9 Motivational Drivers to Boost Team Performance

Motivational Mapping – boosting engagement with heart intelligence.

With engagement and motivation levels at an all-time low, leaders must energise not just themselves but their teams too.

Activating more potential is not simply a matter of giving clear direction – clarifying your team’s goals, responsibilities and KPIs and then building capability. If your team is coming to work with low levels of energy and motivation, the best business plan in the world alone will not suffice. Often neither will money incentivise people longer-term.

The greater the change and uncertainty, the more important it becomes for leaders to acquire motivational intelligence.

“When leaders recognise their own blend of the nine motivators, and their individual team members’ top motivational drivers, this makes a huge difference to how they lead and energise their team.”

From our own experience, the sad fact is that less than 50% of people know what really motivates them. Helping leaders understand what motivators are driving them and their team is increasingly the missing link to high performance and engagement, especially in these challenging times.

Motivational mapping, created by James Sale, provides ground-breaking insight into how to measure, map and improve anyone’s motivation.

Nine motivational drivers

There are nine individual motivational drivers and each of us has a blend of them all, with some significantly more important to us than others.

When leaders recognise their own blend of the nine motivators, and their individual team members’ top motivational drivers, this makes a huge difference to how they lead and energise their teams.

Each motivator has its own set of ‘triggers’, which leaders can align against an individual’s roles and responsibilities. Equally, leaders with motivational intelligence know what can ‘turn off’ key individuals and, consequently, the leadership approaches to avoid.

The nine motivational drivers include:
• The searcher (driven by meaning, purpose and wanting to add value and make a difference)
• Spirit (seeking freedom, autonomy and independence)
• Creator (thriving on innovation, continuous improvement and fulfilling creative potential)
• Expert (seeking knowledge, mastery, wanting to develop more expertise and specialisation)
• The builder (the most commercially driven of the motivators, energised by money, material satisfaction and above average standard of living)
• Director (seeking power, influence and control over people and/or resources)
• Star (energised by recognition, respect and social esteem), the friend (seeking belonging, friendship and fulfilling relationships)
• The defender (motivated by feeling safe and secure, wanting predictability and stability)

Using motivational drivers to enhance individual performance and team dynamics

When leaders know how to recognise these different motivational drivers in themselves and others, and understand the various different success strategies and ‘hot buttons’ to boost motivation, they can create the conditions for everyone around them to feel energised and motivated to exceed expectations. This not only enhances individual performance but also significantly improves team dynamics and collective outcomes.

So, create an environment that enhances head and heart intelligence, speed of learning and lights the fire within your leaders. As the need for business agility increases, improving leaders’ brain agility, adaptability, motivation and drive will be fundamental game-changers in their future success. Neuro-agility in leadership fosters a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration, crucial for elevating team performance in fast-paced business landscapes.

Learn more about how we can help you motivate your teams with Motivational Maps