3 Experiences That Elevate Potential: A Cycle of Team Motivation

Why do some people feel like they’re too far behind the elitists and give up, while others work tirelessly to excel at an activity?

The answer can be summed up in three words: 

Purpose --> Expectations --> Motivation.

This article describes three types of experiences that inspire teams, elevate their potential, and transform them into forces to be reckoned with. Together, these three experiences create the Cycle of Team Motivation.

While some people are naturally talented at particular activities, the hard truth is that most of us need to invest significant time and effort to excel at something new.

This reminds me of when I started lap swimming after I was injured in a car accident several years ago. When I first started, I could only swim five laps before I was too tired to continue. Regardless of my performance, I found joy in swimming. It was a way for me to release stress and meditate. Therefore, it served a powerful purpose. A week without swimming felt incomplete.

Although it sounds cliché, feeling joy and purpose is the first and most important experience in the Cycle of Team Motivation.

• Motivational Experience #1: Experiencing joy and a desire to commit oneself to a purpose or an activity

It’s essential that team members enjoy what they do, but effective leaders know that different team members can enjoy an activity for different reasons. That is why motivating a team is a complex art form that focuses on individuals within a unit.

Some people may enjoy swimming because they feel weightless. Others may enjoy how their arms and legs work to propel them through the water. Regardless, the joy that each swimmer feels is personal and emotional.

My love for swimming was mental, and this love grew over time. After two weeks, my breaking point stretched from five laps to ten laps. My level of endurance had nearly doubled! With this excitement, I was determined to reach fifteen laps (nearly a half-mile swim), and it only took a few days to get there.

Then something truly inspiring happened.

One day I saw a man jump into the pool. He swam ten laps effortlessly.

Then twenty laps.

Then thirty laps.

This guy didn't grow tired!

I realized that swimming fifteen laps had been a milestone for me, but that number of laps was just a reflection of my current capacity; it wasn’t a reflection of my current potential. My expectations for myself had changed.

This leads to motivational experience #2 in the Cycle of Team Motivation.

• Motivational Experience #2: Being inspired by someone else’s success

While many people are intimidated by those who exhibit greatness, those who are inspired by greatness have the potential to become great themselves.

Those who are inspired by greatness have the potential to become great themselves.

Effective teams are comprised of members who are inspired (not intimidated) by success and greatness. Therefore, each team member makes it a priority to support and encourage their teammates. They hold themselves accountable for each other’s growth so that they may become inspired by each other’s success.

The more they encourage each other, the better they get. The better they get, the more inspired they become. The more inspired they become, the more they encourage each other. It’s a cycle that elevates potential.

After witnessing how incredible this swimmer was, I started to swim three or more days a week. I watched online videos to improve my technique. I imagined myself swimming as effortlessly as the person who inspired me. After two more weeks of serious practice, I was able to swim twenty-five laps.

A week after hitting my twenty-five-lap milestone, I finished up a swim, and someone said, “Wow, you just don’t stop. How many laps did you do?”

“Twenty-five,” I replied.

“That’s impressive,” the man said. “Wow. I need to practice more.”

I thought about this exchange for a minute. Three months prior, I was swimming five laps before tiring out. Then I was thrilled about reaching fifteen laps. I was highly motivated after watching someone swim thirty, which inspired me to improve. Now I was inspiring someone else in the same way that I had been inspired.

Being on the other side of the exchange provided me with even more motivation. After another few weeks, I was swimming thirty-five laps (roughly a mile) in about thirty minutes. It’s far from reaching a world record, but it’s seven times farther than where I was when I started.

• Motivational Experience #3: Inspiring someone else can inspire yourself

Although we are often inspired by the actions of others, we can also inspire ourselves by inspiring others. In great teams, inspiration travels on a multi-directional highway. Team members continuously inspire each other through their actions and are continuously inspired by the actions of others.

Although my experience swimming was outside of a team setting, the three motivational experiences that I engaged in were identical to what you can find in the Cycle of Team Motivation:

1. I found joy in an activity (internal source/self-constructed/emotional)
2. I was inspired and motivated by others who exhibit greatness (external source/admiration)
3. I inspired others to become better (internal <--> external/igniting motivation/becoming someone else's external source of motivation)

Although the Cycle of Team Motivation doesn’t guarantee greatness, it certainly provides a framework to help improve performance, commitment, and engagement.

As a leader or a team member, how do you motivate your team?

This article has been adapted for social media from Craig Silverstein's The Multiverse of Team Leadership. Coming soon!

Copyright © 2019 by Craig Silverstein