A leader I worked with recently told me she felt like she was spending an enormous amount of energy trying to encourage her team.

Checking in constantly.
Trying to keep morale high.
Pushing for more engagement.
Looking for ways to “motivate” people.

But the more effort she put into lifting the team up, the more disconnected everyone seemed to become.

When we slowed down and started talking through the work itself, something became clear:

This wasn’t really a motivation problem.

It was an alignment problem.

Some people were doing work that drained them.
Others didn’t understand how their strengths connected to their role.
A few had responsibilities that conflicted with the values that mattered most to them.
And some simply felt unseen as people — known only for output, not for how they naturally work best.

The leader realized she had been trying to encourage people through misalignment instead of addressing the misalignment itself.

Because real engagement rarely comes from pressure, perks, or pep talks.

It comes from understanding people well enough to better align:

• their strengths
• their interests
• their values
• their energy
• and their sense of purpose to the work in front of them.

That doesn’t mean every task will always feel exciting.

But when people can see themselves in the work — when the work feels connected to who they are — leadership starts requiring a lot less “encouraging.”

And conversations start getting much more honest.

Reflection: Where do you find yourself leaning more into encouraging, pushing, or motivating your team instead of slowing down to better understand what’s actually driving — or draining — them?