Motivation Code = “unique, constant, unchanging behavioral drive that orients a person to achieve a distinct pattern of results”
Comprises three motivational drivers from a set of 27
Motivation is not about diligence/laziness, just enjoying things, something that comes naturally with the “perfect job”
Understanding our own motivations better → can produce better work to be more productive, have better relationships
My top three: Make an Impact, Explore, Be Central
Mom’s: Experience the Ideal, Influence Behavior, Be Unique
Motivational themes
The Visionary family
Motivated to make an impact based on what’s possible or ideal
Fueled to turn ideas → reality, to spot the potential
Future-focused, sometimes at the expense of the present
Practices for success: form your “collective” (group of respected people who can keep you grounded), pause and clarify when explaining, take time to dream, mind your ideals (can lead to burnout, frustration), be a supporter (not a detractor)
1: Achieve Potential — Identifying and realizing potential is a constant focus of your activities.
Aim for the best, averse to wasted potential
Shadow-side attributes: having unrealistic expectations, seeing life as “out there,” spending more time dreaming than doing, overly-optimistic
Where they thrive: early stage, creative roles, new projects, variety and diversity
2: Make an Impact — You seek to make an impact or personal mark on the world around you.
Important to see an improvement resulting from their personal efforts, able to influence anything, intolerant of the status quo, eager to leap first to take on challenging work
Shadow-side attributes: tend to make changes & meddle needlessly, difficulty submitting to authority, withdraw when ideas aren’t accepted, surplus of ideas, impatient & want immediate action
Where they thrive: roles with direct influence on results, the great unknown, roles that give them a wide berth
3: Experience the Ideal — You are motivated to give concrete expression to concepts, visions, or values that are important to you.
Biased to journey over destination, eager to attain the “perfect self,” often have their head in the clouds
The shadow side: frustrated when things aren’t as they “should” be, perfectionists (establish “rules” to establish pursuing values), struggle to face reality, want it their way or no way
Where they thrive: “change the world” roles, jobs requiring innovation, tasks allowing for continuous personal improvement
The Achiever family
Driven to persevere through challenges
Motivated to overcome obstacles & oppose an “enemy”
Want to achieve tasks, even at the expense of eating & sleeping
Engaged when making progress
Practices for success: be aware of your stress level, maintain long-term goals and work toward them patiently, don’t allow your ambition to outpace your experience, bring others along
4: Meet the Challenge — Your sense of achievement comes from looking back over a challenge you have met or a test you have passed.
Relentlessly persistent, competitive, fueled by high stakes, able to keep their eye on the prize, willing to pick up the slack
Shadow-side attributes: see routine tasks as chores, prone to procrastination, willing to assume unnecessary risk, can have excessive tunnel vision, predisposed to high stress levels
Where they thrive: projects where they can concretely measure results, where there’s a clear scoreboard, “I don’t know if this is possible, but…” roles
5: Overcome — Your motivation focuses on overcoming and triumphing over difficulties, disadvantages, or opposition.
Journey over destination, unable to quit, not easily intimidated, perceptive of obstacles
Shadow-side attributes: can be source o undue stress to those around them, tempted to create or inflate problems, can be inappropriately combative, hard to relax or be at peace
Where they thrive: difficult challenges with long timeline, roles with clear “enemy,” being the point person
6: Bring to Completion — Your motivation is satisfied when you can look at a finished product and know your work is done; that you have met the objective you set out to accomplish.
Inclined to arrive at end result, process oriented, able to get caught up in momentum of work, top producers
Shadow-side attributes: can miss forest for trees, unable to relax until things are finished, prone to making mistakes, easily annoyed when plans change
Where thy thrive: project management, roles with short timelines, roles where they are partnered with visionaries
7: Advance — You love the experience of making progress as you accomplish a series of goals.
All about the process, problem-solving machines, quick to act, resourceful
Shadow-side attributes: difficulty enjoying the present, unable to be content, value moving forward more than getting it right, prone to seeing people as a means to an end, reluctant to do maintenance activities
Where they thrive: roles where progress > precision, jobs requiring resourcefulness, roles that concretely reward ambition
The Team Player family
Derive energy from working with others toward a common goal
Able to anticipate and meet needs of others, picking up extra work for the team
Want to be part of something bigger than themselves, part of an elite group
Practices for success: have a clear set of personal values that guide your decisions, monitor your true stress level, be mindful of how others’ opinions might be influencing your mood, champion the causes you believe in
8: Collaborate — You enjoy involvement in efforts in which people work together for a common purpose.
Unable to win unless the group wins, eager for acceptance, relationship driven
Shadow-side attributes: find it easy to self-deprecate, can lose individual identity, prone to taking on too much, can judge those who are independent, reluctant to engage in conflict
Where they thrive: high-functioning teams, group projects, working for a cause
9: Make the Grade — You are motivated to measure up and gain acceptance into a group you want to be a member of.
Aware of what it takes, attracted to groups with standards, team oriented, defender of the code (protect external perception of the team)
Shadow-side attributes: prone to over-identify with team, willing to put team above their own needs, lack strong personal views, strive to stay “qualified” & “accepted”
Where they thrive: organizations that are difficult to join, teams with a strong code/sense of values, organizations with clear reward structure
10: Serve — You are motivated to identify and fulfill needs, requirements, and expectations.
Quick to spot what is needed, great supporters, go-to people, loyal, willing to go above and beyond, focused on what’s “right”
Shadow-side attributes: may always need to know exactly what’s expected of them, attend to everyone else’s needs but their own, can meet needs others don’t want met, can enable bad behavior, can become martyrs
Where they thrive: support roles, organizations where they’re clearly needed, roles with clearly defined expectations
11: Influence Behavior — You are motivated to gain a reaction from people that indicates you’ve influenced their thinking, feelings, and behavior.
Must see the results of their influence, adept at connecting with others
Shadow-side attributes: overvalue what others think of them, look for responses at the wrong time/place or too frequently, feelings dependent on how they’re received
Where they thrive: high-profile communication roles, on a stage, teaching or training
The Learner family
Motivated to explore, ask questions, and learn new things
Driven to teach others what they’ve learned, share new skills
Prefer generalist roles
Able to bring lots of new ideas/energy to projects, esp. in early stages
Practices for success: recognize that not everyone is wired like you, develop a side project/hobby, make a bucket list, consider the application of what you’re working on
12: Comprehend and Express — Your motivation focuses on understanding, defining, and then communicating your insights.
Eager to share what they’ve learned, able to connect the dots, specialists
Shadow-side attributes: may become paralyzed by overthinking, indecisive, can come across as a know-it-all-all, can be impractical, can create unnecessary hurdles for teams, tend to get bored without new challenges, share ideas before they’re ready
Where they thrive: teaching and training, researching and writing, innovative work
13: Master — Your motivation is satisfied when you gain complete command of a skill, subject, process.
Mastery over knowledge, it’s all in the details, perfectionists, top performers, hard workers
Shadow-side attributes: perfectionism → perpetual dissatisfaction, often fail to act because practice didn’t go well, can get lost in the details, can drive themselves and others too hard
Where they thrive: high-stakes roles, open-ended time frames, detailed work
14: Demonstrate New Learning — You are motivated to learn how to do something new and show that you can do it.
Quick learners, generalists, strong synthesizers
Shadow-side attributes: find it difficult to commit to a career, jack-of-all-trades & master of none, may come across as a know-it-all, want to appear confident even when they aren’t
Where they thrive: generalist roles, organizations that serve various needs, jobs where they can simplify complex topics
15: Explore — You are driven to explore what is unknown/mysterious to you, pressing beyond the existing limits of your knowledge & experience.
Crazy about novel experiences, willing to push the limit, idea generators, inspirational
Shadow-side attributes: often fail to follow through, can ignore the rules, push boundaries even when uncalled for, can become dissatisfied with daily routines
Where they thrive: creative industries, R&D, roles that offer new experiences
The Optimizer family
Derive their energy from making things efficient
Want systems & information to be organized
Focused on getting it right from the beginning rather than fixing it later
Need to lay firm boundaries (not too concerned about being ‘known” for contributions
Practices for success: learn to recognize when something is an actual problem vs a problem in your own mind, recognize that others are not necessarily interested in improvement, practice allowing others to take ownership, break your work into short-term, easy wins
16: Organize — You want to set up and maintain smooth running-operations.
Repulsed by chaos, detail oriented, excellent entrepreneurs
Shadow-side attributes: shut down in solo roles, can overextend themselves, tend to control, get restless in absence of big organizational challenges
Where they thrive: operations, management, process-oriented work
17: Make it Right — You consistently set up or follow standards, procedures, and principles that you believe are right.
Devoted to clear standards, strong moral compass, unafraid to speak up
Shadow-side attributes: can experience extreme stress if work doesn’t reflect values, black-and-white thinking, critical of themselves and others, try to live up to impossible ideals, can be close-minded
Where they thrive: standard-bearer roles, process work that is repeatable, roles with clear chain of command
18: Improve — **You are happiest when you are using your abilities to make things better.
Things can aways be better, able to add value, everything has potential
Shadow-site attributes: offering unwanted advice, can be paralyzed by “blank slates,” excessively hard on themselves & others, struggle to accept what can’t be changed
Where they thrive: project/organizational development roles, people development roles, roles where success is easily measured
19: Make it Work — Your motivation focuses on fixing something that has broken down or is functioning poorly.
Natural fixers, practical-minded, quick to move on, creative
Shadow-side attributes: see problems everywhere, tinker without counting the cost to others, can create instability, need fresh challenges
Where they thrive: projects with a clear problem to solve, turnaround roles, analytical and investigative roles
20: Develop — You are motivated by the process of building and developing from start to finish.
Process oriented, involved from start to finish, highly practical, people person
Shadow-side attributes: might extend things beyond what’s necessary, insist on being hands-on at every stage, constant drive for new development can stretch resources, may not engage in needed maintenance activities
Where they thrive: roles where they are involved from beginning to end, design roles, leading high-growth organizations
21: Establish — You are motivated to lay secure foundations and become established.
Foundation layers, must see the purpose, want to be a major factor, trustworthy and reliable, can assess effectiveness of a plan, see it through to the end
Shadow-side attributes: tend to be rigid & inflexible, can be late to innovate, little empathy for struggling underperformers, unwilling to follow unproven leaders or directions
Where they thrive: early-stage work where foundations are being laid, analyzing partnerships/contracts/new work, work that allows them to see direct impact
The Key Contributor family
Want to be at the center of the action
Derive energy from being recognized for contributions
Driven to show how they’re unique from others on the team
Find motivation in growing their influence & ownership of teams & processes
Practices for success: recognize that your motivation is a gift, apply your motivation to help others, find your core team (people with your best interests at heart to help you identify if you’re losing yourself to work), recognize that some work just has to be done (without recognition)
22: Evoke Recognition — You are motivated to capture the interest and attention of others.
Excited to receive attention for their work, drawn to the spotlight, born performers
Shadow-side attributes: might lack self-possession, tend to hog the spotlight, need constant recognition, tend not to recognize others for their contributions
Where they thrive: public-facing roles, performances, teams where they have a voice
23: Bring Control — You want to be in charge and in control of your own destiny.
Driven to pull the strings, assertive, confidence boosters, able to bring clarity
Shadow-side attributes: tend to be overly authoritarian & directive, rarely swayed by others’ opinions, reluctant to admit mistakes, can drive themselves & others too ohard
Where they thrive: jobs that allow them to do their own thing, chaos, organizations with confident leaders
24: Be Unique — You seek to distinguish yourself by displaying some talent, quality, or aspect that is distinctive and special.
Eager to be noticed, source of many ideas, willing to take a stand, open to new ways of thinking
Shadow-side attributes: can be consistently contrarian, compare themselves to others, tend to have unrealistic ideas (can adopt “persecuted artist” attitude), seek constant recognition for distinctiveness
Where they thrive: roles allowing for self-expression, creative leadership roles, jobs that allow personal distinction
25: Be Central — You are motivated to be a key person who holds things together and gives them meanings and/or direction.
Excited to be close to the action, eager to be called upon first, power hungry, critical to the success of team
Shadow-side attributes: easily burn out or overextend themselves, must be asked or “called upon” before taking action, can enable codependent relationships, seek reinforcement of values/importance
Where they thrive: roles that allow direct input into decisions that shape the work, “hub” roles, cross-collaborative roles
26: Gain Ownership — You are motivated to acquire what you want and to exercise ownership or control over what is yours.
Masters of their domain, eager to acquire, goal focused, loyal protectors, stakeholders
Shadow-side attributes: can be possessive and territorial, tend to value material possessions, can’t pay attention beyond their domain
Where they thrive: leadership roles, territories, roles with potential for more authority
27: Excel — You want to stand above the rest, or, at the very least, do your absolute best as you exceed the performance/expectations of those around you.
Competitive, able to exceed expectations, ambitious, standard-bearers
Shadow-side attributes: can create unhealthy competition, can be harsh on themselves & others, find it hard to engage unless they can be the best, must win at all costs, can overestimate their abilities
Where they thrive: highly competitive fields, work that allows them to set their own goals, jobs with upward mobility