It’s been announced this week that Declan Donnelly will be joined for his stint in the jungle hosting ‘I’m a Celebrity’ by Holly Willoughby, while his troubled co-host Ant McPartlin continues to take time out of the spotlight.

I won’t dwell on Ant’s recent personal troubles, but you can’t deny we’ve had good value out of the popular duo over the years. They were always entertaining, with an onscreen chemistry that could only stem from a well-established genuine friendship between the two former ‘Byker Grove’ stars. It’s rare to find that level of camaraderie with someone you work with – if you have it, you are very fortunate. Most of us are thrust together with colleagues that have the right skills for the job they are required to perform, but with little or no consideration of their behaviours and motivation.

This is surprising, when you think about the reasons why people leave jobs – often it’s a clash with a colleague or a manager, and if you dig deeper, it’s inevitably because the two have very different motivations, and struggle to relate to one another.

For example, someone whose motivation is based on relationships in the workplace might come into conflict with team members that are motivated by personal growth and innovation. Loosely, this is because the first individual’s behaviour tends to be risk-averse, slower, and resistant to change, whereas the second is comfortable with change, doesn’t mind taking risks, and has a naturally faster pace. This is not a judgment on the two individuals by any means, there are many reasons why we need both types of people in the workplace! But they are prone to clashing, and the outcome of this can be devastating to your team, often leading to demotivated staff, and even resignations.

The things that motivate us at work drive us to seek certain outcomes from our behaviour, and conflicts arise when those outcomes are quite different from those around us. We might dismiss such a conflict as a personality clash, but in fact if you scratch the surface, it comes down to motivation.  Always.

If you’ve been fortunate enough to organically build a team where productivity is high, morale is high, everyone gets along, and you enjoy good retention, why would you risk sabotaging it now? It’s never too late to review the way you recruit – and retain – team members.

Our approach to recruitment is based on the candidates’ behaviour, motivation, and potential. You can learn about this here, and of course if you’ve got a new starter, you should consider all of these things. Ultimately, we want to help our clients to build teams for the future. That means it’s just as important to us that our client retains the individuals we place with them as it is that we find them the right people in the first place.

We can help you to future proof your current team, no matter how happy and harmonious they may seem, by using Motivational Maps Team Maps. We administer team maps to our clients in order for them to identify and manage any potential areas of conflict, determine to what extent the drive of the team is harmonised with its mission, and how to provide suitable rewards for the team.

In short, our clients use this tool to enable the team to improve their performance.  The team map is particularly useful during change management programmes. It is relevant to teams of all sizes and helps to create smooth transitions and improve staff engagement.

We’re hoping that Holly Willoughby has been recruited for ‘I’m a Celebrity’ based on her behaviours and motivation rather than solely her presenting skills, otherwise this might be Dec’s last trip to the jungle. Having said that, if I earned what they earned, there are few people I wouldn’t try and tolerate for a few weeks a year!

To talk to Blues Point about Motivational Maps Team Maps, call us on 01283 530923.