As leaders, how can you motivate others to achieve goals and objectives? Some people say you can’t! That motivation only comes from the inside. Well if that’s the case, then look inside to what’s important to those you are “trying” to motivate. That’s what one football coach, Lou Tice, did.
Lou Tice, former high school teacher, football coach, and author of Smart Talk for Achieving Your Potential and Personal Coaching for Results shares his experience in motivating others in an article called Are you interested in knowing how to motivate other people?
If you are, then how much do you know about what these other people value, what they hold near and dear? When he was coaching football, he worked with three quarterbacks. Lou asked each one what was important to him about playing the game.
One said he did it for the glory of God and to make his mom and dad proud (values =faith and recognition). The second said it made him feel powerful, because he liked the idea of breaking through limits and defeating opponents who were trying as hard as they could to stop him (values=innovation, and challenges). The third player said that football was his ticket out of poverty and the ghetto, because he hoped to get a football scholarship that would pay his way through college (values = financial security, and education).
Now, there was no way that he could have motivated all three of these kids in the same way. The things that were important to one didn’t matter at all to the others, and vice versa. The objective to motivating others is not just self serving…it’s not to get what we want…people see through that rather quickly and when they feel manipulated you have damaged your relationship with that person and possibly lost their trust. The objective to motivating others is to help them attain their goals while attaining yours. It’s the oneness that is so powerful and many times it’s core values that are the binding agent between the two.
So next time you are wish, pushing, trying to get someone to change, do something different or do things your way ask yourself – What is most important to that person, in this situation, that I can help them with?
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