Purpose, goal or motivation: 3 questions
I’m training for Coast Trek, well, I’m training and I’m in a Coast Trek team but 60km is not my goal. I understand this sounds confusing, so I’ll elucidate.
Coast Trek is a 60km hike from Manly to Bondi on the 16th March, around the harbour, up and over numerous stairs, along a few beaches and through some beautiful parks. We hiked to Circular Quay from Manly yesterday (@30km) and I loved it. I signed up for the following reasons:
1. To spend time with my friends
2. Keep my fitness up
3. See the parts of Sydney I’ve missed
4. Support a great cause
And that’s it. I don’t feel the need to stretch myself further, I don’t feel the need to do the whole thing and I have committed to 30km, half of what my friends are doing. I get to do all the training and then turn up on the day at the halfway mark and encourage the team across the line with huge sandwiches and lots of chat. Their goals are all a bit different to mine but we cross on a few.
Why not 60km for me?
It’s simple really, all 4 of my goals are reached. However, it does make me feel conflicted and desperate to justify the decision. On the ferry back to Manly, it resulted in a conversation about personal drivers and motivations. I have written a management program which I run for transitioning managers within my client base. One of the very first topics is “Trigger points” and helping managers to understand their teams’ motivation and then utilise that to encourage and lead effectively. There is no point in telling me (Charlotte) to “do a marathon” or “walk the 60km” because there is no real purpose for me in doing that.
What are your drivers and trigger points? Are they the same as your team? Does everyone in your team identify with the business goals? Highly unlikely, so check in and ask the following questions:
1. What motivated you to take this role on?
2. What motivates you to stay in this team?
3. What are your triggers? And how have they changed since our last review?
I’m running a Partnership Review day today, similar questions will be raised and discussed. We’re all in it together, but only if our own goals can be achieved. Business requires pragmatism as well as altruism.