3a. Lecture 3 - Personal Motivation (10/5)

What We Did: In class today we discussed personal motivation and how it varies between people. Motivation is internal and complex- it is the forces that energize, direct and sustain a person's efforts. Fear is a motivational tool for the short term only. A lot of people think that using rewards or incentives allows people to achieve their goals to a better standard, but actually, rewards narrow our focus because they usually lead us to only one solution. As long as tasks are purely mechanical, a higher reward = better performance. However, higher incentives lead to worse performance when tasks require cognitive skill.

Most people in an organization are either not engaged or actively disengaged. It is very rare to find someone who is truly engaged and motivated. The building blocks for motivating people are: autonomy (level of freedom and flexibility), mastery (people want to excel at what they're doing), and purpose (what I do matters a great deal).

Today's class also talked about readiness and resistance to change- a topic very close to me because I have never dealt well with change in my life. The book, "Who Moved My Cheese?" is a #1 bestseller that explains the story of Skip, Scurry, Hem, Haw, and their ability to adapt to the changes in their lifestyle. Skip and Scurry didn't rely on their cheese as much as Hem and Haw because they knew that the cheese wouldn't be there forever, so when the cheese supply finally ended, they were able to quickly adapt and find a new supply. Meanwhile, Hem and Haw were left in the dark. The signs of resistance to change are confusion, immediate criticism, denial, and deflection. Change is a process, and leaders need to bring people through this process with them.

There are three levels of change resistance that must be conquered for the change to be effective and accepted.

• Level 1 Resistance: They don't get it
• lack of information, confusion, lack of exposure
• Level 2 Resistance: They don't like it
• fear, afraid of failing, emotional reaction to the change
• Level 3 Resistance: They don't like you
• don't have confidence in leader

Key Takeaways and Future Applications: This lecture made me realize that what motivates a manager won't necessarily motivate their staff. Incentives are not a one-size-fits-all concept; different tasks require different motivators. I realized that many people think high wages are the best form of motivation, but actually the #1 motivator for workers is interesting work. I completely agree with this because no matter how much I get paid, if I'm bored with what I'm doing, I will not be able to put my best effort into it. I never realized that incentives can hinder creativity until now, so in the future I hope to diminish this by motivating myself purely on the desire to be successful and learn things that I'm interested in.

Pete Carroll is someone who demonstrates effective motivation in his football team, the Seattle Seahawks. He claims to establish a caring, family-style atmosphere within his team. He believes that people are fundamentally good as they try to do their best, they are self-motivated, they want to perform. He creates a motivational environment by empowering people, and setting high goals while maintaining standards.

I have always thought that smaller changes are easier to sustain that large, sweeping ones. However, I have now learned that this is not the case. While drastic, radical changes are more risky, they are usually easier because they quickly yield benefits visible to everyone. I definitely think I will be less likely to resist change if I am given full information about the change and how it will be implemented. I don't like being kept out of the loop, so the next time there is a drastic change in my life, I plan on gaining as much understanding as possible so that I can make informed decisions about it.