The Art of Motivating Others: Turning Passion into Action

Throughout my career, whether in business and in my capacity as a consultant, one of the most common challenges leaders have is how to engage others to take action. Whether trying to motivate employees, consumers, volunteers, etc the challenges are similar. It can be difficult to get people to do something. There may be head nods, or the perception of consensus, but later when everyone leaves and goes back to their desks, homes or hang up from the conference call, all too often there is no real change in behavior. Leaders find this exceptionally frustrating. I've heard countless executives tell me, "I've explained it numerous times" or "I had a meeting and told everyone".  I typically push back and ask if they communicated and motivated as well. Then I get the blank stare. 

Don’t mistake good communication for good motivation. Just because you are talking, it doesn’t mean anyone is really listening. And it certainly doesn't mean anyone was motivated to take action from what you said. 

Most people understand that good motivation is critical. But what is motivation? Motivation is when a person has the desire or willingness to DO something. However, people can have a desire to do something and still choose not to do anything. To make it real, we must turn the passion into action.

Story telling is an effective method in taking mere words and making them more real, or relatable. Share a genuine story to help illustrate your vision, and the reasons why you want a achieve a certain goal.

Remember that people in most organizations are often diverse. Factors such as age, gender, ethnic background, sexual orientation, health condition, life experiences, and more influence how we feel and think. Therefore, not everyone has the same point of view or shares your values. People may view you differently by the car you drive, the clothes you wear, or how they perceive your salary, and status at the company. It may be difficult for you to relate to others because your own life experiences and factors are so different. 

People also all have different passions for things they believe in, or mean something to them. In a perfect world, companies recruit, attract and hire people who have a passion for the mission of the company. People who love the cause, the product or the purpose of the organization. When employee passions align to the company's purpose magic happens. However this is not always the case. As companies get larger, it becomes difficult to have 500, 1,500, 5,000 or 50,000 employees who all share the same passion. 

The message here is not to let differences get in the way of being a good leader. When we allow our differences to get in the way, people shut down and stop listening. This is what it is so critical to ensure everyone in your group understands the mission, and what you all have in common. 

Does your group, organization or company have more things that divide or unite you? What common goals do you all share? Is everyone aware of the POTENTIAL for commonality? I have seen many times where a company's own employees are not aligned on the common goal of the company, so be sure to look inward before trying to take action.

If you are trying to motivate consumers, or solicit any kind of external support, passions, along with emotions are factors in how people make decisions to take action.

As humans, we are all affected by how we feel. Emotions influence people to engage and take action

We tend to take action about things we are passionate about. Emotion is a mental reaction. Passion is the action resulting from strong emotion (often liking and desire).

Plutchik's Wheel of Emotion

Dr Robert Plutchik was a psychologist who developed the wheel of emotion to illustrate the relationships between what he called primary emotions and other related emotions. The eight basic emotions are joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, anticipation, anger, and disgust.

When you are trying to motivate people to take action, it is important to remember the role that emotions may play. Consider how people will feel and react to you. 

Remember the following:

• Emotions Influence Thought
• Emotions Trigger Physical Responses
• Emotions Determine Decisions
• Emotions Respond to Action

So if you are setting out to drive change, get people to take action remember to communicate, motivate and inspire. 

Here are my Top 10 Tips to Drive Engagement (ok its 11)

1. Don’t be afraid to share your passions and reasons why. 
2. Motivation alone isn’t enough. You must inspire others.
3. Don’t allow differences of opinion to stop all progress or action.
4. Eliminate unnecessary distractions and noise.
5. Anticipate what emotions are most likely to trigger.
6. Offering solutions to problems increases engagement. 
7. Be authentic, genuine and take time tell the backstory.
8. Always make your message relatable and as real as possible.
9. Find common ground joy to bring people together.
10. Go Big or Go Home. If its worth doing, do it right.
11. Use your story or cause to engage and inspire people.

Keeping Busy and Loving Life

Earlier this year my professional life expanded deeper in Asia with the appointment of Chairman of RJT Holdings Limited. RJT Holdings Limited-- based in Hong Kong, was founded by a team of seasoned pet industry business executives with more than 50 years management experience in retail operations, merchandising, sales, distribution, business development, brand management and innovation. 

We provide global experience in sales of pet products: food, treats, dog apparel, grooming products, toys, scratchers and much more. The firm has deep knowledge of the U.S. pet product industry enables us to seek out the very best manufacturers and brand of consumables, apparel, and hard goods supplies categories.

Today through our strong partnerships, RJT Holdings Limited enjoys an excellent reputation for always operating with full integrity and honesty, with fair, open and transparent business practices. We worked hard to develop this reputation, through many deep long standing relationships across Asia for the past decade. It is an honor and pleasure to serve as Chairman, leading our Asian operations. I truly love what I do and enjoy my work life immensely.

I made myself at home in Hong Kong.

Just yesterday I was reflecting on 2015...in reviewing my calendar I discovered that so far this year I have spent 82 nights in Hong Kong, which does not include time spent in Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan or Thailand. Yes, 2015 has been a wonderful year, blessed with incredible experiences and success in business. From co-founding my consulting company Zarhill Partners Group two years ago and founding RJT Holdings Limited this year, I had seen my professional life develop beyond my imagination. I enjoy splitting my time between Hong Kong and Los Angeles, with a bit of London and Palm Springs mixed in for good measure.  It is truly remarkable what a difference a year makes. Without question life is significantly better when you are master of your own destiny. My advice to anyone reading this is to pursue and follow your dreams. Plan, plot and work hard. Be diligent and focused. Never give up. Always think positively. It has worked for me and it can work for you as well.

So you're an entrepreneur...now what?

Over the years I've met hundreds of people who describe themselves as an "entrepreneur" of some type.  It sounds exciting, doesn't it? The word is defined as "a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk". There some incredible success stories of people who made something out of nothing. Think of people like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Mary Kay Ash, Ray Kroc, Sean Combs, Milton Hershey,  Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Caterina Fake, etc. Some of those people never went to college, and some never even graduated from high school. 

So what is it that makes an entrepreneur successful? Contributing factors include ambition, drive, determination, focus, willingness to take risk in the face of uncertainty, ability to dream, think conceptually, or "outside the box" challenge the norms, using a blend of art/science and gut instinct, creativity etc. By no means is this a complete list, and any one of these alone does not guarantee success. In my experience, the successful entrepreneur also does these other things correctly:

• Finds innovation to meet the needs of others
• Self Awareness of their own shortcomings and seek out people with skills and expertise to fill those gaps.
• Recognize that there are things they do not know, and actively solicit feedback from others.
• Networks extensively to fine tune concepts
• Possesses an in-depth knowledge of their space 
• Secures adequate financial resources to ensure development
• Writes down their vision and sets multi-year goals
• Develops a business plan and strategy
• Knows how to create value for stakeholders/investors
• Grooms leaders and bench strength for continuity
• Defines the exit strategy for their involvement 

It is true that there are some entrepreneurs who achieved success as a result of being in the right place at the right time. Those instances are more often the result of being first to market or creating opportunity out of necessity or an urgent need. For everyone else-- and that is nearly all of us, being creative alone just isn't enough.

As a business consultant, I frequently meet with individuals with incredible passion, enthusiasm and creativity, yet lack business skills to monetize and execute their ideas. My advice to anyone who considers themselves an entrepreneur is to write a business plan, and let someone else read it. Seek out advice from people with experience and proven track record for success. The Golden Rule I happen to live by for Entrepreneurs, is "If it is too good to be true, it usually is". 

So you're an entrepreneur...before you run down the path of bringing your great idea to reality, step back, take the time to ask the tough questions and get someone to "punch holes" in your big idea. Then, and only then find an experienced business person to engage with on a project basis to get some professional advice. It could save you from burning through investor's money, or worse yet, your own life savings.

Rick Rockhill is Managing Partner and co-founder of Zarhill Partners Group, a retail brand and sales consulting group based in Burbank, Palm Springs and Los Angeles. They serve clients throughout the USA and Asia.