Motivation is bogus if you ask CNN commentator and author Mel Robbins. Our minds are not hard-wired to deal with things that are hard, intimidating or out of our comfort zone. Our brains naturally want to keep us away from dangerous situations simply because our brains are trying to keep us safe. When we detect some form of risk or discomfort – be it a new task at work, stepping into a new chapter in your life or wanting to build your own business – our brains immediately say “NOPE!” and start doing everything they can to keep us away from the newly arisen discomfort.

This is why Mel Robbins thinks motivation is a load of nonsense. Our brains will never be convinced that taking risks are ever a good idea. Therefore, it is unwise to convince ourselves, that we just have to wait for the “right” moment to feel motivated enough to do something that could ultimately turn out to improve our lives. The moment will simply never come, because our brain is doing everything within its power to keep us away from the harm of risk-taking.

Assuming that Mel Robbins is right and motivation really is pure fiction, how is it then possible to motivate employees within an organisation? How do you get them to take healthy risks, thrive and exceed in what they are doing while keeping the company’s values and DNA intact?

One approach could be to find out what expectations the employees have towards the organisation and ask them to explain what expectations they think that the organisation has towards them. Do the two set of expectations align? If not, it is time to reevaluate how the organisation and the employees communicate with each other. It is not merely enough for an organisation to assume that they are on the same page as their employees, and this is where clear and open communication comes in handy.

Internal engagement can be handled a lot like a general marketing approach:

  • What do we want?

  • Where are we currently?

  • What are our best options

  • And how do we implement them most successfully?

Let’s say that we want the employees to become even better at thinking and planning ahead. One way to approach the goal is to make sure that the employees and their team leaders have a thorough understanding of their own skills, as well as the skill set of their team mates. You can’t expect the employees to become better at thinking and planning ahead, if they don’t have a solid notion of how much work they are able to get done within a limited time span. Understanding how efficient a specific team is and making this knowledge available to the team is part of the strategy know as “Scrum.”

However, asking employees to gain a better understanding of their work-speed is not enough. You also have to give them the tools necessary for them to begin solving the task at hand. This is not to suggest, that you have to do the employees work for them, but rather to highlight how important it is to steer them in the intended direction instead of wasting time on misunderstandings and uncertainty. By setting up a perimeter around the task, the employees are able to concentrate and focus completely on solving the task, because the potential anxiety and risk of having misunderstood the task have been minimised.

But what tools do the employees need in order to get a better insight into the work efficiency of themselves and their team? One exercise could be to gather the team and have them individually write down the things they know they are good at on post-its. Then instruct them to place the post-it notes on a board so that everyone in the team can see and read them. Maybe employee A is good at keeping deadlines and creating a structured agenda at meetings, and maybe employee B is good at collecting data in PowerPoints and pitching the data to clients. Either way, the exercise gives the team a fundamental understanding of each other’s skills. The employees can use this knowledge to rely more on each other and know who to seek out in the team, if they run into difficulties with a task. Employee B knows that she can ask employee A for help, if she is having trouble keeping deadlines, and in return employee A knows he can ask employee B for advice, when he needs to make a structured presentation about decisions made at a meeting.

When the employees in a team have a better understanding of the strengths (and to some extend the weaknesses) within their team, they are more equipped to calculate more precise deadlines for their tasks. They are therefore also more equipped to plan ahead more efficiently and effectively. It is important to emphasise, that the employees cannot be expected to fully use the new knowledge about their team from day 1. As with all newly learned abilities, practice and repetition are essential in reaching and further develop the new skillset. By making the employees more aware of their team’s strengths (and weaknesses), and letting them use this knowledge to get better at meeting deadlines and thinking ahead, the exercise has also minimised the level of uncertainty factors within the team by shedding light on what the team mates are already good at and what they need to get better at – individually and as a team.

The exercise also lays the cornerstone for mutual trust between the team mates, as well as between the team and the organisation. Providing the employees with work tools that leads to a better work performance shows that the organisation care about the employees’ development and advancement, as well as making them thrive.

Internal engagement also relies on the ability to listen to one another and react on the knowledge gain by listening. In most cases, it is fair to assume that the employees of an organisation chose the organisation based on some sort of affiliation they have towards it. They want to work for the company because they agree with the company’s values, because they have heard that the company offers a good and thriving work environment or because they feel a strong connection with the company’s brand – or something along those lines. Based on this assumption, it is therefore safe to say that the employees want to contribute and add to the value of the company through their work there. Nowadays, employees also expect the company to want to invest in their employees – both through advancement, as well as consideration towards the employees’ needs.

One way to manage these expectations is to listen, be open-minded and willing to interact. If the organisation does not listen to its employees, how can it expect the employees to be attentive towards the organisation, its values and its DNA? Two-way commitment is essential in any relationship, both professionally and privately – and therefore also when it comes to successful internal engagement. By providing the employees with guidelines and tools to solve the task set forth, the organisation optimises the work environment by minimising the potential uncertainty that surrounds solving tasks that haven’t been properly mapped.

Returning to Mel Robbins thesis about motivation, one way to optimise internal engagement would be to minimise (not remove) potential discomfort or uncertainty that the employees might come across in their work. This is not to suggest that the organisation should cradle its employees, because that would probably lead to even more inefficiency, but rather to emphasise that healthy internal engagement relies on:

  • Clear mutual expectations,
  • A healthy work environment,
  • And a good understanding of the employees’ strengths and short-comings.

By constantly working on improving these things, the organisation proves that it is interested in getting the employees to thrive, and in return the employees are able to create better results more efficiently.

Communication Engagement English