Taking Ownership of Your Motivation: The Hierarchy of Motivation™
- Can we agree that top performers are consistently the most motivated?
- Can we also agree that while not all motivated employees are innovative, innovative employees are always motivated?
Motivation is the invisible force that fuels efficiency and happiness at work. It helps us push boundaries, innovate, and find fulfillment. Despite its significance, many overlook the personal responsibility behind motivation, expecting it from managers, colleagues, or the environment. Yet, motivation is individual and comes from within. Taking ownership of your motivation can transform your work life and approach to challenges and success. At its core, motivation is built on four key ingredients: Energy, Needs, Talents, and Purpose.
The Hierarchy of Motivation ®Motivation Factor 2024
1. Energy: Identify Your Drainers and Enhancers
Motivation starts with energy. Every day, we encounter tasks and situations that either energize or drain us. Recognizing these helps us manage motivation more effectively.
- Energy Drainers: These tasks or situations make you feel exhausted or frustrated. They may include certain projects, interactions, or aspects of your role. Identifying what drains you is essential to managing it effectively.
- Energy Enhancers: These activities are the ones you enjoy, that make time fly, and leave you feeling fulfilled. Knowing your Energy Drainers and Enhancers helps you allocate time and focus wisely, so you can pursue what fuels you and avoid what depletes you.
2. Needs: Recognize Your Key Drivers
Understanding your core needs is crucial to sustained motivation. Needs vary from person to person and evolve over time. Here are examples of different needs:
- Need to Be Active: For some people “Be Active” could mean that a packed schedule filled with activities is the best. Without this, they may feel restless or demotivated.
- Need to Succeed: For others, setting and achieving goals could be essential for motivation, as it provides a sense of accomplishment.
To fully harness motivation, prioritize understanding your needs through reflection or assessments. Knowing your needs allows you to stay focused and engaged in meaningful ways.
3. Talents: Do What You Do Best
Each of us has unique talents—activities or skills that come naturally and give us joy. Leveraging these talents creates job satisfaction and reduces the sense of work as a chore. Here’s how two different talents can drive motivation:
- Mastering: Individuals with a “Mastering” talent may prefer to specialize in one area, continually improving to become experts. This focus drives their motivation.
- Creativity: For those with “Creativity” as a talent, motivation may come from innovation and exploring new ideas. Incorporating creativity into their work provides lasting satisfaction.
When you align your work with your talents, motivation and productivity increase. The task itself isn’t motivating—it’s the alignment with your talents that excites you.
4. Purpose: Connect with the Bigger Picture
Purpose is the final ingredient in the recipe for motivation, giving meaning to your work and aligning your daily activities with a larger vision. To assess your purpose, ask yourself:
- Do you understand how your work supports broader organizational goals?
- Can you see how your role contributes to meaningful outcomes?
When your tasks align with a clear purpose, you’ll feel a stronger sense of motivation. Purpose provides the “why” behind your efforts, connecting each ingredient of motivation into a cohesive whole.
Motivation Factor®: Helping You Take Charge of Your Motivation
Motivation Factor® enables individuals and organizations to manage motivation effectively. By focusing on energy, needs, talents, and purpose, Motivation Factor® empowers you to take responsibility for your own motivation. Knowing what drives you and how to align your goals with deeper motivations becomes a powerful asset, allowing for a structured approach to personal and team motivation.
Embracing the Responsibility of Motivation
Motivation isn’t a gift others can give—it’s a commitment to yourself. By taking responsibility for your own motivation, you open the door to greater happiness, productivity, and fulfillment. Through Motivation Factor®, you gain insights into your unique motivators, equipping yourself with the tools to apply them. Embrace your motivators and thrive both personally and professionally.
Motivation Factor® enables you to identify what to pursue and where to focus your energy so you can boost your motivation.
Imagine if you knew exactly what motivates you and your staff. Motivation Factor helps to verbalize your vision – and provides you with the tools and structure to work professionally with your motivation and/or your employees’ motivation.
Motivation and research
Recent brain research tells us that our motivation is rooted in our individual needs and talents. When it comes to personal change and the development processes, it is essential to focus on what drives you towards the goal, and it is equally important to know what to avoid in order to stay motivated. With this knowledge, you can maintain determination and focus along with motivation and willingness to adapt. Learn more about Motivation Factor tools and programs here.