G Where are you on the purely external-purely internal continuum when you’re at work?
G Does where you lie on the continuum vary across situation and demand?
G How does this influence your ability to deliver sustained high performance?
G How does it influence your ability to bounce back from performance setbacks?
G How much pressure and stress do you experience as a result of where your motivation lies?
It would be unrealistic and inappropriate in most performance contexts for you to be purely internally-motivated. The stakes are simply just too high in business for performers to be permitted to pursue and satisfy their personal needs solely for interest and enjoyment, but you can focus on achieving an optimal degree of self-determined behaviour. This is a function of how you are able to align the external motivators with your own values and motives, and also considering what you can do about the social environment in which you perform. Some of the strategies for achieving a greater sense of self-determination in the environment you currently operate in include the following:
G Ensuring that goals that are externally-imposed include short-term goals that allow you to monitor progress on a regular basis, thus grad- ually building your feeling of competence.
G Requesting regular feedback on your development that will similarly provide a means of monitoring your progress.
G Testing how much autonomy you have over your behaviour, and demonstrating that you want and are capable of more as appropriate. G Getting to know your fellow performers as people and not just team
members.
G Involving yourself, where you can, in decisions around future strategy. G Involving yourself in the day-to-day operation of key factors in the
performance environment.
G Taking time to fully understand the meaning and importance of tasks you are asked to carry out but do not enjoy.
All of the strategies above are aimed at satisfying your basic needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness. There will be other ways of developing greater self-determination of behaviour that will be specific to you and the environment you are performing in. Spend some time thinking about what these might be.
To say that high performers are highly motivated is a statement of the obvious. However, extremely high levels of motivation may be necessary to repeatedly produce the kind of quality performance that will place
So what is optimal motivation?
you amongst the real elite. There is much to be learned from high level sport performers in this respect. Their ability to maintain motivation throughout the duration of a gruelling season, during periods of enforced rest through injury, and following setbacks in training and com- petition is a characteristic of the very best which distinguishes them from those who are merely ‘very good’. But it is not just the level of motivation that is important; it is also the nature of motivation that is so influential. It should be clear from the previous sections that there are several factors to consider and regulate in order to optimise your motivation. Just to remind you, the key characteristics of optimal motivation are these. G Approach rather than avoidance – ensure your motivation is about
what you want to do rather than what you are trying to get away from. G Active rather than passive – don’t wait for things to happen, make
them happen yourself.
G Do it for yourself rather than for others – satisfy your own needs before you can satisfy others as you would like.
G Positive rather than negative – ensure your motivation is about enjoy- ment rather than desperation.
G Internal rather than external – try to focus on the pride, enjoyment, interest and satisfaction you derive from achieving, as opposed to just the tangible rewards you receive for being successful.
G Self-determined – in situations and circumstances where you are driven by the external rewards for success, try to achieve as much autonomy over your behaviour as possible.
Don’t worry if your motivation to perform doesn’t fit all the characteris- tics above, because it is an ideal list. But recognise the nature of your motivation, where it may deviate from the optimal and reflect on it. Some subtle changes to how you think about achieving and being suc- cessful could have a big impact.
I have referred briefly to setting goals as being an important part of the process of developing mental toughness. This section takes a detailed look at goal setting because it is so inextricably linked to motivation. We all set goals, but some people may not always be aware of it and so are often uncertain as to precisely what they are. This can mean that some performers become easily distracted and derailed under pressure as they lack a specific frame of reference to harness their focus. My expe- rience of elite sport performers is that they set goals in a structured and meticulous fashion. Goals help these performers make sense of what they are trying to achieve and engender persistence in the most arduous circumstances. Goals provide the drive and discipline for performers to persevere in the face of adversity and to bounce back after failure. They provide a focus for performers who might otherwise become distracted when the pressure is really on. And they provide a huge sense of confi- dence when they are achieved.
Over to Adrian . . .
I always remember when I was a child my parents being active in making things happen and this was a lesson that was part of the way we were bought up. My father was a good role model for me in overcoming potential hurdles that his background would have caused him. I can remember coming back from school once whinging about something (I can’t recall exactly what it was) not going my way. One of my parents said ‘don’t wait for someone to do it for you, go and do it for yourself.’ The other important thing in our family was the feeling that you shouldn’t do something just to please other people. I never felt like I was doing something just to satisfy my parents; they were supportive whether I won or lost my races. When I describe the training regime of a competitive swimmer to people (getting up at five o’clock in the morning, swimming for two hours before school and the two hours after school etc!), they often tell me that it must have been such a sacrifice, but I never looked at it like that. I always believed I was making a choice. For three years, before I got my driving licence, my father drove me to training at five o’clock in the morning, and never once if I slept through my alarm did he wake me up, i.e. he wasn’t going to make me go, it was my choice. He just went back to bed!