Pradosh Nag

The Chambers 20th Century Dictionary describes ‘motive’ as:

“…a consideration or emotion that excites to action .”

There are three types of motivation:
Coercive Motivation, Inhibitive Motivation and Constructive Motivation.

Coercive Motivation:  The use of either physical, psychological or moral force to control people’s actions.

The key phrase in coercive motivation is “I have to, or else……” - “I had to do this or else I would cause a commotion”.  Wherever there are “have to’s “ in your organization, or in any aspect of your life, our sub-conscious switches our energies to avoid it.  We do this by pushing back. This is also what strict discipline causes – push back.

Inhibitive Motivation:  A reduction in performance from the presence of other information that gets in the way.

The key phrase in inhibitive motivation is “I can’t or else……”. It is motivation through fear, which causes inflexibility.  Instead of push-back, people rigidly refuse to deviate from their set patterns.

Constructive Motivation:  A positive free-flowing drive based on benefits.

Constructive motivation is all about freedom – freedom of choice.  Human beings operate from free will.  We need to encourage people to shift from “I have to”, to “I choose to…”, “I want to………”, “I love to…………” and it’s my idea…….”.

How to motivate:

-    Ask questions that are directive and narrative that draw out strengths and desires to establish the “I choose to……..”, “I want to……”, “I love to. …” mentality.

-    Work from a place of award rather than punishment.

-    Create ambivalence – ambivalence takes the form of a conflict between two courses of action, each of which has perceived benefits and costs attached to it.  Many clients have never had the opportunity of expressing their confusion over issues.  When ambivalence is brought into the conversation, you feel heard.

Enjoy motivating – be powerful.