Episode 81 - Inspiring Others from the Outside In

<p class="p1"><strong>Summary</strong></p> <p class="p2">The objective of leadership is aligned motivation. When we inspire people from the outside in we build a team that contributes because they want to, rather than because they have to.</p> <p class="p3"> </p> <p class="p1"><strong>Transcript</strong></p> <p class="p2">Hello and welcome to episode 81 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we tackle one of today’s biggest leadership challenges. This week we look at inspiring others from the outside in.</p> <p class="p2">The objective of leadership is aligned motivation. As leaders we want a group of people who aren’t just motivated, but are motivated towards the same vision and objectives. There’s no point in having a group of motivated people who are headed in different directions. It’s not much better to have a group of people who know exactly where they are headed, but lack the motivation and drive to get there. As leaders we need to align the motivation of our people.</p> <p class="p2">But how do we achieve this? Do we just need to hire people who are already on board with where we are headed as an organisation? And then what happens when the direction changes? How do we move people towards a new vision and direction? That’s where understanding human motivation can be really helpful.</p> <p class="p2">I’ve referred to the work of Deci and Ryan before. It’s fair to say that they have done more to build our modern understanding of motivation than any other researchers. Deci and Ryan suggest that we often think about motivation as a single thing - that motivation varies just in amount. As a result we then try to work out how to make a person more motivated to do something we want, or less motivated to do something we don’t want. Their work demonstrates that it’s more helpful and accurate to think about types of motivation.</p> <p class="p2">The first distinction they make is between autonomous and controlled motivation. With autonomous motivation I’m doing something with a sense of willingness, voliti