behaviour. You may gather some surprising insights.

And, depending on what you have on your Force Field, you might share it with them, and together think through what might be missing. And then, as with the green track, circle three things that might be good to improve.

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Making change more effective

Thinking about motivation is something we don’t tend to do enough. Too often a project finishes with a set of actions or conclusions, and that is it! But how well do we explore the mindsets of those who are the recipients, beneficiaries, or custodians of that change? Thinking about what it feels like to them?

So the Red track is nothing more than a decision to make Force Field Analysis a regular part of any change your team undertakes. Thinking about motivations in this structured way takes minute, but it can save you weeks, months, even years, in gaining the buy-in and commitment you need to embed that change into people’s routines.

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

Playing at work! Seriously?

15/12/202209/09/2019 by Mike Clargo

Post intentionally hidden from search engines 15/12/2022 (covered in Clrgo.com)

The toy, Lego, can provide surprising insights into you, your work and your relationships.

Over the last two months I have been reading and listening to a lot of stuff about what makes us who we are, and the conclusion I am being drawn to is that, for most of us, we are not who we think we are.

Our identity is tied up in stories; multiple stories which we tell ourselves; a flow of narrative which leads to and flows from the current moment, and to a large part determines how we feel about what we are doing right now. Those stories may be short or long, they may originate from us or from others, they may be in conflict or harmony, and most of the time we may not be fully aware of them.

And some of them are the truth, and some of them are lies, and some of them are both in different circumstances. And we pick which ones we believe (not always consciously or consistently) and they determine not only our effectiveness, but also how we feel about our performance and our situation.

I say ‘not always consciously’ because a lot of this takes place in our subconscious. Most of what is going on in our heads is happening without us being in control of it, and yet it is making associations, feeding our attitudes, responding to cues, suggesting motives, and preparing us – all based on whatever narratives it is currently using.

But if we are not aware of this, how do we know that it is equipping us with the best narrative to do what we are wanting to do? The answer, for most of us, most of the time, is we don’t! And it isn’t!

In many cases, particularly in respect of relationships with others (business or otherwise) we find ourselves all too easily doing, saying, and feeling things that are not particularly helpful to us or to them – particularly in tense or difficult situations. And as a result, opportunities, time and resource get wasted.

So how do we fix this?

Well first of all, this is not a quick fix – it takes time. But that time can be enjoyable, insightful, and empowering. And it can yield benefits right from the outset.

Secondly, working on it is not like working on other things in our lives. Our subconscious is an alien space and it uses a different language to the ones we are used to speaking.

As a result, working with the subconscious involves doing things that our conscious might deem as silly or weird – like playing with Lego. Seriously.

Lego (R) Serious Play (R) or LSP, for brevity and avoidance of the the legal symbols, was a technique developed at the Lego group in the mid-nineties and made open-source in 2010. It is designed to access the metaphors that operate in our subconscious, and enable us to better work together on a shared vision or enterprise.

At an individual level, it enables people to see things in themselves that can surprise them; to unearth important facets of their narrative, and to work on them to bring about changes which can make us more effective, individually and together. It can surface metaphors that are important to us, and enable us to better examine them, and reassess their place (and their limits) in our story.

Whether by LSP, or by means of other Therapies, if you are blessed enough to have the opportunity to work on your own subconscious. I encourage you to take it (or even seek it out). It is not just for those with mental health issues, it is also for those with mental health who want to retain it.

The world is getting more and more complex, routine is being automated, things are moving ever faster, and relationships are increasingly key. Looking after our mental health so that it equips us with what we need to make the best of this emerging future is key, and I am increasingly convinced that a better grasp of our subconscious will enrich all our lives.

In these days of data protection, when we can ask any organisation to reveal the picture it has of us, particularly where it might lead them to make decisions which are not in our interest, perhaps our most productive course of action could be to start within our own minds.