I was reading the synopsis of a best selling book on motivation this morning and I was frankly unimpressed, so at the risk of setting myself an impossible challenge, here is what I believe is the essence of motivating people. 

They fall broadly into two camps; those who pursue ‘good’ things and those who seek to avoid ‘bad’ things.  Of course they decide what constitutes good and bad.  People do things because they choose to. 

They choose to do things that:-

• Interest them
• Reward them, either sooner or later
• Remove them from risk or other nasty things
• Make them feel good 

I think that is about it.  Obviously different people are motivated by different things and your job is to find out what motivates whom.  It is a subtle and complex art and requires insight and sensitivity.  Crude attempts to motivate tend to turn people off as they are not only irrelevant, they basically show that they are not seen and appreciated as individuals.

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.”    Edmund Hillary