Get motivated for change

Motivation. It’s a powerful force that can determine success or failure in almost anything.

Going to the gym, giving up booze (Dryathlon anyone?), or embarking on a spot of DIY, we know from experience that a good dose of personal motivation is required for most of us to make changes happen.

It strikes me this is true for our businesses too. A sense of purpose creates a kind of energy that we could just as easily call motivation.

As businesses we need to understand the motivations of our customers, if we’re going to create products or services that they’ll want to buy. Trying to get them to change their behaviours (swap brand, buy a house, change PR agency…) without tapping into their motivations is pretty futile.

The same is true of our teams too, if we are to drive our businesses forward and pull ourselves out of the muddy quagmire of recession followed by phew-we-made-it-survival, into a smooth and steady period of sustainable growth.

The New Year brings a surge of resolutions as we take the opportunity to ‘draw a line’ under what’s passed, and aim to ‘be better’ this year. Anything is possible. Everything is possible! Our motivations and sense of purpose are high.

January brings a great opportunity to try and capture the ‘air of possibility’ that hangs around us, and challenge our teams to think differently; to set themselves new goals for what they’d like to achieve and consider how they can use their talents to help us reach our business goals.

Momentum. The other big ‘M’. After one huge sugar rush of motivation in the first week of the year, the energy can quickly dissipate and we’re left with the Blue Monday scenario – dashed hopes and disappointment.

So what can we do to keep the momentum of motivation, change and possibility alive? Take action. Make plans, enact plans, set small and regular goals or milestones so you can measure your progress. Experiment, test new ideas, and, most importantly, involve those whose motivation you’re seeking to harness.

The good news is that windows of opportunity to reignite our motivation appear throughout the year. Attending a course (in my view, there’s none better for development and motivation than LEAD), meeting someone new, winning a new contract, moving office, starting a new project, change within a team, confidence in the economy lifting… any day can be a good day to start a new page.

We need to recognise and seize upon the windows of opportunity for making changes, open the window, and let the fresh air in.

Sarah Bryars

Chief Executive