Explain how it matters

I was catching up with one of our most talented younger people the other day, discussing some good advice she’d received recently about motivating people.  She spoke about the importance of providing context for people when you ask them to do things, like taking the time to point out how the task or the job fits into the rest of the work going on, and why it matters.

All good stuff.

The reason its true is that it goes right to the core of human respect.

Asking people to do something without explaining why sends a message that they are not as important as you.  It says that you don’t deserve an explanation because you’re not worth it.  If we take this to the extreme, we can arrive at serfdom or even slavery, where people have the same status as firewood – a resource to be used up.

But as humans in the world, we want to matter.  To our friends, our family, our colleagues, or failing all of this, even to the police or the jailer.  Whether it ends up good or bad, we want to matter.  It makes us real.

Work provides a perfect opportunity every day to matter, and managers have the chance  to make this happen.  To make people real.

Explaining the context for any work says you matter.  It says that I respect your existence enough that I wouldn’t ask you to do something that wouldn’t make a difference.  And here’s the difference you will make.  It has to be the truth, however.  An attempt to ‘sell’ the task will be seen through no matter how good management thinks it did.

Remember good old Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs from the 1950s?  He set up a pyramid which goes from basic survival needs such as food and shelter right up to self-actualisation as it was called then.  The key point from Maslow for organisations is that once a need has been satisfied, it’s no longer noticed, so can no longer be a motivator.

Salary comes in right at the bottom – it fills the need for survival.  Once people are used to being paid, motivation needs to come from a better need than “I’m paying you”, or it simply won’t count.

Context is our way to the higher needs.  From the social needs right through to self-actualisation needs, explaining how the task fits in with the work of other people in the organisation, why the task is needed as part of the overall plan is all required to respect these needs.  Even better if the task requires some new learning, and even better again if the person is given space to find their own way to achieve it.

Here’s the trick.  Same rules apply if the task sucks.  Any attempt to ‘sell’ or sugarcoat it will be seen through and will be demotivating as all people can instantly feel the lack of respect this implies.  And you’re on the road to creating a serf.

Treating people with fairness and respect is the main game of motivation.  Everything else builds on it, including whatever motivational program you’ve got going at your work.