Comment by wjossey | Hacker News Reader

Comment by wjossey | Hacker News Reader

This isn’t bad advice, or wrong, just recognize that it’s not universal. Motivations vary from person to person, team to team, company to company.

If you want to know how to motivate a person, start by asking them. Maybe they will be self aware enough to identify what it is, maybe not. If they don’t know what motivates them, ask them to take some time over the next week to reflect on a time where they were motivated at their job, and you can discuss it further in your next one on one. Then, take that scenario and start to deconstruct it. What was it about this time that was different than other situations? How long did that motivation last? Who were they working with at that time, and how much did the people play a role in keeping you motivated? How much do factors like stress and salary impact motivation for them?

Motivation is also fluid. What motivates someone at 25 is different than at 35. At 25 I craved recognition for having potential. At 35 I crave autonomy. Some fundamental components haven’t changed, but the overall story has.

So, when in doubt, and even when not in doubt, start by asking.

Personally I find being asked to engage in introspection like "reflect on a time when you were motivated at your job" pretty demotivating. I'm terrible at it, and it's a huge timesink with negative associations to things like interviews and having to write up annual performance review text.

Sounds circular. Maybe you need to be motivated to think about what drives you. Catch 22.

All the more to my point. You’d have a pretty crisp answer if I asked you in a 1:1, what motivates you. No need for the introspection.

But, you can’t expect your manager or anyone to know that about you unless you’re willing to share it. A good manager will understand this is demotivating and work within those boundaries. But, unfortunately managers aren’t clairvoyant, so we do need to hear it from you :)

Yeah, no, I wouldn't. I might at best have a vague idea of what might be motivating. Like I said, I don't do introspection -- I could tell you if I'm happy or not happy at work, but if the answer's not happy that doesn't mean I know why.

For me, talking with my client over Slack or Skype about the task works. Suddenly some uninteresting thing defined only by a JIRA issue becomes something more. Some feature which provides real business value with context.

That's one of the reasons why I work where I work, because PMs don't stand between us and the clients.

I feel like the question in the title leaves out important context. Like, why do you need to motivate people at all?

Presumably it's because they aren't happy to do the work you ask of them, and the reasons for this can vary wildly, from the divorcee suffering a depression to the QA temp that knows you think of them about as fondly as of the stack of papers that stabilises that one wobbly table you don't like anyway...

Why should anyone be happy to do what you ask if they get nothing out of it?

What do people crave at 45, 55, 65?

Relief and retirement.

At 45 I crave building more interesting things than your basic standard website.

Treating people like individuals instead of cogs? That's some dangerously democratic-sounding idealism there pal.

Get back to your oxcart, peasant!

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