Monday motivation

Last year, the entire marketing, PR and and Internal Communications teams were encouraged to undertake an SDI assessment. This form of 'strength deployment inventory' is one of the many popular methods of understanding both yourself and your team. There are many different iterations (including Myers-Briggs) of these types of psychological tests. The common opinion of these is that a team with a good mix of personalities is much stronger and more resilient. With the SDI the idea being that once we have determined what motivates and interests someone the easier it is to communicate with them. The reason for each individual's motivation are split into 3 types:

• Red: Concern for performance
• Blue: Concern for people
• Green: Concern for process

By answering a series of questions we were then plotted on a graph depicting which of these makes up our motivation. Of course, it is possible to be a combination of all three (a Hub) meaning that we were equally motivated by them all. Our results also showed how we would act in conflict (i.e. become more concerned about the people).

For everyone there are no right or wrong answers. Just different ways of acting. As a digital marketer I was fascinated by what would be seen to motivate me. Everyone in the team expected me to be predominantly green (i.e. analytical) as I am always the one in meetings to bring the conversation back to meaningful measurement. So how did I do?

Well, my persona was graded as red/blue. This put me in the 'Assertive-Nurturing category'. Mentoring and encouraging others to do their best but focused on results. In conflict I was noted to become a 'hub'. This means that I can take on any type of behaviour depending on the situation - unpredictable!

It was a surprise to many that I was not motivated by the analytical nature of my role. To me though, my constant insistence on measurement and proof is motivated by that (red) part of me which needs to see solid results. It's not a behaviour I enjoy but I can do it in order to satisfy another part of my personality. This is the best way to ensure you are not cherry picking only the tasks you enjoy. If you find something more challenging then look at how it can contribute to your overall work satisfaction.

This leads on to another part of my work methodologies for which I'm often teased - saving money! It is definitely true that I am reluctant to spend company money compared to the abandon shown by some others. But this is why I think I have found my niche in digital marketing. For a long time now marketers say they’ve reduced their traditional advertising budget to fund digital marketing activities. The measurement and ability to test and learn makes it second to none. We no longer have to guess as to why a certain activity is not working.

Coupled with this is my regular insistence with agencies in making our resources scaleable. By this I mean building them in such a way so that we can continue to maintain them in house.

This process has been especially enlightening when looking at what motivates others. For example, if someone is a pure 'red' it's worth remembering to keep your emails short and get to the point in meetings! If they're 'blue' then you'll need to spend some time discussing their feelings and if they're green why they they been assigned a task.

Of course, it's never totally this clear cut and aspects like the ability to stay up to date with the latest technologies, be creative and pass on knowledge via presenting and mentoring are great forms of job satisfaction.

Some of the happiest, most successful people in the world were those who completed some kind of personality profile in their youth. Once you can understand your perceived weaknesses, not only can you make sure you point yourself in the right direction but you can also work on those weaknesses.

What's your digital marketing motivator?