Motivation

Motivation (and meta-programs) by Peter Freeth


It's important to admit that, in the real world, people will conspire against you. Doubters and saboteurs will place obstacles in front of you, whilst zealots and activists will come up with so many wild ideas that's impossible to get anything practical done.

It's useful to understand how this happens, and that it's not personal.

As you already know, using psychometric profiling tools to pigeonhole people is not useful, because they're not like that all the time. Remember the marketing manager who would sit down in a supplier meeting and say "I'm an ESTJ, so I'm very judgemental"? He could use that as an excuse to be rude to people, because it wasn't his fault - he was just born that way.

Sometimes, I'm very judgemental too, and I'm an ENTP. Some days I'm an ENFP, depending on what mood I'm in. How can this be possible if the profile is absolute? How can it be possible to change?

We change in every fleeting moment depending on our mood, our environment and in response to the people around us. Therefore, the results of a test administered years ago are not useful in understanding behaviour - what we need is a tool that can be applied in real time, conversationally to help us to understand a person better and communicate with them more effectively.

Fortunately, there is such a tool, based on the relationship between language and behaviour, that you can use to profile someone either by listening to what they say or watching what they do. Hang on - am I saying that there's a profile tool that works by watching how people behave? I know it sounds too easy to be true. Surely there must be a multiple choice test involved somewhere. Just remember what Harry Hill says – "you can tell a lot about people from what they're like".

If you want to read more about these profiles, they're called "Metaprograms". You can find a description of them at www.nlpinbusiness.com or by using any Internet search engine.

There are quite a few metaprograms, but for our purposes I'll just mention the ones that are important in a change situation.

Remember that these profiles are dynamic, so you cannot use this to say "Fred is a xyz" (although a lot of people do). Instead, use this to respond more precisely and effectively to Fred at the specific moment you need his support or commitment.

Finally, the profile is a spectrum, not an either/or result. The examples illustrate the ends of the spectrum so that it's easier to tell the difference. In real life, people lie somewhere along the spectrum and move their position depending on circumstances.

Motivation direction

This is probably the most important one for our purposes. Are you motivated by goals or by avoiding problems? Do you avoid unpleasant situations or do you know what you want and go for it? Are you good at identifying all of the potential drawbacks of a plan or do you dive in and find out about the problems later?

The direction of motivation is simply this: do you move towards good things or away from bad things?

At the towards end of the spectrum, people say things like To get, To have, To become, I want

At the away from end of the spectrum, people say things like To avoid, So I don't have to, To get away from, I don't want.

This is useful when motivating a person to perform a task or for changing behaviour. It's pointless telling a towards person that by doing something, he can avoid problems later. It's just as pointless telling an away from person that by doing something she will achieve great things.

An 'away from' motivation is not negative, it leads to just as much satisfaction and personal reward as 'towards' motivation, it's just a different way of filtering information about the world.

Reference source

Have you noticed how some people just know what it is they want whereas other people are always asking if what they're doing is OK? Some people just don't seem to take any notice of the world around them whilst others are always checking that everything is OK. Do you instinctively know when something is right, or do you like to keep 'to do' lists so you can be sure that everything's finished off?

The source of motivation is: do you use your own internal benchmarks or do you use other people's?

If you ask people how they know things, such as how they knew to make a certain decision, people at the highly Internal end won't really understand the question and their answer will be something like "I just know". At the External end of the spectrum, people will check with their managers, see certificates, read reports and tick off 'to do' lists.

This is useful when giving reasons as to why someone should perform a task or change behaviour. If you tell an Internal person that they should do something because everyone else in the team does, they will say "so what?". If you tell an External person that if they think something's right then that's good enough, they may get quite frustrated.

Here's another interesting observation - Internal people tend to hear instructions as comments, whilst External people tend to hear comments as instructions. When you have to get people to change their behaviour or complete parts of a project, you'll often find that they seem to act and respond randomly. Sometimes, people go off and do things that you didn't ask them to do and sometimes people just don't do what you tell them. If you really think back, you'll vaguely recall making a suggestion or floating an idea past someone who acted as if it were an instruction. On the other hand, you tactfully suggested a course of action to someone who seemed to respond as if that were an academically interesting observation which they didn't need to do anything about. Of course, there aren't really Internal or External people, I'm just using those terms to illustrate the differences.

Sensory preference

There are many different ways to keep track of how someone is thinking - in pictures, sounds or feelings – and this information is very valuable if you want to communicate efficiently and effectively with that person. Essentially, a person's entire physiology and state is interwoven with their preferred sense and it influences almost everything they do. Different senses are better suited to processing different types of information, so it's very important that you can use this information to communicate far more effectively with people. You'll hear and read sensory words like these in people's language:

Visual

Auditory

Kinaesthetic

See

Picture

Look

Watch

Perspective

Vision

Outlook

Bright

Clear

Focus

Sharp

Background

Shine

Reflect

Dim

Hazy

Short-sighted

Blinkered

Colour

Envisage

Overlook

Imagine (from Image)

Clarify

Listen

Hear

Sound

Noise

Loud

Quiet

Amplify

Tell

Resonate

Hum

Whistle

Whine

Roar

Silent

Rhythm

Melody

Harmony

Talk

Language

Volume

Wavelength

Call

Say

Feel

Touch

Grab

Hold

Contact

Push

Embrace

Warm

Cold

Sinking

Down

Ache

Gut reaction

Queasy

Steady

Stable

Solid

Firm

Soft

Grasp

Handle

Forceful

Smooth

As a professional communicator, the ability to move between different sensory processing modes is very powerful. During a speech, you can draw the audience into your vision, enthuse them with ideas that resonate with them and finally have them embrace a sense of commitment to your ideas.

All of that is more advanced than the scope of this book, so let's stick to the most obvious application: When you're presenting information to people about change, show them what's happening, tell them what's happening and give them the time they need to know how they feel about it. In other words, since your audience will be thinking in a combination of sensory modes, you need to present your information using all three in order to convey that information effectively to everyone.

Choice 

Some people never seem to do things the same way twice. Others seem unable to innovate or create and will continue to do something the same way until external events force them to change. Options thinkers are good at being creative and thinking up new ideas and ways to do things. Procedures thinkers are good at finishing things and following routines. You wouldn't want procedures people in creative jobs and you wouldn't want options people in jobs that are heavily regulated. To find out if a person likes to have many options available at each decision point or if that person needs to follow a set procedure, ask "Why did you choose this job/car/house/etc…"

Options thinkers answer why, very quickly with well defined reasons. Procedures thinkers answer how the choice came to be, often by telling you a story. Essentially, the options thinker can answer instantly because they did make a choice. Procedures thinkers did not make a choice, so the question doesn't make sense.

This is useful in understanding how a person will react to rules and work structures and in predicting how a person will react to obstacles. It indicates how a person will set objectives and what path will be taken to reach those objectives. An options thinker would need to always have choices and would be frustrated by rigid procedures and agenda. A procedures thinker would find choice and indecision frustrating and would seek out procedures and rules.

Sorting 

This simply relates to whether people first notice the differences or similarities between two different concepts or situations. If you're good at 'spot the difference' puzzles, you have a difference bias. If you're good at making connections, metaphors and analogies, that indicates a similarity bias. To find out, ask "How do you compare this job/car/etc? and your last one?"

Someone with a difference bias would begin their answer with "one was…." whereas someone with a similarity bias would begin with "they both were". The majority of people seem to be about a third of the way along the spectrum, closer to the similarity end. What this means in practice is that most people will notice what's the same first and then notice what's different.

This metaprogram is vital in the communication of change. If you tell the employees of a company that everything will change radically, you will appeal to the minority of extreme difference biased people but really upset the great majority of people. Always start with what's staying the same before talking about what will change - typically the guiding principles or past success of the company or team.

Scope

Do you like to see the big picture, or is the devil in the detail? Can you easily work out complex relationships or do you like things to be neatly packaged and described?

This relates to how someone communicates the content of a message - do they talk about overviews, missing out all of the detail, or do they assemble the picture starting from the detail and working up?

In order to determine someone's scope, just listen to the things that they say. General people will start at the top and work down. They'll give you short, generalised answers and when giving directions will start at the destination and fill in major landmarks. General people cope with complex information easily, sorting it and organising it in a way that specific people find difficult. Specific people start at the first point of detail and work forwards, so in a complex situation they can get lost. When giving directions, specific people work forwards until they reach the destination. Specific people are good for making sure all the details of a plan or idea are in place.

There seems to be a preconception in businesses today that 'big picture' thinking is a good thing, especially for managers. Being able to understand strategic intent is not the same as being a big picture thinker. I've seen some incredibly detail driven people proudly call themselves big picture thinkers, and perhaps in relation to someone else they are, and herein lies the importance of this metaprogram.

On a recent training course, one of the delegates (we'll call her Julie) asked for directions to the shopping centre. One of the other delegates (we'll call him Colin) said "you go out the front door, turn right, then left, then down to the roundabout, then right, then left onto the dual carriageway, then straight over….." As Julie's eyes began to glaze over, Colin started drawing a map. Seeing Julie reach information overload, I stepped in, pointed out the window and said "it's that way". The high level, big picture version was much more useful than the detail, because Julie could follow her nose and then pick up signs for the shopping centre. When Julie came to leave the shopping centre, she found that all the road signs pointed to nowhere she had ever heard of. If you've ever been lost in Milton Keynes, you'll understand her panic at this point. Fortunately, she still had Colin's map with her, and she was easily able to find her way back to the training centre. The moral? Neither big picture nor detail are useful in themselves – they are only useful if they enable people to take action and get what they want.

Remember, metaprograms are a generalisation that changes for a single person from one moment to the next. Probably the most practical application of your knowledge of metaprograms is to appreciate how people process information differently. Some people are just wired up to notice change, some are just wired up to look for drawbacks or obstacles. They're not sabotaging your plans - they're helping you by applying their natural talents and giving you more information with which to make better decisions.

You might find it useful to see a summary of these metaprograms, and how they relate to change. This information will also help you to communicate more effectively with a wide group of people in the context of change. Sensory preference doesn't really make a difference to change, it's just important to communicate using a combination of words, pictures and feelings.

Motivation direction

Towards

Looks towards the future, interested in plans and developments.

Away from

Looks to the past, notices the drawbacks or obstacles to a plan.

Reference source

Internal

Self directed so responds less to changes around them.

External

Responds to changes in people and environment.

Choice

Options

Will create more choices, come up with lots of ideas. Easy to change direction.

Procedures

Will follow processes, will want to know the right way to do something. Harder to change direction.

Sorting

Similarity

Looks for what is the same, what is common in a changing situation.

Difference

Notices what is changing, seeks change.

Scope

Abstract

Needs to understand the 'big picture' but not interested in detailed implementation.

Detail

Needs to know detailed changes to their job or environment, not so interested in strategy or what affects other people.

Predicting a person's behaviour is not as simple as picking the "right" metaprogram - firstly because these will change with the context and secondly because a person's behaviour depends on a combination of metaprogram elements. A difference bias with a towards focus is typical of someone called a "change agent", yet the same difference bias with an away from focus is typical of someone who resists change. 

Use this information to communicate effectively with people and your change programs will be much more successful.

Peter Freeth on Revelation