I regularly find myself in situations where I get to make the case for a deeper understanding of humans for better organization and community outcomes. In mid-August, I got to weave human behavior into the launch of the Tennessee Nonprofit Network Advocacy Cohort. (Nashville in August put the sizzle in Bacon, for sure 🥓.) At the end of August, I brought the case for motivation and engagement theory to the Armstrong McGuire & Associates Leadership Summit in Charlotte, talking with CEOs about how they can increase board engagement with a few key steps.
As I think about the launch of our fall series on Tuesday, September 29, I’m thinking about how to convince you that this series is valuable, if you haven’t already registered. How might I motivate you to set aside the time, money, and brain space in a busy week with competing priorities?
Maybe I should start by making the case for understanding motivation.
If we better understood motivation, we wouldn’t have to work so hard. We spend enormous energy reminding, persuading, nudging, following up, and trying to get people to do things that matter. What if more of that drive came from within them?
If we better understood motivation, we could have a different conversation about burnout. Instead of only asking how to help exhausted people recover, we could pay attention to the conditions that sustain—or drain—the motivation that brings energy to work in the first place.
If we better understood motivation, we would have the blueprint to design better learning experiences. We know that giving someone information does not mean they will use it. Understanding motivation helps us design for the conditions that move people from learning to action.
If we better understood motivation, we would be better coaches. How often does an executive director express frustration that their board won’t step up, or that a staff member isn’t taking ownership? We can help them unpack what is underneath the behavior and create conditions that better support action.
When you think about it, nearly everything we are trying to accomplish requires another human being to take action. That makes motivation pretty fundamental to our work.
So back to my original question: How might I motivate you to join us on September 29?
Self-Determination Theory tells us that motivation is strengthened when we support people’s needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Matthew Richter, in his book, The Motivation Blueprint, translates that research into three things we can intentionally provide: structure, autonomy support, and involvement. We’ll be sharing his checklist that shows how practical those ideas become, from clear expectations and appropriate challenge to meaningful choice, feedback, connection, and opportunities to build capability.
So here’s what I can provide:
- Structure: A focused 90-minute conversation grounded in research, with practical ideas you can use in your own work.
- Autonomy: You get to decide what matters to you and how you apply it—to your board, your staff, the people you coach, or the people you teach.
- Involvement: You’ll learn alongside people who are asking many of the same questions about how we move humans from knowing and caring to acting.
And let’s learn how to create those same conditions for the people we need to motivate.
I’m especially excited to welcome Tineke Melkebeek, PhD, from Belgium into this conversation. Tineke is a philosopher who studies the questions at the center of this work: what helps humans stay healthy, capable, and motivated, and what organizations can do to create those conditions. She brings together philosophy, research, and the messy reality of humans at work.
Join us September 29 to go beyond carrots and sticks and better understand how we can create the conditions that help people engage, take ownership, and act.
