How to achieve social & emotional motivation

Motivation wanted! Corporate communications departments are under constant pressure to change: they are expected to become more agile, to be structurally and procedurally transferred to Corporate Newsrooms, and to work in a more digital, collaborative, and independent manner. While there are clear step-by-step instructions for achieving such technical goals, the social and emotional aspects, which are at least as important, are still too often overlooked. Yet motivating people to make lasting changes to their attitudes and habits is crucial to the success of change projects. viadoo founder Dr. Dominik Faust showed how this can be achieved in a webinar hosted by Convento GmbH on social and emotional motivation for change. According to Convento CEO Rainer Maassen, the response from the nearly 300 PR managers from renowned companies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland was consistently positive.

Continued high demand for change management

At the beginning of the webinar, a few figures were presented that gave pause for thought: according to a study by Porsche Consulting, only 20–30 percent of all change projects are successful. And only 22 percent of all employees and 24 percent of managers consider themselves capable of change – in contrast to 43 percent of senior management. This coincides with the speaker’s findings. He attributes this to a lack of consideration of social and emotional aspects, which ultimately lead to the success of a change project. Every change has a technical and an interdisciplinary dimension.

The „Anti-Change-DNA“ is often overlooked

Dominik Faust addressed the origins of resistant behavior, which he sees as rooted in people’s “Anti-Change-DNA.” According to this, fear and reactance (resistance) are the first central reactions to the unknown. This is a protective mechanism that dates back to the earliest days of human history. Using an “emoji change curve,” he illustrated how humans typically react to unpopular change projects. After the initial dismay, there is a slight increase in motivation. This is driven by statements such as, “I’ll show them how I can be even more productive than before.” This is followed by anger, annoyance, and a descent into the valley of tears. This goes hand in hand with the realization that the change project is unavoidable.

Motivation finds reasons to move others

After that, things slowly start to look up again. From acceptance and cautious optimism to joy about the new path, which leads to better results than the old one. The task of professional change management is to prevent the valley of tears and reduced performance from becoming too deep for all those involved. This is a challenge when many people are involved who are at different stages of the emotional curve. Motivation for change therefore means finding and providing reasons to overcome fear and resistance. And this must be done in a differentiated manner for each phase of these emotions.

Motivation and the hierarchy of fear

Dr. Faust also contrasted Maslow’s hierarchy of needs with the hierarchy of fear (see graphic). In this way, he clarified the motives for resistance and fear. In addition to specific professional fears of reorganization, process optimization, or training measures, each individual also has their own private baggage of fears, such as those related to COVID-19, war, and inflation.

How vision, information, and participation motivate

A catchy vision can therefore be helpful for motivation and identification in change projects. This vision must be vivid and easy to communicate, contain realistic goals, and thus serve as a guide. Example: John F. Kennedy’s announcement in 1962: “By the end of the decade, we will have a man on the moon.” – which then became reality.

Rapid and open information also has a motivating effect. The recommendations for dealing with fear come from the crisis communication toolbox: According to Faust, those who are afraid should not hear about the opportunities presented by change. Instead, the focus should be on valid answers along the fear pyramid, reliable information, and direct dialogue in order to prevent rumors and office gossip. In the case of resistance and rejection, on the other hand, the focus should be on the opportunities. Disinterest can be overcome with an emotional appeal. A personal approach creates space for anger and other emotions. On the other hand, a flood of information is counterproductive and tends to provoke rejection.

According to the experience of the speaker and his team, participation is equally motivating. This means giving employees the opportunity to provide feedback and help shape the change project. In the case of the corporate newsroom, for example, this could involve selecting IT systems, defining organizational processes, and addressing space issues. Online feedback tools could be helpful in regularly surveying the opinions of the employees involved. And ultimately, recognizing achievements is, of course, a great source of motivation.

Text: Nicola Burckhardt-Brandt, Convento GmbH