My motivation(s)

From Competendo - Digital Toolbox
Jump to: navigation, search
Motivations for actions are varied. Some motivations involve a feeling of responsibility, some a material gain, still others a gain in power. Yet another motivation is an attraction to the idea of vita active - a purposeful active life. This method helps participants to enter a honest conversations with theirselves and to identify their motivational pattern

Time 40 minutes

Material copied template and pens

Group Size 5-30 people

Keywords motivation, reflection, goal setting


Related:


Handbook #1
Steps toward action
Empowerment-book-cover.png

M. Gawinek-Dagargulia, E. Skowron, N. Zimmermann

First handbook of our Handbooks for Facilitators: Read more

Goals

  • Getting a realistic picture of one's individual diverse motivations for becoming involved as an active citizen.
  • Gain information about a teams 'motivational profiles' and wishes for the common colaboration
  • Gain information about underrepresented and overrepresented motivational domains of yourself or a participant or mentee

Steps

1. Introduce the motivational style model and explain the different domains. A detailed description can be found here: Motivational Style

Motivationalstyles.jpg


2. Ask your participants to think about the last project, task, or exercise they did with other people. Which position on the following scale describe(s) their main motivation(s)? The crosses in this table are just an example...

My motivational profile

 
Feeling self-sufficiency

Playfulness

Gaining influence

Following the plan

Apter-tm1.jpg

 
Supporting others

Envisionsing results

Deepening personal relations

Shaping something new


3. Ask your participants to fill out a template with the model individually and let them mark their position on these scales. For example, was their goal more result-oriented or playful? Were they more interested in the team process or in their own achievements?

4. At the end, each participant will have a personal profile, possibly with some general motivational preferences. In their teams or in a smaller group, participants may reflect on the diversity of their motivations by explaining their styles and patterns to each other.

Reflection

Step 1

  • What motivates you in general?
  • Are there situations or people that impair your style of motivation?

Step 2

  • In a second step, ask participants to think about how their initiative could be shaped to fit all team members’ motivational preferences.

Experience

This method description is building upon the reversal theory of M. Apter.[1] He identified the different motivational fields described here more detailed: Motivational Style.

The findings could help people to be more conscious about what they really want to do. But it can have as well another effect: Give hints, in which motivational fields one could better develop more ambition toward a better 'motivational balance' - as a condition for a balanced personality.

References

  1. M. J. Apter, S. Carter: Mentoring and motivational versatility: an exploration of reversal theory in Career Development International 7/5 [2002]; p. 293

Eliza Skowron

Eskowron.jpg

Co-founder Working Between Cultures, born in Poland, studies at Jagielloian UniversityKraków (Polen). Facilitator and expert for constructive communication, Anti-Bias, train-the-trainer, author in Competendo.

Nils-Eyk Zimmermann

Nils-Eyk Zimmermann

Editor of Competendo. He writes and works on the topics: active citizenship, civil society, digital transformation, non-formal and lifelong learning, capacity building. Coordinator of European projects, in example DIGIT-AL Digital Transformation in Adult Learning for Active Citizenship, DARE network.

Blogs here: Blog: Civil Resilience.
Email: nils.zimmermann@dare-network.eu