Student Activities
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Motivating Your Student Organization Members & Leaders
Ten Commandments of Motivation
- Share responsibility, remembering that as you take credit for the success, you must also share the failure.
- Understand that as a leader you can give authority and allow others to contribute to their own and the group’s success.
- Constantly remind yourself that only through participation can others make their jobs meaningful.
- Communicate the "why" as well as the "what" to ensure that understanding and cooperation become a habit.
- Evaluate accomplishment on the basis of the results achieved rather than on the activities engaged in.
- Be sincerely humble, knowing that most people would rather succeed than fail at their jobs.
- Seek always to set a good example.
- Force yourself to set goals and priorities.
- Unceasingly seek to be objective, fair, and honest.
- Light the way for change.
Major Motivational Patterns
You will quickly notice in your organization that what motivates one individual will not as effectively motivate another. Some seek recognition, compensation and benefits, and other outward sources of motivation. Others are more internally motivated and have a need to see their work successfully accomplished and are motivated by a feeling of competence or making a difference.
It is worth taking time to think about individual members to attempt to identify their sources of motivation—it may even be worth asking outright! You can then work with group members in a way that helps that particular individual to shine and feel worthwhile. Below is a sampling of general types of sources of motivation. Remember that many group members will fall into more than one category.
Achievement Motivation
A sense of accomplishment for its own sake; these people work for the challenge
and accomplishment; their challenges will usually be defined internally and may
often involve a sense of service to others.
Hero Motivation
The primary drive is to do well in the eyes of someone admired and sometimes
emulated by the individual. The person’s interest may be totally in the “hero”
(such as group leader, adviser, professor), and failure to gain attention from
the hero may result in dropping out.
Affiliation Motivation
The primary drive is to be in the company of and relate to people. These
individuals will be best at interactive elements of their experience.
Competence Motivation
These people seek job mastery and professional growth. They are very interested
in the technical aspects of the job and may approach several aspects of their
position from an intensely analytical perspective. They see the job as a science
to be perfected. They will write down much of their work, as it pleases them to
see the fruits of their labor before their eyes.
Step Ladder Motivation
They participate primarily because they see it as a means to an end, with an
ulterior motive in mind (for example, the student who gets involved in “X” Club
during the spring term because it may help them become an RA).
Fight-For-A-Cause Motivation
These people fight for an issue that they see as reflective of their deep
convictions. Often participation will be intense and at an emotional level.
Power Motivation
These people seek control. They like to have their individual opinions influence
what the masses will do. In an unsophisticated individual, obnoxiousness and a
general overbearing attitude may surface. In a more sophisticated person,
obnoxiousness may not appear, but a resistance to delegating responsibility may.
The person feels that by keeping information to him/herself, his/her power base
will be maintained.
Motivation may be one of the most difficult tasks a leader faces. Some days it seems hard enough to get yourself enthused and excited about the group's meeting or activity, so how are you going to motivate a group of people who have varying levels of commitment and rationales for joining?
Hints on Motivating Others
- Study members and learn what makes each one tick.
- Be a good listener.
- Criticize in private.
- Praise in public.
- Be considerate.
- Delegate responsibility to others.
- Give credit where credit is due.
- Avoid domination or forcefulness (i.e., bossiness).
- Show interest in and appreciation for others.
- Make members want to do things through inspiration, incentives, and recognition.
- Let everyone know your plans, even at the early stages.
- Never forget that the leader is the role model.
- Play up the positive.
- Be consistent.
- Show members that you have confidence in them.
- When you make a mistake, admit it.
- If an idea is rejected, tell the originator why.
- Be careful of what you say and how you say it.
- Put yourself in your members' shoes.
- Remember that people carry out their own ideas best.
- Give members the opportunity to take part in making decisions—especially those that involve them.
- Let members know where they stand and why.
Motivation is not something you give to people. They give it to themselves. YOU give them the reason to motivate themselves!