How to motivate.mp3
Welcome to Unlocking Potential, a podcast for leaders who care and want to create workplaces where everybody matters. I am Emily Petty. I am a coach, a trainer, a facilitator, someone who cares, someone who wants to create workplaces for them, where everyone matters. And I am here to support you.
What I'm going to start doing in this podcast now is to start with a little check in. I want to really encourage the thought and the idea of regularly checking in, checking in with yourself, checking in with your team. So before we get stuck in to how to motivate your team and let's face it, yourself and I have a check in question for you. So when have you felt most energised and motivated? And what was in place to make that happen? When have you felt most energised and motivated and what was in place to make that happen? I'd love to know and do. Share on LinkedIn or Instagram, or pop over into my emails and let me know. And do use this question as a question to help your team and yourself reflect on motivation. So before we get stuck in, I also just wanted to comment or note on my most recent podcast, which was How to Think and Act Strategically, and it really surprised me. I haven't got major, you know, crazy numbers of people listening to my podcasts, but it has been my most popular podcast by far, and it's my most recent. And the numbers are higher, their highest than any other podcast that I have put out of all. All seven of them, and I'd love to know. Also, um, what was it if you did listen to that or if you haven't listened to it, please do have a listen. What was it about that title or the concept of thinking and acting strategically that, um, caused you to listen and to download? Um, so I'd love to know. That would really, really help me when I think about shaping my content for you in the future. So back to the topic. Today we are going to be talking about all things motivation and, uh, the outcome that I hope you will come away from is, um, thinking about ideas and strategies to help you motivate your team. But also I put it like, let's face it ourselves, because if we aren't motivated, if we feel de-energised that is going to rub off onto our team. It's going to have an impact on our team and leading the way, finding strategies and ways for ourselves to move through. Motivation is key. So I'll share honestly from my life over the past few weeks. So the past few weeks I have lacked motivation. Um, and I'd say that's a kind of putting it politely. Um, I've felt stuck. I've felt low. I'd probably go as far as to say, um, as as depressed. Um, completely disengaged. Felt quite emotional. Um, you know, I had really quite a tough time. And so, um, I want to recognise that if you are listening to this and you are feeling demotivated, low de-energised, if you are supporting people or working with people who are in that space, let's be empathetic about it. It is a really, really hard place to be, and in many ways, the only person that can kind of bring us out of demotivation is ourselves. But if you lead others and you can number one, create the conditions to support motivation and energy, um, and sort of inspiration and ideas and creativity, you can create that context and you create that context as well in who you are and the energy that you you create. But also you can um, uh, so you can create the context, you can create the energy, you can help people to reflect. So creating the space where someone can reflect on their own energy and motivation, um, is a really, really powerful, um, starting point. So I just wanted to start by sharing, um, that and as I reflected on kind of my low energy, you know, I noticed that then my energy rubs off on my clients. It rubs off on, you know, the quality of the content that I create, like this podcast or my newsletter or my workshops. Um, it impacts, um, my family. It impacts my own health and my own well-being. But it's important to say that dips in energy and motivation are normal. Um, they're valid. And actually, it's often in those moments that we grow and it's often in those moments that we, um, you know, build up some strength and resilience to help us move forward. So I guess what I want to say is that we, um, I know a few really high vibing people and they're like, always on that high, high energy. Da da da da da, uh, vibe. um. Some people are like that. Most of us aren't. And we can't stay kind of high vibing jazz hands. Um. Woop, woop. Um. You know, all of the time we do have flows and dips in our energy. And I think it's really important to recognise that that's normal in yourself. That's normal in the cycle of team life. Um, and so, you know, if you're showing up to meetings and your team are like, just flat out, uh, and you're just not getting anything back, it's probably less about you. Um, and more about a season that might be happening for them. So really sort of three steps to think about when you think about motivation and energy. And the first is to notice. So when we are in that state of low motivation or low energy, you know what else is going on. So if I speak personally from my life, the past few weeks have been a huge transition in my life. My son has gone to my youngest son has gone to university, 22 years of having an identity as a mother and as a as a parent. And I still hold that identity. But but in many ways, that felt like a grieving and a loss of 22 years of my identity. And that identity started for me in my 20s when I was still very young. Um, and, you know, I think so much of my life has changed, um, and so much has happened in that time. And so for me, I know that that was a really big cause of my low of low motivation and low energy that, that I was I had to make a move through that transition. Um, and it might be a key cause of low motivation and energy in your team or for yourself. Might well be. And I know a lot of organisations are going through change, even if that's like positive, um, change. That might be like a new CEO or a new director. Um, it might be a new strategy, but that also might be more challenging change. It might be a restructure, it might be, um, staff leaving due to, um, voluntary or redundancy process. Um, it might be, you know, that your organisation or your team is going through a challenging time. Um, it might just be any just staff leaving for good or right reasons. And any change can cause dips in our motivation and our energy. So again, just validate that notice it's okay, um, to have those periods of low motivation and particularly in times of change, whether that's personal, um, or corporate change. And also remember that people will respond to change in different ways. So there's the change curve. People might be at different points in the change curve. If you're managing change then we've got seasons. So this is the season of autumn. And I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of autumn. I'm not a fan of it getting colder. I'm not a fan of it getting darker. I'm not a fan of like, seeing everything die and decay. Um, but equally so that is a challenge. Um, but equally, I've been trying to really lean into, um, the kind of joys and the blessings that that bring that that brings holding on to, um, noticing when we think about nature, you know, noticing the buds on. I've got quite a few camellias and rhododendrons in my garden, and they form their buds, um, in the summer, and they hold on to their buds through the winter. So I can see those buds. I can see, um, like the possibility and the opportunity of beautiful, glorious flowers coming out in six months time. But noticing that thinking, actually, how do you need to adjust? There is a period of adjustment that we need to make as we transition into, um, the change of the autumn. Also, it's just confusing. Like earlier in the week, I was all wrapped up in the pouring rain. As I was writing the content for this podcast, I was sat in the garden in the sunshine. So confusing. Um, uh, hormones for me. I'm going through a stage in life where, you know, hormones, um, and the balance of my hormones are going to be having an impact on my energy and motivation. And then the final point to notice is emotions. So, um, if you've followed me for a while, you'll know that I love to talk about emotions and that emotions are really, really important. Um, to, um, validate, to accept, to notice, to bring into our lives as a team because emotions are energy in motion. And if we're looking at how we energise ourselves, emotions are going to be a really key way to do that. And it's really important to tap into your emotions and see all emotions as valuable and as valid, as important as signals and signs to help us to keep that energy, uh, energy flow in motion.
So when we think about motivating our team, it's really important to check in on our own motivation levels. How motivated and energised are you? Are you just going through the motions of what it is to be a leader, to show up at the meetings to say the right things, to, um, do the work. Or hopefully you are being driven by your purpose, by your values. You're creating spaces for yourself that, um, help you to generate ideas, help you to be present and give attention for those around you. And really, that comes from us listening to and understanding ourselves. So first, that noticing piece or our motivation, what's going on, but also like what do we need to energise us. So this week is really been has been a significant turnaround in my, um, energy and motivation because I thought that I needed time alone. I thought I needed to go away into the wilderness alone, um, and have a period of kind of reflection, um, um, I'm all about reflection, I love it, I'm an introvert and I really wanted to do that. And actually my intuition, my gut said, no, it's not right. It doesn't feel right to do that. What you need to do is use this week to make connections. So I had a full day of 1 to 1 connections, coffees, lunches, um, with, you know, anyone and everyone. No agenda. Um, so past clients, fellow coaches, um, family members, random people, um, you name it, I connected with them. And then the following day, I went to a networking lunch, um, with people that I didn't know and just kind of put, again with no agenda and just put myself out there. And, um, I was absolutely amazed that it wasn't even that the content was, like, sort of super training that was going to help me, um, or that even the conversations were specifically around the things where I was feeling stuck, but I was absolutely amazed by how I sat on the train on the way home. From these connections and ideas flowed and my energy had shifted like dramatically. And that's really led me to think about, you know, what do I need? Do I need connection time? But equally, today I've dedicated a whole day to writing and producing this podcast to doing some reflection work on my coaching training and to doing some work on on my business. Now I've got the motivation and energy to do that. Like, almost like it's fuelled me. Uh, the connection time has fuelled me for the reflection time. So what is the balance that you need in terms of being connected with others and being alone in terms of sitting in meetings and doing deep work? Um, in terms of that process of reflection and action. Reflection action, reflection action. What's that balance for you? And equally, if you lead and manage others, what is the balance between giving and receiving. And I think one of the biggest challenges or mistakes maybe that we make as leaders is we are giving all of the time, and we're not in spaces where other people are giving to us. Where are we resting? How are we resting? Um, and that doesn't just mean lying on a on a couch asleep. It means, um, you know, are we taking exercise? Are we moving into nature? Are we connecting? Sometimes. Being connected is is rest for us? Um, and so just take a moment to to think about what, you know, just reflect on the week that has just gone or, um, uh, you know, the week ahead. Um, you know, what do you notice? And that energises you and motivates you and what do you need? What do you notice and what do you need and and who or what is draining your energy. And it's really important to lead the way by setting and creating boundaries that really help you to stay energised. So, for example, that might be that you decide that you're not going to have any meetings on a Friday, um, and that you are going to go to the office on a Tuesday and you are going to, um, you know, have lunch with people. You're going to very deliberately use that space and time to connect. And provided that you have space and time on a Friday where you've got that boundary, where you're not connecting, where you're, um, doing some deep work.
So that's yourself. Get yourself in order. What do you need? Who do you need? What support do you need? Um. And. But be patient. Be kind to yourself if you're feeling in that low space. Uh, all I can just say is that I promise that it does. Doesn't last forever. And then the third point is how can we motivate our team. So the number one way you will motivate your team is to be the energy and motivation. So again, I'm not putting all the pressure on you because I think your team need to own their own energy. But knowing that you are like a we are balls of energy. So if our energy and motivation is negative, we are going to reflect that negative energy onto your team. And uh, what I noticed is this week I connected with some really high energy people. Um, and, um, their energy was infectious. And when we create, um, in, uh, time to think. Nancy klein, one of the ten components is place. And, um, it's not just about the physical place, but we are a place, and if we inhabit a place of, um, you know, stress or anxiety or just being a bit down and negative, um, that is the place that we create around us.
Um, so number one, obviously, therefore, is to, to create your own energy, to work on your own energy, find the support that you need. So, so to receive in order to energise others and then to help your team to reflect on what energises and motivates them. So having space to um, um, talk about and reflect on our energy and our motivation in a really transparent way. Um, again, I think it kind of validates this idea that it is okay to not be fully energised and motivated. And in those moments, we can come and we can support people who don't feel energised and but also like, what do we need to move through that? So recognising that it's not all on you to create that that high to. Well, you create the high vibe, as it were. You are that vibe that you want to create. And but each individual in your team needs to own their own energy and how they show up. That is their choice. And the more conversations that you can have with your team that help them to unlock their own ownership and power over their own energy and motivation, and to talk about it openly. Because I think often there's quite a lot of kind of shame in it. And so we don't even acknowledge it. But then we just show up as Negative Nancy. And so it's almost like a double negative. So actually saying, okay, I am being a negative Nancy. And the reason why I'm being a negative Nancy is I'm feeling really rubbish about X, Y and Z, and I think we don't even often know when we're behaving in a negative way because we're not self-aware. So what is your role in helping your team to become, and to increase their self-awareness so that they can work through what they need to work through to increase their motivation? So that took longer than I thought that that took longer than I was going to explain in my notes. Um, so you can create the context to support that. Um, and really, you want to create a space where your team have that agency and choice. And one of the kind of ways, I suppose the context that I think are quite is quite interesting that we have an opportunity in hybrid working. I think often we moan about hybrid working or we just focus on the the converse of the negatives and the positive of hybrid working. But I see hybrid working as a really amazing opportunity to, um, uh, Empower. Empower is not quite the right word to create energy and motivation, because we have moments where we can get energised, but through connection and time together. If you're coming into the office together, um, it's much harder if you're fully remote and you don't have those times and more infrequent. But if those times are sort of weekly or twice a month, you've got that opportunity to create connection and then you have opportunity to do deep work to, um, move into sort of, um, I think Bruce Daisley, in his book the Joy of work, talks about the idea of monk mode. So, um, we have those two options available to us, particularly if you're in hybrid working. If you're in, um, the office, you can still create those contexts. Um, and obviously the connection opportunities are more available to you. So think about how are you using the time together in your office to meaningfully connect. And one of the ways we can do this is to eat together. So, um, and there's evidence that actually, if we eat food together, break bread together, um, we will be more connected, more energised and more motivated. So Cornell University did some research on firefighters, and they saw that when the firefighters ate together, their improvements and their performance improved. I'll put a link to this in the show notes. This research in the show notes. So how can you create spaces or time when you eat together? Um. Really important. Um, we don't often value it, but it is so important. And then thinking about allowing space for the idea of collisions. So when we are physically in the office together, there are opportunities, those informal opportunities to Chat and share ideas often. They're called the watercooler moments. And actually, we're thinking about that concept of energy that this is the chance for the energy to exchange. And that's why I quite like the idea of it being collisions, like where we sort of literally bumping into people and where are we exchanging energy. So that could be a very small moment. Meeting on the stairs, meeting in the toilets, meeting in the kitchen. And how we using those small moments to almost like transfer our energy and then to think about how are we when we are meeting and I can um, I've done a whole podcast on meetings, but I can wax lyrical or wax lyrical about meetings. But when we meet with a face to face or online, let's meet with purpose. What is the purpose and are you including again, I can wax lyrical about a number of ingredients that you can have in meetings. But let's for this podcast, I'm going to offer you three. One is when you meet. Are you have you got these three ingredients? One is encouragement. Is are you creating a space where we all have courage to speak up, to share ideas? And how are we encouraging that? How are we encouraging each other? How are we showing appreciation? Um, and I'll give you a tip for that at the end of the podcast. And how are we giving attention? What does that look like? What does giving attention look like for my team. And you can take these three and just say, as in in a meeting like, how are we going to encourage one another today? How are we going to appreciate each other and how are we going to give attention? What does that look like? Um, when we meet online, what does that look like when we meet in person? And then how are we galvanising, galvanising, maximising the time we have when we're working from home. So thinking about days when we have no meetings or afternoons when we have no meetings, how are we encouraging flexibility? So as I said, I wrote this podcast sitting in the garden this morning. And, um, you know, we know that seven hours a day sitting at a desk is not optimal for productivity, for motivation. How are we giving attention and listening to each other, even in, um, remote spaces? How are we removing distraction? And then the last one is show appreciation. So there's evidence, um, from a survey that Glassdoor did that 81% of employees would work harder if they felt more appreciated. And actually, this is really simple. It's not like a massive kind of employee recognition scheme. All you need to do is check out, um, at the end of a meeting, um, and offer appreciation. So a really simple question. What have you appreciated about this meeting and our time together? What have you appreciated about the person next to you and to offer moments of appreciation? So, you know, I've really appreciated this opportunity to connect. I really appreciated the way Jane shared how she's feeling, um, today.
So as we check out, uh, of this podcast, I firstly hope that that has been helpful. It's given you some thoughts and some sparks and some ideas to help you, um, get energised and motivated. And so my check out question is who gives you energy and how can you show appreciation appreciation to them today? So who gives you energy and how can you show appreciation to them today? So thank you for listening. As ever, I am taking bookings now for Team Motivator away days. So days when you can do this stuff that I've talked about or half days depending on your budget. It's an opportunity for me to come in with your team and to just create a space where we can really listen to and talk about what motivates us. So particularly if you're going through change, if you notice the energy is low, um, if you need to move into a stage of planning, um, or strategy development, actually starting with, um, really thinking about what do you need in place to keep motivated and to support each other's motivation? Um, so it's a chance to connect, be together, find energy. Um, I suppose a reset probably would be a useful way to describe it. And then to identify and create, um, rituals or ways that you can work together to boost your motivation. If you're interested in me coming in for a day like that, please do drop me an email and we can have a chat about what that could look like for you and for your team. If you, as an individual, are struggling with personal motivation and need to create a space where you, um, I suppose have that kind of energy boost, a plug in, shall we say, um, where you can be re-energised, then 1 to 1 coaching might be, um, a great step for you. I'm offering a one off, um, coaching session for £99. Um, or if you want some longer term support, you can talk to me about, um, my packages of 3 or 6, um, coaching sessions.
As ever, sign up to my e-newsletter full of motivational tips and ideas. Is, um. Join me for my monthly Unlocking Potential event, which will follow the, um, the content of this podcast. Each podcast, each month. This podcast was live, um, in October 2024. Um, so so drop into the show notes. You'll see the link to that. Um, and as ever, I'd love your feedback, so please do let me know if you've got any, um, ideas for future podcasts, if you've got any reflections on anything that you've heard, anything that you've found useful, um, it really helps me to shape what I do and how I support you. So wishing you a motivated, um, time and energised time. And, um, as I say, do share your thoughts and reflections with me. Um, I hope you have a great day or week whenever you're listening. Thanks, everyone.
