Focus

Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence

We can all acknowledge that the best way to achieve what we want is to know ourselves, and specifically to understand what motivates us. Essentially, there are two core ways that we are motivated; promotion (going towards what we want) and prevention (avoiding what we don't want). Understanding these is also invaluable for being effective in motivating others.

The 2 types of motivation

1. Promotion focused people:

• Play to win
• Work fast
• Have high energy when they succeed
• Respond to optimism and praise - lose steam without positive feedback
• Are more likely to take chances, seize opportunities, enjoy many alternatives
• Are more likely to excel at creativity and innovation
• Are interested in satisfying their needs for nurturance: receiving positive things
• Want to fill their life with advancement and growth and gains
• Make decisions by considering what could go right and will do what it takes to make things go right even if some things go wrong along the way
• Think more about the pros than the cons
• Are discouraged by setbacks because these indicate that they are not gaining, not winning. Lack of success leads to low energy. For them failures indicate an absence of a positive.

2. Prevention focused people:

• Play to not lose
• Work slowly and deliberately
• Display a quiet energy when they achieve their goals, peaceful and calm
• Wish to avoid loss and want to feel secure, to stay safe
• See goals as opportunities to meet their responsibilities
• Are driven by criticism and potential failure to work even harder to succeed
• Are uncomfortable with praise and optimism
• Are conservative, thorough, accurate, reliable, steadfast and plan carefully
• Practice vigilance and caution, thinking about all that has to be done in order for something to not go wrong
• Stick to realistic plans
• Do not want to risk making mistakes
• Do not risk taking chances which might be a threat to their security and safety
• Think more about the cons than the pros
• Are alert and energized to work hard when things aren’t going well. They see potential failure as a presence of negatives, and they are motivated to work hard to avoid negatives in their lives. This is in the pursuit of the gain of security and safety.
• Motivational fit

Most people have a dominant focus, either promotion or prevention. The authors say that these are generally determined by upbringing, culture and temperament. The key thing is to recognise that neither one is better or more effective, and that they both have their place.

The key thing is to ensure that there is a good motivational fit. This enhances and sustains both the eagerness of the promotion-minded and the vigilance of the prevention-minded, making work seem more valuable and thus boosting both performance and enjoyment. When the motivational strategies we use don’t align with the dominant focus, we are less likely to achieve our goals and less effective in influencing and motivating others.

"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."