What is going on?

Everyone of us wants to know what's going on. What's going on with the Government – what are they going to do? What's going on in our neighbourhood – what's my neighbour doing? What's going on with my family – who's my spouse talking to? I guess it's because we are curious, but more than that when we know our sense of security is satisfied. People tend to prefer the certainty even of misery rather than the uncertain prospect of happiness.

Perhaps no where is this more so than at work, as so much of our self-image is connected to it. What's going on – what's the boss planning? We are favoured indeed if we are privy to that information.

The tool that we use, Motivational Maps, is increasingly been shown by licensed practitioners to have just that edge in showing – whoever is interested – what exactly is going on. I well remember a startling incident some months back in which I was involved. Some twenty three sales professionals sitting around a table being fed feedback by me on what their Maps meant. What amazed them was when I got to Phil – one of their top sales guys in the country – who was only 30% motivated. How could that be?

How indeed? Wasn't motivation part of the energy mix? How could he be so effective and yet not motivated? And how did they not know that? Phil acknowledged the truth of the Map and then told his story – a story which was all about consciously running on empty – going against the grain of what he wanted to do, but needing the money. There was a wry smile as he recognised somewhat forlornly that yes, his health was indeed beginning to suffer.

But if that was interesting, the call I got last month from one of my senior licensees was even more so. He rang me from the company premises, in between interviews. He'd had the most astonishing experience in a major Corporate. Five senior managers had had access to the Motivational Map of one important member of staff. All had unanimously condemned the Map as being completely wrong; it's wrong this time, they said, very wrong.

My friend, the consultant, stuck to his guns. He knew with over 10,000 Maps done and an accuracy rate over 99.9% that it was far more likely that five managers were wrong. And he saw immediately the implications of that: “He's hiding something from you”. You see, what's going on?

He was given a coaching feedback session with the guy and asked, How was the Map? Ruefully the guy nodded, then said, Absolutely spot on. Yep, something was going on that the senior guys never suspected, never dreamed about, and so my friend was able to get it out in the open and facilitate a constructive way forward.

When people do a Motivational Map this isn't like some static personality profiling tool: motivation is a dynamic energy reflecting back on the real issues and the real wants of the person, team or even whole organisation. For that reason, if you want to know what's going on – follow the energy – it doesn't lie like lips can.