Motivation

We use only 10% of our potential while 90% of our potential is dormant in sub conscious state of mind. This is because we are not motivated enough to use all of our potential. The next logical question that comes to our mind is what is motivation. Motivation is the driving force that encourages action. To motivate means to encourage and inspire. Motivation is powerful. It can persuade, convince and encourage you to act. The word motivation consists of two parts Motiv(e) a (c)tion which means motive for action. Motivation comes from a desire to succeed. Without success there is little pride in life, no enjoyment or excitement at work and at home. The greatest enemy of motivation is complacency. Complacency leads to lack of effort, and when people are complacent, they don’t utilize their potential to full with the result they don’t succeed. Motivation can be classified into two types external and internal.

External motivation comes from outside. Examples of external motivations are money, societal approval, fame or fear of getting fired at work. The disadvantage of external motivation is that it is temporary meaning the motivation is there as long as the factor that causes motivation is there. If the factor is fear, you work as long as you are watched or supervised. If it is money, you work as long as you get incentive which is strong enough to motivate you. Just think of a donkey with a carrot dangling in front and pulling a cart behind. Incentive motivation will work if the donkey is hungry enough, the carrot is sweet enough and the load is light enough. From time to time, you have to let the donkey take a bite of the carrot otherwise it is going to get discouraged. After the donkey takes a bite, its stomach is full and you need to wait for the donkey to get hungry again before it will pull cart. The same attitude can be seen in business environment also. The moment sales people meet their targets, they stop working. This is because their motivation is limited to meeting the sales target

Internal Motivation comes from within such as sense of achievement, responsibility and belief. It is feeling of accomplishment rather than just achieving a goal. The two most important internal motivators are recognition and responsibility. Recognition means being appreciated, being treated with respect and dignity and feeling a sense of belonging. Responsibility gives a person a feeling of belonging and ownership. Recognition is external because it originates from outside but it’s manifestations are internal. Responsibility is internal because it originates from within.

Internal motivation is ever lasting because it is self driven as opposed to external motivation which is temporary, short lived. It has been seen that those who have clear cut defined goals are self motivated because the goals give them sense of direction and the right kind of motivation to act. I have already written in my earlier blog as to how to define SMART goals.

Productivity of the company is directly related to the motivation level of human Resource. The higher the motivation level, the more the productivity. That is the reason, most of organizations give top priority to human Resource development program. Some organizations make the mistake of upgrading the technology, systems and processes without giving any importance to motivating human resource with the result, they fail to implement the new systems due to employees resistance to change.