3 Cs to Foster Optimal Motivation

Choice, connection, and competence can help during change initiatives.

All too often, leaders revert to a command-and-control way of leading, especially in challenging situations. During Sunday’s session, “Leadership and the New Imperative: Improving People’s Psychological Sense,” Susan Fowler, author and CEO and founder of Mojo Moments, explained how leaders and employees can tap into optimal motivation, addressing three basic psychological needs: choice, connection, and competence.

Choice is not the same as freedom, she explained, but rather the perception that you are the source of your own behavior and that you have options; it means you see a situation as an opportunity rather than an imposition. Connection involves a genuine sense of belonging and shared values; it acknowledges a person’s vulnerability. Competence entails a person’s need to learn and grow every day; think Carol Dweck’s growth mindset.

Fowler explained that leaders can encourage choice by setting boundaries, framing goals, and encouraging a discussion of what’s possible in the workplace. Further, leaders can lay the groundwork for employees to make choices based on values and the greater good, creating an environment where it is safe to explore and innovate. She shared a story of Garry Ridge, former chairman of the board and CEO of WD-40 Company, describing a challenging day’s project as a “learning moment.” Instead of viewing the situation as a problem and dwelling on went wrong, the executive and employees viewed the situation as a learning moment and asked, “What did we learn and what are we going to do differently?”

Individuals, too, can tap into optimal motivation. For example, when faced with a change, we can make a choice to embrace the change, utilize the resources—including people—around us to lean into the change, and think about how we can grow from it. Fowler described top reasons why employees leave an organization (such as due to lack of autonomy or flexibility, a toxic work environment, or absence of growth and learning opportunities) versus why they choose to stay.

Fowler also outlined several common workplace scenarios—coaching conversations, managing the hybrid workforce, providing alternatives to incentives and rewards, setting the stage for high-quality goal setting, and providing high-quality feedback—and asked participants which scenarios she should talk about further in the context of the three Cs. Responding to participants, Fowler explained how leaders can create a cultural norm in which employees request feedback rather than waiting for managers to initiate feedback conversations. In this way, employees choose when to ask for feedback, based on what they want to learn.

Fowler followed up her live-streamed session with a speaker spotlight Q&A later in the day and will be at the ATD Bookstore for an author meet and greet on Monday, May 22, from 9:30-10:00 a.m. She is the author of Why Motivating People Doesn't Work...and What Does, Second Edition: More Breakthroughs for Leading, Energizing, and Engaging.