What Motivates - the Stick or the Carrot

What Motivates - the Stick or the Carrot?

	Hi there,	View Online
	Welcome to the August edition of mind-set, a newsletter designed to provide you with practical tips on influencing others.
	Whether you are presenting, negotiating, selling or managing a team your goal is to influence others in one form or another.
	Since the beginning of time humans have been motivated by one of two things; the stick or the carrot. Often referred to as a *motivation sort, we are motivated away from* pain/discomfort or towards pleasure. The differences here are so subtle that they often go unnoticed.
	To assist in understanding how to motivate others more effectively, it is important to familiarise yourself with each *motivation sort.* I have also added a simple linguistic strategy for you to try.

	The Stick (Away from the undesirable) At this end of the spectrum there is motivation away from discomfort or pain. In some instances this form of motivation is very powerful. Laws (as in crime and punishment) are excellent examples of this motivation e.g. “don’t steel cars or you’ll end up in trouble”. When crossing the street we look both ways to ‘avoid’ being run over rather than looking both ways to ensure a safe crossing.

	You may be familiar with people saying that when they are backed into a corner they come out fighting. The discomfort motivates and results in action. In sales, the current situation is often described as being undesirable and something to be avoided.

	One problem is common when dealing with somebody who uses an away from *motivation sort* is that they can tell you what they don’t want rather than what they want. For example, at the beginning of a coaching program, when asked the simple question “what do you want to achieve?” clients can often respond with “I don’t want X, Y and.” Asking what do you want instead of X, Y and Z begins to uncover the useful information.


	The Carrot (Towards Pleasure) This form of motivation is socially promoted as the better and more favourable option. Describe the benefits of doing something or dangle the carrot. Using a phrase like, “This task will be good for your development and profiling yourself amongst your colleagues” may be useful to motivate someone to complete a task or project. This motivation tactic is not always the most effective as it works for a portion of the population some of the time. Motivation towards pleasure is the foundation for most incentive and bonus schemes.

	Goal setting is only possible when a person can identify what they want to achieve. At the beginning of any training or coaching program this needs to be identified so that I have measurable outcomes in place. Having a global concept for what one wants is a good starting point and needs to be followed with specifics (the more specific the better).

	Example 1 If we take two people who go to the gym on a regular basis, their activities may seem to be simular on the surface. When we look at what is motivating them to go to the gym we may find the person is:
	motivated ‘away’ from being unfit and unhealthy motivated ‘towards’ being fit and healthy

	Now, I am motivated away from talking about gym’s and towards how to use this in the work place. I would like you to keep these points in mind as you read the next paragraphs. Everybody is different and changes constantly. (Humans are funny like that, eh?) Different *motivation sort*s can be employed for different contexts.

	Example 2 Have you ever had the experience where an idea is presented and one member of the team seems to focus on the faults of the idea? This person can often be considered to be negative instead, they may be motivated towards EASE. This may mean they are identifying the potential problems up front so that they can be addressed first and easy implementation of the idea. To view additional motivation examples click here


	Tip
	When presenting, negotiating and selling it can be very useful to structure your sentences to include both *motivation sorts*. A person telling you what they don’t want is giving little or no useful information. Ask them what they want instead to get better information.

	I don’t want to leave you wondering what to say when speaking to others, I would like to leave you with a little tip. When constructing your sentences begin with the motivate away from and finish with the motivate towards. This is a principle employed by good sales people. eg. You don’t want …. you want ….

	Have fun picking the *motivation sorts used by those around you – it will give you a fabulous insight into their mind-set. Then when you have had a look at the motivation sorts* used by others, consider your own *motivation sort* and more importantly – is it getting you the results that you want? Click here to view some examples of motivation criteria and observable behaviours.

I hope this provides you with some assistance and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me on 02 8969 6600 or e-mail paul@emergingmind.com.au If you wish to forward this edition to anybody that you think may find it useful, please do.

Kind regards,

Paul Kinsella

NB - If you have any topics that you would like addressed in this newsletter please send your suggestions to mind-set@emergingmind.com.au

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