No Motivation!
It does not need to be this way
A case study that I unpacked in some detail (starting here) indicated that a majority of teachers are demotivated, unmotivated or amotivated. Yet, self-motivation – otherwise called intrinsic motivation is just that, intrinsic, it is inside each of us, even if currently dormant.
How then to re-ignite self-motivation in these staff so that they can inspire the same motivation in their students?
There are three main avenues that I will unpack in more detail in future postings.
First, include fully all staff in the life of the school, don’t judge staff on their perceived performance, they are doing the best that they can, in their circumstances, which are different from yours. Attempting to use controlled motivation will simply move them in the wrong direction.
Second, change the nature of conversations throughout the school so that they support the work that needs to done, the building of self-motivation as a priority.
When we are in the blue zone we are self-motivated. When we help others to lift up into the blue zone we increase their self-motivation. This is the reason that cognitive coaching works, the coachee feels energy and commitment to act to improve their situation – they feel motivated.
As leaders and teachers, we can use informal coaching and formal coaching as processes to support the development of self-motivation in others.
Third, we can use encounter as a way of being, rather than a process, that allows us to stimulate the blue zone, and therefore self-motivation, in those we come in contact with.
Encounter builds our own self-motivation as well as the self-motivation of others.
More on these three avenues in coming weeks.
John Corrigan is an expert in helping individuals to bring their whole of mind to their daily life and increase their effectiveness and the effectiveness of those around them. This expertise scales from the individual to the team to the organisation. At the core of this work is the practice of encounter. Earlier blogs can be found here.