I find when I talk about motivation I frequently have to admit three things: that motivation, as a topic, is nebulous, subjective and mostly ‘sub-conscious’. What do I mean by this?
When Dr Johnson, of dictionary fame, was asked, What is poetry? He famously replied that this was like asking, What is light? We all know what light is, but it is difficult to say what it is. So with motivation: we know what it is, the average person thinks they know what it is because Wayne Rooney and other sports persons are motivated, aren’t they? But what is it?
For those who dig deeper, they have been on a course somewhere, some time, and have walked on fire, yelled out they can do it, and generally experienced the pure rah-rah of motivation. But again, what is it?
And here’s the point: until we create a language for a topic we cannot be specific – the opposite of nebulous. All trades, all activities, all knowledge involve their own particular jargon or set of words – a kind of shorthand – which enables practitioners to communicate effectively and swiftly about the topic. Be that topic computers, love, law or gardening, each has its jargon. But motivation? The push and pull, the carrot and stick … we find very quickly that its language is limited.
So, too, it’s subjective: motivation seems touchy-feely, entirely down to what one person thinks it is, and no more substantial than a personal view. The opposite of this of course is objective. And we get really objective when we can not only describe the thing in language, but also measure it. We can add numbers to the descriptive jargon. Wow, when this happens, we are making serious progress in our understanding of motivation.
Finally, what about the ‘sub-conscious’, what’s that about? Basically, most people have no idea consciously of what actually motivates them except perhaps in an immediate tangible sense: I am hungry and motivated to eat. The finer drives are all but invisible.
Here is where I like to say the opposite of sub-conscious is not conscious, but visible. What we want – and what language and measurement make possible – is the rendering of the sub-conscious into visible reality and understanding. At last, we see what motivates us and others. Then, and only then, are we really in a position to be able to ‘manipulate’ motivation – to control motivation – to get a handle on motivation.
Thus I make no apology for going on about our own product, The Motivational Map, which is specific, objective and visible (in its final output, the report or Map); and its effects are correspondingly powerful and transformative. I, and all the Map practitioners around the world, have time and time again witnessed amazing insights and a-ha moments as individuals, team, and whole organisations suddenly get to see what is really going on with the motivations – the energies – at their sub-conscious roots.
The Mapping Motivation Series 