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Working with teams can be a high-impact way to make a difference in an organization: increasing productivity, creating a more harmonious workplace culture, and improving the quality and clarity of communication. There’s often a big hurdle to overcome, however: interpersonal conflict. Squabbling, cliques, gossip, and office politics that spread across a team can quickly undermine any progress you’re making with individuals. In our recent pulse poll, 86% of coaches acknowledged that interpersonal conflict is an issue in at least half of their team engagements (with nearly 30% saying it’s a problem almost all the time).
In our recent webinar, How Motivational Transparency Can Transform Teams, coaches Andrew Rand, Ph.D. and Christine Chasse explores strategies for creating more open and harmonious teams. Read on for highlights from the webinar, or watch the full presentation on-demand now.
What Really Leads to Conflict?
As coaches, we’ve surely all witnessed our fair share of conflict. And yet, the majority of people come to work with good intentions. Very few wake up planning to create problems. Yet, conflict still happens, often because of differing opinions or approaches. The source of these differences goes beyond surface-level disagreements and delves into something more fundamental: motivation and emotional energy.
The Role of Motivation in Conflict
At its core, motivation refers to what drives or attracts someone—and, conversely, what drains or repels them. Unlike behavior, which is observable, motivation is internal and largely invisible. Yet, it has a lasting, significant impact on how people approach work, make decisions, and navigate interpersonal relationships. This unobservable nature makes it difficult for others to understand, and even harder for individuals to recognize in themselves.
For example: think about someone who feels energized by competition. They thrive on winning, whether it’s in a board game or a business negotiation. Another person, on the other hand, may be driven by collaboration and teamwork, finding satisfaction in working together rather than competing. If these two people were placed on the same team, it’s easy to imagine how conflict might arise—not because of bad intentions, but because their underlying motivations are so different.
Motivation vs. Behavior: A Crucial Distinction
It’s important to distinguish between behavior and motivation. While behavior is something we can see—like someone speaking assertively in a meeting—motivation is the invisible force behind it. Behavior may change depending on the situation, but motivation remains consistent. Someone may react to an immediate situation by adjusting their behavior, but their intrinsic motivation is more enduring and often deeply rooted in their life experiences.
This consistency in motivation explains why people interpret the same event so differently. For instance, one person may love the thrill of a heated debate, seeing it as a productive exchange of ideas, while another person might find the same debate stressful and uncomfortable.
The Challenge of Self-Awareness: 4 Things to Know about Motivation
- Motivational factors originate from the formative years and evolve slowly over time. While we may recognize our own behavior quite easily, some people are less in touch with these deeper underlying drivers.
- Many people will be surprised by how strong or weak some of their motivations are compared to others. It is truly difficult to have a fully objective view of ourselves.
- People with extreme motivations are very likely to underestimate this extremity. They may have normalized it to the extent that it becomes less evident to them.
- Motivation can conflict with itself. We often have mixed feelings or have drivers which interfere with each other.
All of these make it challenging to establish awareness of one’s own emotions – let alone how they could interact with others’ motivational profiles, or be impacting your view of other people’s actions. This lack of self-awareness can cause misunderstandings in teams, as individuals may fail to realize how their motivations differ from those of their colleagues.
The Impact of Motivation on Team Dynamics
Consider an example drawn from Drew’s coaching: two team members, Kyle and Bill, with very different motivations. Kyle thrives on challenge and competition, and conflict energizes him. Bill, on the other hand, values relationships and collaboration. When these two engage in a tense conversation, Kyle might walk away feeling invigorated, while Bill feels drained. Without understanding each other’s motivations, it’s easy to see how this could lead to ongoing tension.
Now imagine expanding this scenario across an entire team. Each individual brings their own set of motivations—some may be driven by achievement, others by stability, and still others by a desire for recognition. When these motivations clash, it’s no wonder that team dynamics can suffer. Recognizing and understanding these differences is a critical step toward improving teamwork.
How to Measure Motivation and Leverage it for Stronger Teams
Since motivation is not visible, how can we uncover it? One tool used to measure motivation is the Individual Directions Inventory (IDI), which assesses 17 different motivational dimensions across six clusters. By understanding where individuals fall within these dimensions, it becomes easier to see why they behave and interpret situations the way they do. The IDI can help teams identify where motivations align and where they may conflict, providing a roadmap for improving communication and reducing conflict.
Ultimately, the key to resolving team conflict often lies in awareness of individuals’ underlying motivations. The goal isn’t to change them – as noted, motivations rarely change, and they can’t be chosen. But awareness can create clarity around behavior, and help the team be on the lookout for potential pitfalls. Once team members are aware of their own motivations—and those of their colleagues—they can begin to navigate their differences more effectively. Rather than assuming bad intentions, they can appreciate that everyone is approaching the situation from a different motivational lens.
Case Study: Transforming Team Dynamics Through Motivational Coaching
Let’s explore a real-world example of introducing motivation into a team coaching engagement to help soothe some unproductive tensions and create a more harmonious team.
It’s important to note that when using motivational coaching, the process always begins with individual feedback. This step is crucial because each team member must first understand their internal drivers—what motivates them, what drains them, and why they react to challenges or opportunities in specific ways. Understanding these internal drivers is the key to fostering empathy, teamwork, and collaboration among team members.
After individuals gain clarity on their motivations, the team comes together to share their insights. This collective knowledge helps address underlying tensions and allows the team to work more effectively as a unit. It also identifies potential areas of friction, helping the team better handle future challenges.
We guide the team through a four-phased approach.
Meet The Team: A Nonprofit Leadership Group
Our case study focused on a nonprofit organization with a five-person leadership team located in New Hampshire. The team consisted of a mixed-gender group with varying levels of tenure: two new members, two long-term employees, and a CEO who had been with the organization for nine years. The CEO was dynamic and full of ideas, but the team faced significant challenges in follow-through and effective communication. A particular point of tension was a rebranding initiative that failed to gain traction, much to the frustration of the CEO and the marketing manager.
Some challenges the team expressed:
– Lack of follow-through on projects
– Frustration over endless meetings that yielded few actionable results
– Silos and poor communication, leaving team members out of the loop
– A failed rebranding initiative that highlighted a lack of collective buy-in
Starting with the CEO: A Motivational Awakening
The coaching journey began with the CEO, who initially believed that the issues stemmed solely from the team. However, after getting his IDI feedback and working through it with a coach, he realized his own patterns might be contributing to the challenges. His feedback session involved a deep dive into his motivations, and he acknowledged that while he thrived on creating new ideas and enjoyed external representation, he struggled with follow-through—specifically when initiatives reached the operational stage.
This moment of self-reflection was pivotal. The CEO’s openness to addressing his own motivational drivers set the tone for the rest of the team to undergo the same process.
Expanding to the Team: Building Mutual Understanding
After the CEO’s breakthrough, the rest of the leadership team participated in the motivational assessments. Once each team member received individual feedback, they gathered for a group sharing session. They were prompted to explore deep, personal motivations, such as:
- This probably doesn’t surprise you about me…
- This may surprise you…
- This drains me, so I sometimes actively avoid…
- I can sometimes over rely on this…
- Because of my motivations, sometimes I assume…
To model transparency for the team, the CEO shared first, using four of his own IDI scores to answer the prompts:
“It probably doesn’t surprise you that I get energy from making presentations and talking to crowds.” His high score on the IDI dimension Entertaining was apparent to others, as he loved presenting to crowds and engaging external audiences.
“It may surprise you that I’m not that comfortable expressing my emotions, since I use emotions in my presentations (just not my personal ones).” While he was adept at evoking an emotional response in others, his lower score on the IDI dimension Expressing made him less inclined to reveal his own feelings.
“Sometimes I lose interest in projects once the initial start-up phase has passed.” His lower score on the IDI dimension Enduring meant he often lost interest after the excitement of starting a new project wore off.
“Sometimes I get so excited about new ideas, and I assume others are excited by them too.” His high score on the IDI dimension Creating indicated that he got energy from innovation, assuming that everyone else would automatically share his excitement for new ideas.
The CEO’s transparency encouraged others to be vulnerable, which fostered a new level of trust within the team. Silos began to dissolve as they realized many of their frustrations stemmed not from personal shortcomings, but from differing motivations.
This process helped the team members better understand themselves and each other, revealing both strengths and potential areas of friction.
Team Profile Analysis: What Strengthens and What Weakens Us
The next step was analyzing the team as a whole. By reviewing the collective motivational profile, the team was able to identify both strengths and areas where their motivations could lead to trouble.
Potential Strengths: The team had a high score in “Giving,” meaning they were motivated by supporting and helping others—a perfect fit for their nonprofit mission. There was also a healthy spread in “Controlling” scores, indicating a balanced approach to leadership and decision-making.
Potential Challenges and Assumptions: Many team members were low in “Enduring,” meaning they struggled to push projects through to completion, which was a significant factor in the failed rebranding initiative. High scores in “Independence” contributed to the siloed nature of their work, with many members assuming they should work autonomously without much collaboration.
As part of this analysis, the team examined a specific example and how their collective motivations might have played a role: the failure of their recent rebranding initiative.
When the team revisited the project through the lens of their motivational profiles, a clear picture emerged. While the CEO and marketing manager were high in “Creating” (energy from new ideas), most other team members were not. Moreover, many were high in “Stability” (resistance to change), making them more cautious about the rebranding – and less than eager to jump in with both feet without having a clear understanding of what they were taking on and why.
These motivational differences created a lack of enthusiasm and buy-in for the initiative, leading to the team’s inaction.
Taking Action: Moving from Insight to Impact
Armed with new insights about their motivations, the team created specific action items to improve their collaboration and follow-through:
- Addressing Follow-Through: They empowered the team members with higher Enduring scores—like the marketing manager—to ensure projects were seen through to completion.
- Building Buy-In for New Ideas: The CEO and marketing manager recognized that they needed to better socialize new initiatives and allow more time for others – especially those higher on Stability – to process changes.
- Breaking Down Silos: High Independence scores meant team members often worked in isolation. They implemented intentional efforts to check in with each other and offer support across projects.
The team saw significant improvements after these changes. Quotes from participants underscored the transformation:
“I’ve realized not everyone thinks the same way I do, so I’m not taking disagreements so personally.”
“We’re giving new ideas a better shot now.”
“I appreciate having the language to talk about our challenges without feeling judged.”
The Power of Motivational Transparency
All teams have tension. But motivational transparency helps people explore the tension with neutrality, objectivity, and curiosity – not judgment. Opening up about motivation helps teams overcome conflict with less drama and find more productive ways of working – together. To go deeper on this topic, visit our Resource Hub for the on-demand webinar and much more.
Q&A with the Experts
Q: How does motivation relate to the concept of one’s inner compass?
A: An inner compass can be described a structure that encompasses a person’s values, goals, and interests and gives direction and meaning to a person’s life and identity. Motivations, as measured and described in the IDI, provide an understanding of the emotional content and energy gain/loss of our experiences. Motivations may help shape our values, goals, and interests, but they may also diverge from them. For example, I might have a strong value that being generous is a positive thing, but I could still have a low Giving score on the IDI because I don’t gain a lot of emotional energy from giving. I might have a goal to become more generous, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be energized by doing it.
The purpose of understanding our motivators, or emotional drivers, is to make the unconscious conscious – to realize where our energy lies and to determine when and how to capitalize on that energy and when to compensate for it in order to support our values, reach our goals, and stay true to our inner compass. – Christine
Q: Is this instrument [the IDI] reliant on the FIRO-B at all?
A: No. The Individual Directions Inventory is unique from the FIRO-B model in two specific ways. First, the FIRO-B model includes behaviors which the IDI does not. The IDI measures motivation, and while those motivations have implications for someone’s behavior, we are not measuring what someone is doing or how they are behaving. The correlation between motivation and behavior is not one-to-one. Secondly, the FIRO-B model includes needs, which the IDI does not. The distinction here lies in the fact that when we speak of needs we often speak of them needing to be absent to bring an individual to act. Put another way, if a need is satisfied, it may have significantly less influence over someone’s choices or desire to achieve a satisfactory state. The IDI focuses on an individual’s life experience and their ongoing preference to live a fulfilling life. The IDI does not see people as passively responding to the environment but instead actively seeking specific types of emotional experience. – Drew
Q: Can MRG create a group IDI report?
A: Yes, MRG offers several options for reports that provide team IDI data. First, you can order a standard IDI composite showing the individuals’ aggregate median score. This report only shows data with no text. A second option is the IDI Team Development Report, which is a much more extensive look into a team’s overall motivations and how they play a role in how they’re functioning. This report is a combination of scores and written interpretation. Lastly, you can have an IDI Comparative Report which compares up to four individuals. Like the composite, this report is data only. We also offer IDI Energy Charts, which provide a more visual representation of where a team’s scores fall relative to each other.
Samples of these reports are all available to MRG clients in the Knowledge Base. You can also find links to these reports on the Resource Hub for this webinar. – Drew
Q: Is there a practical limit to the team size to keep MRG’s IDI Team Development Report useful?
A: I would argue that if you reach the double digits, there is too much information for people to absorb to make it useful. I find the team report most valuable for teams that are six members or less. Additionally, I find the comparative report, when you compare two people, for example, a leader and a direct report, incredibly valuable. This situation allows the two people involved to focus on only their relationship and how they may be able to work more effectively together. – Drew
Q: Can you discuss the use of/application for the “Energy Chart”?
A: The IDI Energy Chart is a great visual to help members in a group or team see where they lie in relation to each other on the 17 emotional drivers measured by the IDI. It can be used with or without identifying initials, depending upon the trust levels within the group. Similar to the “Constellation exercise,” in which people position themselves in a room based upon their score on a particular IDI dimension, the Energy Chart shows participants how much variability there is within a group around IDI dimensions, removing the judgement associated with a particular score, and providing a vocabulary with which to discuss that variability.
As opposed to the IDI Composite, which displays the median score on each IDI dimension, the Energy Chart displays individual scores for participants so that similarities and differences among the scores, and the implications therein, can be more thoroughly explored. The IDI Energy Chart can be used along with the IDI Team Report or individually for team building and bonding. – Christine
