Motivation via Growth Opportunity
Part 1 (What and Why)
The freedom to move forward to new opportunities and to produce better results motivates humans to live in future rather than past.
We have discussed recognition, and how it is used to tame killer whales http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/rrecognition-can-tame-killer-whale-why.html
Trust as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/people-respond-to-trust-by-upholding-it.html
Challenge as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/life-challenges-help-us-discover.html
Direction and Communication as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/01/efforts-and-courage-are-not-enough.html
Association as a motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/02/camaraderie.html
And incentives as motivator http://hunt-for-motivation.blogspot.com/2011/02/incentives.html
Today our focus will be Growth opportunities as a motivator. In this day and age, everybody wants to move up the ladder in career or in society. Hence, an opportunity to advance motivates us to give our 200% if we know that the hard work will pay off. The three well know theories on management (a) Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, (b) ERG theory and (c) Two factor theory have “Growth as motivator” in common amongst themselves.
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| Maslow |
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| ERG |
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| Two Factor |
Generally the management believes that the staff is leaving a job because of money i.e. “pull of better bank account”. However, in-depth discussion during exit interviews, point towards a different reality i.e. the “Push from management” towards personal growth. No wonder, companies with out a formal career development initiative, are left with less talented people because talented people are primarily motivated by need to grow and move on.
What is growth?. A person / child / adult “grows” when pushed out of their comfort zone. We like to listen to a certain kind of music, read a few specific magazines, drive to office a specific way, cook dinner a specific way, meet other in a particular fashion, move around a grocery store in a set way, like doing some known things etc etc. This is our comfort zone. HOWEVER, to develop ourselves, to learn about the world, to learn about others, to learn about ourselves, we need to go out of the comfort zone. Its going to a restaurant and ordering a different dish than the usual one. In the end you understand that do you enjoy the new thing or not.
A ship in the harbor (comfort zone) is safe but that is not what the ships are for.
So its not necessary to motivate people by promoting them up the corporate ladder, but they will be motivated if they are pushed outside their comfort zone and made to conquer the unknown. These unknown can be (a) A new assignment, (b) An unfamiliar project, (c) A new department, (d) Reporting to a tougher boss, (f)Responsibility of more people etc etc (any thing that puts a specific person out of the comfort zone). For a child this can be as simple as taking the first step, or learning how to eat without creating a mess, or use of money at a grocery store.
The gist is we should not get bothered if people point fingers at us and tell us that “you are no good, stop trying, stop doing things you have not done before”, we should also not blame our losses to somebody else, lets not be cowards. Unluckily, the world is becoming a nasty place that tries to beat us to the ground and tries to keep you there permanently if we let it. In the end, it is not about how hard you are hit in trying a new thing, its all about keep moving forward and exploring new things and ideas.
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