What motivates your team to do the things they do?  More importantly, how does this motivation play out for your team daily? Why is some of your team driven and others need a daily push? How can you get people to want to do better for themselves and their job?

The surprising truth is you don’t have to.

Your team is hardwired to want to improve.

People want to grow

Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan explored this concept in detail – read up on Self Determination Theory (SDT). SDT says that people have a natural desire to grow/ improve. And they do grow/ improve when certain conditions are met.

Traditional understanding of motivation centered around rewards and punishments – that people only act if they stood to gain or lose something. 

But Deci and Ryan’s research showed that triggering people’s internal drive was considerably more potent than relying on external motivators – like bonuses, prizes or promotions.

Deci and Ryan determined that the conditions for sparking this internal drive were – 

  • Autonomy (to feel like we control our decisions)
  • Competence (to feel like we’ve done a good job)
  • and Connection (to have meaningful interactions with others)

You can read more about Autonomy here. This post is about Competence and how to build it.

So what does it mean for you? 

So, if your team wants to improve, what’s stopping them?

Today, an employee’s learning of their job begins and ends with training. But training has 3 inherent problems – it is done at point in time and not continuous, is one-size-fits-all and is generic in nature.

Very few teams move into the next phase of learning, which is on-the-job coaching. 

Examples from Sports, where great teams are built, shows us how this works. Initial training involves learning the basics, the rules, the key movements, the strategic actions etc. But even an Usain Bolt or a Federrer or Neymar need a coach, even when on top of their game. 

Coaching solves for the 3 things training cannot

  1. Continuous improvement 
  2. Live Feedback
  3. Connect at an individual level

Coaching takes the training and customizes it to an individual’s current environment, performance level and natural drive. It’s an on-going process that unlocks internal motivation and builds mastery.

Coach for high-performance

Here are three ways to support your team’s natural inclination to improve –

  1. Coach behavior – Look from the outside in, understand what behaviors are driving the outcomes you want, and then coach your team to master those behaviors.
  2. Nudge – Move your team from good intentions to actions by setting up a system that reminds them of what they need to do when they need to do it and creates an environment that celebrates their consistency.
  3. Be quick to appreciate and guide – Be available to your team, to pat them on the back and guide them when they need it to complete the habit loop.

Habit Loop - Nudge Coach worxogo motivation

Mastery and Motivation

Mastery drives engagement and motivation. People want to be good at what they do – you just have to provide them with the tools.

To find out more about how worxogo helps coach sales teams using behavior science and AI, contact us @ sales@worxogo.com.