Motivate Like Disney

I’ve been reading a book lately entitled “If Disney Ran Your Hospital” by Fred Lee (review will come shortly once I complete reading it). Currently I’m in the middle of reading a particularly interesting chapter about motivation. In this chapter, the author describes different ways to motivate people and the effectiveness of each technique. One technique in particular captures the very magic of Disney, and it is a very powerful method of motivation yet is often forgotten or seldomly used (Disney being an exception). So, let me share a quick rundown of some of the different ways to motivate others from least effective to most effective. Then let me describe why the last is so powerful and should be used frequently!

#3—Compliance

This is the least effective and most common way to motivate others and that is if you do “X”, you will receive “Y”. Stephen R. Covey likes to call this the carrot-and-stick motivational philosophy where people are doing something simply because they want the reward or they want to avoid the punishment for noncompliance. This type of motivation implies that the action would not take place without the reward or punishment—thus really not very motivating at all.

#2—Willpower

Willpower is more effective than compliance but still lacks in terms of being the most powerful way to motivate others. Willpower is developed through self-discipline and results from a desire to do what is right or what is believed to be right even when one may not feel like doing it. This type of motivation builds self-esteem and confidence and thus is more powerful than compliance. The most common ways to use this type of motivation is through inspiring speeches, mission statements, and goals. In the end, this is a value driven type of motivation.

#1—Imagination

Imagination is a powerful way to motivate others. It is powerful because it aligns actions with feelings. In other words using imagination helps people do what they want to do because they feel like it. Rather than relying on sheer willpower and self-discipline, motivating with imagination aligns feelings with actions and thus produces “real” behaviors and genuine actions.

Let me give you an example or two of how this works. These are examples taken from the book. When Mother Teresa was asked why she provided so much charity to others, she said that each time she helped someone she imagined she was helping Jesus himself. This power of imagination led her to live an amazingly unselfish and honored life. Thus, imagination influenced her feelings which ultimately resulted in sincere actions. Another example found in the book is a nurse who imagined what it would be like to be the patient she was caring for. Rather than providing great care because she simply thought it was the right thing to do, she actually empathized with the patient and had true feelings of wanting to help because of her imagining what it would be like to be in the patient’s exact situation.

Unlike other motivational techniques, imagination produces actions that are real, sincere, and natural. For this reason it is a very effective way to motivate others to act not out of compliance or willpower, but out of a real desire to do so. This type of motivation produces results and truly inspires and uplifts others to do their best.

So, what techniques are we using to motivate others? Using imagination is a powerful and extremely effective way to motivate others. As we learn to use this technique, we will become better leaders. Imagine yourself using the power of imagination to motivate others…and now go do it!!