Sunday, May 13, 2007

Movement

Last week I asked the Linked In intelligentsia, "what's your motivation?" The answers were fascinating and here's one of the most unique:

Ronald Wopereis wrote:

Dictionary says : motivation, motif,
Latin: past tense of movere, to move

Motive: a stimulus to action (Merriam Webster)


Ok i think i understand your question now.
What is my stimulus to action.

{portion removed}


Employees can not lose their motivation.

Employees can encounter the situation where there is no space in which they can express themselves. And then movement simply stops.

I hadn't even thought of that, that the word "motivation" comes from the root "to move." And how glaringly obvious that seems now. More than one response to the posted question of motivation touched upon how incredibly damaging micromanagement can be to morale. I certainly believed those responses; the great thing about Linked In is the collection of both brainpower and experience. People have lived it, seen it, worked it and asking these questions brings the collective experience of the brightest minds in business (and life for that matter) right to my doorstep. Amazing. But conceptualizing the answers about micromanagement in Ron's framework drives the point home even more: the employees don't have room to move. And then, as he says, "movement simply stops." Echoing that, another respondent spoke of micromanagers as "treat(ing) grown adults like children" and yet another used the word "thwarted" multiple times, further conveying imagery of someone immobile. Yet another (!) used this metaphor in discussing how, when faced with others at an organization who are having motivational problems (as opposed to oneself who isn't having the issues), "
But they're the ones who have to walk it. You can't drag them along behind you. It only slows YOU down."

It's also fascinating because when I think of a "motivation problem," I tend to think of people (employees, students, even in personal relationships) who are contrary. When we talk about motivational issues, the implication can be that a person is defiant, lazy, or a host of other negative things. I think "lazy" is probably the biggest one that comes to mind as the stereotype. But if we take Ron's idea, maybe that person just can't move. Maybe they don't know where to move. Maybe they don't know how to move. Maybe they need some help moving - a timetable, a demonstration of exactly how to move, where to move, etc. But movement is the issue, something to pull out of the inertia. Indeed, if you take a page from elementary physics, if you're at rest you are going to stay there. You are going to demonstrate no movement, no motivation. But if you're moving, motivated, you'll keep going. Ron wrote in his post,
"Krishnamurti once defined movement as that which has no beginning, no end. I believe this to be true."

Which might bring us to another challenge: whether you're moving in the right direction. But I would guess that just the fact that someone is moving is at the very least half of the battle.

No comments: