What is motivation?
Motivation is an internal state that activates, directs and maintains the person's behavior towards certain goals or ends; It is the impulse that moves the person to perform certain actions and persist in them to complete them. Motivation is what gives energy and direction to behavior, it is the cause of behavior.
Several opposing theories have been proposed about the content of motivational states. They are known as content theories and aim to describe what goals normally motivate people. The hierarchy of needs from Abraham Maslow and the ERG theory, for example, postulate that human beings have certain needs, which are responsible for motivation. Some of these needs, such as food and water, are more basic than others, such as respect from others.
How to motivate your team?
A good team will have many victories, but a properly motivated team will be successful. By this we mean that the success of our team depends not only on hard work but also on good motivation from the coach.
Reviewing several of our books, we realized that there are many ways to motivate a team, some more effective than others, that is why we have made a small compilation about them, we leave it to you below.
Forms of Motivation:
Everyday motivation
It is the satisfaction received by an athlete for the satisfaction of a training itself. That is, he feels good and rewarded for his own routine physical activity regardless of other major achievements.
It is associated more with their day-to-day performance and the fun that the activity produces and the environment itself where this activity is carried out (colleagues, time of day, etc.).
Tactical talk
Before giving a speech, we recommend reviewing all the strategies studied during the months of preparation in 20 minutes. A rational review of what has been learned will provide the team with solid ground to stand on before facing an opponent. This will increase the security of the players knowing that they do not go out on the field empty, but rather a valuable backpack of effective tools accompanies them.
Refreshing learned strategies causes players' minds to focus on specific goals to achieve. Consequently, there will be no room for emotional ramblings that can only sabotage the effort each player has put into improving their performance on the pitch. With these goals in mind, each individual will seek opportunities to apply the knowledge.
Motivational talk
This is the favorite part of the coaches because they have a space to display inspiring messages to the team. However, it is a common mistake to generate an excess of information that ends up distracting the team, so the ideal is to give a short speech that does not exceed five minutes before the match.
Avoid being repetitive in the ideas that are mentioned because this causes an overload in the brain that blocks rational actions. Its content must release negative tensions by stimulating the exit to the game. Therefore, it is recommended that the instructor controls his tone of voice so as not to exaggerate the emotions of the players too much. Prayers should sound forceful, but shouting should be avoided because it is counterproductive.
Audiovisual tools
A resource that is often very helpful is to post a motivational video. The coach can arrange a synthetic material with some important ideas that they want to highlight. For example, the victories and medals won or the strengths of your players. But, if you prefer, you can also review strategies accompanied by blackboards, cards, illustrations and/or photos.
Positive motivation
Negative motivation
Some tips we give you:
Know the sources of motivation of your team
Knowing what motivates your players gives you an edge. That will make our work much easier by making our chats and rewards much more accurate and we will have a good reason to encourage our players.
Set goals and achievable goals
There are various theories about how to motivate a team, but it has been shown that what motivates the most is the achievement of a goal. Once you know how far you have to go, athletes fight to get there. Most are motivated when they know the goals (as long as they are reasonable).
Athletes like to measure themselves and know how far they can go. In the end, human beings are competitive from birth and above all with ourselves.
Communicate and maintain constant feedback
We all like to be heard at some point. A good coach must know how to listen to his players and bet on them, it is a way of connecting with your team and making them see you as an essential figure to move forward.
Propose challenges to athletes
The challenges make the day to day not boring and monotonous. A very successful way is to delegate certain responsibilities among the same players. It is also a good idea to propose initiatives that allow them to develop their most creative side and get more involved with the rest of the team.
Reward your players
Like challenges, prizes are one of the most used ways to motivate teams. Getting a reward for doing something you love is even more satisfying. Rewards such as leaving 10 minutes early, a specific position on the court or any reward that we believe is fair in exchange for the effort of our team.
¡Apply these techniques and observe the change yourself!
We tell you more about this and many other topics in our Master in Professional Soccer which is endorsed by the Catholic University of Ávila, an institution recognized worldwide.