What motivates you?

Types of motivation

MOTIVATION

4/16/20232 min read

Oftentimes during coaching sessions I am asked about motivation. 🙋‍♀️ How do I motivate employees? What do they want? How do I know what they really need? 🤷

Theory and practice shows there’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation:

🅲🅾🅼🅿🅴🆃🅴🅽🅲🅴 motivation is willingness to know more or have some skills. This kind of motivation is also known as learning 📝motivation as it involves building more expertise on a subject matter.
🅲🆁🅴🅰🆃🅸🆅🅴 motivation is often prompted by a sense of wanting to express something, to create something new, leave a legacy. 👨‍🎨Artists prefer a freedom of expression and space to embody their vision.
🅰🅲🅷🅸🅴🆅🅴🅼🅴🅽🆃 motivation is somewhat like competence motivation in that it aims to achieve a goal just for personal development. If the goal is to pursue a remarkable feat 🏆just because of the feeling of attaining that height, then it is a practical illustration of achievement motivation.
🅰🆃🆃🅸🆃🆄🅳🅴 motivation is based on the willingness to change the world 🌎, make something good, or help people.
🅰🅵🅵🅸🅻🅸🅰🆃🅴 motivation is ignited by the feeling of belonging to a group 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦or society and being accepted.
🅿🆂🆈🅲🅷🅾🅻🅾🅶🅸🅲🅰🅻 motivation focuses on satisfying basic physiological needs: air, food, water, sleep, warmth, sex. 💨🥗💧😴🌤️😍Therefore, as the primary needs of life, the main goal for them is to survive. In physiological motivation, the reward might not be always tangible but it is always felt.

There are three motivation types that can be classified as extrinsic.

🆁🅴🆆🅰🆁🅳-🅱🅰🆂🅴🅳 motivation is the obvious one. 💳This is probably the only motivational type that many are aware of, because of its popularity and that it is the easiest way to get a fast motivational boost: salary raise, bonus, extra holidays, etc.
🅿🅾🆆🅴🆁-🅱🅰🆂🅴🅳 motivation is based on the human desire to have power over other people. Or, change the situation around their lives. It doesn’t always mean control; sometimes, it means they are motivated to lead. 👨‍🚀A good example of power-based motivation is Leadership.
🅵🅴🅰🆁-🅱🅰🆂🅴🅳 motivation is not based on any monetary reward, but on the fear of pain or awkward feeling. 😬Fear-based motivation is always tagged to be negative, but it isn’t. You would study harder for an exam fearing to fail, wouldn’t you?

Generally, there isn’t a single one motivating factor. As every person is different, so are their preferences. Every group, every industry would have a different combination of those factors. 📝 They key is to see what is best for an individual person by talking and understanding what is it that they are saying and expressing. 🗣️

What motivates you?