We’d all love to get more advocates for our company. But we might be trying to cultivate them in the wrong way:

• Inform: create relevant campaigns and collateral with all the facts—assuming that “to know me is to support me.”
• Invite: provide open-ended opportunities to get involved—assuming that “if I open the door, people will come to me.”
• Offer incentives: appeal to their rational self-interest—assuming that “money talks—and so will they.”

These approaches are completely logical, and sometimes get short-term results—but so often they end up just looking a little too corporate.

A smarter approach to building advocacy is to think a lot less about what WE want people to do, and focus almost exclusively on what makes people want to do things on their own.

What motivates people to want to do the things they do?  The answer is pretty simple.  We are all slaves to our nucleus accumbens—the part of the brain that’s often referred to as “the pleasure center.” We do the things we do because we want to—because these things make us feel good.

There are a handful of innate emotional drivers of social activity that give all of us the strongest pleasure. People want to feel smart, to look cool, to show appreciation, to belong, and to help others.

That’s where true motivation comes from.  While there are times when other people seem to have “motivated” you (a great boss, a teacher, a coach, your parents), it is often just that they were able to bring out the motivation that was already inside you. Can anyone motivate you to do something you really didn’t want to do?  Maybe—but even if it’s possible, it usually doesn’t last long.

So when we communicators need advocates to  actively support our companies, we have to stop thinking, “How can I get them to speak up for us?” and start asking ourselves, “How can I create opportunities for them to do the things THEY want to do”—but in a way that also serves the mutual interest of the company.

Check out the latest findings from Influencing Stakeholders in a Networked Environment to see some examples of companies that have voluntarily taken a big, humble, step away from trying to control others—to just let people be people—and have found that their own corporate interests actually thrived as a result.