Expressing
Inspiring commitment in others.
How do I motivate my team? It is the question I get asked almost daily. And for good reason as the recently published Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report suggests. In Australia and New Zealand, employee engagement was reported to be at 17% - ranking our region eighth out of ten (only higher than the regions representing Middle East/Africa and Europe). The same report told us that 47% of us are suffering from daily stress (up 2% from the year before and higher than the global figure of 42%).
In leadership positions, we are tasked with inspiring and motivating teams in the face of many internal and external forces all while possibly feeling similar levels of lowered engagement and increased stress ourselves!
As we continue to suffer a seemingly unending cascade of local, national, and global influences on our businesses and industries the whole idea of progress and motivating others can be overwhelming. So, what can we do to redirect the trajectory of our collective mindsets from survival into motivation? Steven Covey once said, “If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control - myself.” This speaks to the disempowering and demotivating effect of focusing on things we have no influence over. The rising price of energy, the weather, or high levels of absenteeism are a few common examples.
So what can we focus on to inspire ourselves and others to reengage and tuck into respective responsibilities?
I believe that clarity of roles and responsibilities, the purpose of the work, and processes are all critical elements leaders must know and convey to their troops. To elevate these factors alone in our own contexts will surely uplift engagement and motivation alone. But, our communication of this content is crucial. According to Aristotle's three artistic proof's we must communicate not only with Ethos (credibility) and Logos (logic), but must have an element of Pathos (feeling and emotion). This is where passion can come in handy.
Passion can make us do and say idiotic things. If you are in the same room with me while I watch Liverpool play a game of football you will see (and hear) a loud and disconcerting example of this. In the words of Ryan Holiday, "passion is a form of mental retardation - deliberately blunting our most critical cognitive functions". Being aware of how passion can be destructive is important as being passionate about an idea or decision can create rigidity and staunchness within us. This leads to poor strategic decision making and even resentment from those we are trying to lead. Being able to check ourselves is helpful.
However, utilising passion in our communication is of much greater value. Well thought out strategies and plans (understood deeply by a leader) come alive when communicated with passion. The message becomes impactful, memorable, and motivating (i.e. gets people 'doing'!) When we do this often in individual and group settings we can create momentum in the face of the toughest challenges. Animating passion with our facial expressions, body language, and voice leverages Dr Albert Mehrabian’s 7-38-55 rule. Mehrabian tell us that humans communicate attitudes and ideas via three main channels; Words (7%), Tone of Voice (38%), and Facial Expression (55%). These numbers are not necessarily true and can be used out of context, but they do intimate people listen to our voice and body language more than our words themselves. Using this frame we can create connection, empathy, and buy-in from our teams, not by being passionate but by communicating with passion.
Some examples include:
Using clear articulation with short and succinct sentences
Using short spurts of increased volume and speaking from our gut to project our voice
Using lowered volume and pauses to increase attention and drama
Using piercing eye contact to convey seriousness and commitment
Using our smile, eye brows, and cheek bones to show excitement and enthusiasm
Using hands and arm gestures to animate our message
These may sound silly or possibly obvious but I witness leaders present messages to their teams every day, often with monotone and one-paced communication resulting in low engagement. Our energy and enthusiasm for our message has to be known, felt, but most importantly communicated. When passion is authentic and congruent to the message our power and ability to inspire and motivate the most disengaged people in our teams elevates immediately and substantially.
