🤔 Discipline or Motivation?

So, I have pretty much nearly recovered from freshers’ flu and feel a lot better now than last week.

Having attended last week’s motivation lecture from the human resources team got me thinking about whether I had been looking at motivation the wrong way. For reference, I wrote an edition a few weeks ago about how motivation is a myth and doesn’t really ‘exist’.

Well, reflecting back on that edition and combining the various theories I discovered and researched in post-lecture, maybe I have some second thoughts…

I still think on an individual level, motivation doesn’t truly exist and is a hurdle that stops us from doing what we want to really do. Waiting for motivation delays us from starting anything - you could argue that you need motivation to provide a certain level of ‘activation energy’, but do you really? Having a strong bias towards action and an inbuilt discipline of ‘getting things done’ will help you accomplish more goals than waiting around for motivation ever will. With motivation, you will be stuck in a phase of ‘getting ready for it’, but what if it never happens? With a strong bias to action and discipline, you can use techniques like time-blocking, accountability and others to make sure you show up and do it every week. A simple example is my accountability to all of you every Tuesday evening about sending out this newsletter.

But is this true when you work in teams?

As some of you may be aware, I have recently ‘hired’ (a story for another time), but my real interest during the lecture was how I could form a truly motivated team and whether discipline is a thing that exists in teams.

I think that you require motivation to be the driving factor in a team, as you are all working towards a common goal. But how can you align everyone to the same goal and keep motivation up? Team meetings, 1-2-1s and more can help, but I think in a team, it’s about finding what motivates your team members specifically or drives them forward and helping them. My simple theory based on my experiences and what I have learnt so far is that the best teams are when leaders focus on how the needs of individual team members are met, and they feel fulfilled in their roles. Whilst an obvious assumption, it’s easier said than achieved. I think on an individual basis, teams do also need an element of discipline, but how can it be worked in? It’s an interesting dilemma with pitfalls, but I think a lot more goes into teams with personalities, strengths, dynamics etc. The psychology behind all of this is fascinating.

Food for thought, and I will get back to all of you with further thoughts in a few weeks.

I am keen to hear how all of you who manage teams keep them motivated and disciplined towards the same goals. Does it get harder with bigger teams?