Motivational Maps is a very flexible product and its many practitioners have their own various ways of introducing it to their clients and the staff. But is there a best way or a preferable way? I think the answer is yes, although I freely concede that I myself have not been consistent in how I introduce it, if only because the client is always king, and therefore one must take cognizance of their requirements and their superior knowledge of their staff.
That said, what is the best way to introduce Motivational Maps to staff? The first thing to realize is Motivational Maps is a bottom-up tool: it works by virtue of management (or senior management) realizing that they have to ‘get in the shoes’, get to understand their staff at a deeper level and thus do things for them that have not been done heretofore. This is an important point, for the opposite of this is a top-down approach: which is tantamount to saying, We are going to motivate you whether you will or not – you will be motivated! That cannot work – people will comply as a matter of job security, but it will not generate real motivation.
This leads to a second point: true motivation is always self-motivation, and so management has to understand that motivation cannot be compelled (any more than love can be compelled; in fact love is not love which is forced). Management, indeed, can only create the right environment, the favorable conditions, the appropriate sweeteners that may enable motivation to flourish in the individual. But here is a numbers’ game; for if you do create those conditions most people become motivated, and those few who don’t never would be – and that too is valuable information about your organization and their place in it.
Given, then, that management have bought into the concept of Motivational Maps, the question becomes how best to implement a programme? And the key issue here is introducing the staff to Motivational Maps via a qualified or trained practitioner. This is because it is highly likely that if only management introduce it, they will either fail to grasp what’s in it for the staff or simply will make it sound just like any other ‘new’ management imitative. In short, it will sound just like another feather in the cap of the manager’s career aspirations: it’s all about the management and the manager, and really divorced from the interests of the staff.
Thus it is imperative that some time is given to allow a proper presentation of Motivational Maps to staff with a focus on the benefits to them. And these benefits are massive and considerable. When they ‘get’ just how important motivation is on their lives at work and beyond their enthusiasm really does start sparking.
Often the problem is releasing staff at the same time as the ‘decks’ have to be manned. This, however, should not be allowed to be an excuse. The practitioner needs to argue for shifts or relays of staff in which a group or team can be addressed for at least 30 minutes and preferably an hour. Or technologies like webinars (even a recording is better than nothing) can be used, and in this way they can get a chance to listen and to ask questions.
The Mapping Motivation Series 