The Relationship Comes First
If you want to motivate someone in Colombia, start by investing in the relationship. Not as a tactic — as a genuine priority. Before tasks, before targets, before anything else, the personal connection has to be there. This means taking time to know someone as a person: their family, their life outside work, what matters to them. It means showing up warmly, not just professionally.
The quality of that relationship — what Colombians call “confianza” — is what determines whether someone gives you their full energy or just does what is required. When the relationship is strong, Colombian colleagues work with loyalty and commitment that goes well beyond formal obligation. When it is weak, the motivation never quite takes hold, no matter how compelling the task itself might be. Investing in the person before the project is not inefficiency; it is how motivated, sustained engagement gets built in this culture.
Recognition Has Real Power
In Colombia, being acknowledged in front of people who matter — your team, your colleagues, your community — carries enormous motivational weight. This is not just positive feedback; it is the act of being seen as someone who matters. When a manager publicly appreciates an employee’s effort, calls out their contribution by name, or celebrates their work in front of the group, it signals membership and value in a way that private praise alone cannot replicate.
This is why recognition rituals — the team lunch to celebrate a win, the public acknowledgment in a meeting, the genuine personal appreciation spoken aloud — are not optional extras in a Colombian workplace. They are doing serious motivational work. The flip side is equally true: public criticism or shaming can be profoundly demotivating, because it attacks not just the work but the person’s standing in the community they belong to and depend on.
Connect the Work to People Who Matter
Colombians are significantly more motivated when they can see clearly how their work benefits real people — their family, their team, their community, or their country. Abstract performance targets do not stir deep, sustained effort. But “your work is allowing this team to succeed” or “what you are building will help people in your community” — these framings activate something deeper.
This is not manipulation; it is alignment with how Colombians actually experience motivation. The purpose that drives the highest quality and most sustained effort is relational purpose. When a Colombian professional can genuinely say “I am working hard because it matters to the people I love and serve,” they draw on a virtually inexhaustible motivational reserve. Making this connection explicit — and authentic — is one of the most powerful things a leader or colleague can do.
Difficulty Makes It Meaningful
Colombian professionals do not expect smooth sailing, and they do not need it to stay motivated. The culture has been shaped by generations of navigating institutional difficulty, economic uncertainty, and resource scarcity — and what emerged from that experience is a deep sense of pride in finding creative solutions under constraint. This capacity — what Colombians call “el rebusque” — is a motivational identity, not just a coping mechanism.
When things get hard, a Colombian colleague with a strong team around them often becomes more engaged, not less. The challenge becomes something worth solving together. If you are leading Colombians through difficulty, name the challenge honestly, trust their resourcefulness, and let them bring their creativity to bear. Do not over-protect them from complexity — it underestimates both their capability and the culture that formed it. Shared struggle, navigated with ingenuity, is a genuine source of pride and cohesion.
Generosity, Not Status, Earns Deep Respect
In Colombia, the person who earns deep and lasting respect is not necessarily the most technically accomplished or the most senior. It is the person known as “buena gente” — someone genuinely warm, generous, and caring toward others. A leader who shares credit, brings junior people along, creates opportunities for others, and treats everyone with personal warmth builds motivational authority that no title alone can generate.
Conversely, a leader who hoards recognition, manages upward but ignores those below, or treats people as instruments of personal success, erodes loyalty quickly. The motivational economy in Colombia runs on relational generosity. If you want people to work hard for you and alongside you, be genuinely generous with your time, your recognition, and your care for the human beings around you. That generosity — visible, consistent, and sincere — is what earns the kind of commitment that goes beyond what any contract can require.