Using Identities to Elevate Team Member Engagement

Leaders naturally want team members to engage more fully and commit to actions that elevate team performance.

So, they ask people to step up and get in the game by leading, collaborating, innovating, advocating, and deciding more actively.

The best team members rise to the occasion and engage more enthusiastically, while others go through the motions and do what they have always done.

To increase the odds that team members will embrace their calls for action with more vigor and enthusiasm, great leaders have learned a secret. They turn their requests for action into identities that people must live up to.

Consider the difference between describing someone as learning versus describing that person as a learner. The persona of a learner seems more permanent and more likely to persist.

That’s the power of an identity over an action.

How others view us, think of us, and describe us is vitally important to our self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. Thus,our identities exert a distinct influence on how we act.

The best leaders understand this, so they commonly reframe their requests for action into displays of personal identities.

For example, instead of asking a team member to innovate, they ask them to be an Innovator. Rather than ask them to be more decisive, they ask them to be the Decision-Maker. Instead of asking a team member to lead, they ask them to act as a Leader.

Other actions-to-identities could include: collaboration to Collaborator, strategy to Strategist, vision to Visionary, teach to Coach, guide to Mentor, and advocacy to Advocate. All exert similar influence.

By reframing the call to action into personal identities, leaders ask team members to live up to a self-image, persona, or role that they view with esteem. In most cases, this propels more action.

Turning actions into identities works to influence behavior because people want to be seen as owning or exemplifying the positive identity.

This is also true for how they don’t want to be seen by others. As author and proponent of this idea, Jonah Berger likes to say, “Cheating is bad, but being a cheater is worse. Losing is bad, but being a loser is worse.”

Self-image plays a pivotal role in how people engage and act. Using that self-image to their advantage is something great leaders do.

So, the next time you get in a jam, don’t ask a colleague to help you. Instead, ask them to be a “friend and pitch in.” You’ll likely find they lend a hand with a lot more enthusiasm.