Understanding What Motivates Each Person on Your Team

Most new managers walk into their role with a set of assumptions about what their team wants and needs, and a lot of those assumptions come from the manager’s own experience or what motivated them as an individual contributor. Things like: more responsibility, recognition, or the chance to grow.

However, it only takes a few real conversations with your team to realize those assumptions could be true for some people, but also be completely wrong for others.

Because, of course, not everyone on your team is motivated by the same things. And one of the most important things you can do early in your leadership journey is to stop assuming you know what drives people to do good work.

Learning how to motivate your team as a new manager starts with understanding each person as an individual. 

Tips for Understanding Individual Motivation as a New Manager

1| Ask directly and listen without an agenda.

Most people will tell you what matters to them if you ask in a genuine way and make it clear there is no wrong answer. Questions like "what does a great week look like for you?" or "what kind of work energizes you?" open up conversations that surface real information. This is one of the best and most helpful things you can do in your first few weeks of getting to know your team.

2| Pay attention to what lights people up.

Beyond what people say, watch what they do. Which projects do they lean into? When do they seem most engaged? When do they seem checked out? Behavior tells you a lot about how each person is motivated even more than what they tell you directly.

3| Recognize that motivation can shift over time.

What someone wants from their career at 25 is often different from what they want at 35. By checking in periodically, you can understand if anything has changed and adjust your approach accordingly.

Most importantly:

4 | Use what you learn to actually adjust how you lead.

I cannot emphasize this one enough. The point of understanding what motivates each person is not just to know it. It’s to let that knowledge change how you tailor your approach and how you show up for them day to day, from the types of projects you assign to the way you recognize their contributions or provide valuable coaching and feedback.

Remember, getting to know your team takes time, so be patient. You will not have a complete picture after just one conversation.

But, if you become a manager who asks questions and stays curious to learn more, you will have a better chance of building stronger relationships and stronger teams than the ones who just manage based on their own assumptions.

This is one of those first-time manager skills that can really pay off with any team you lead and for years to come.