Did you know that hiring the wrong person can cost a company as much as 10 times their salary? Personnel selection is critical in affecting overall organizational productivity. Also important is providing people with space to grow and advance in a company. But when someone is promoted to a role that they are less than qualified for, this can also cost the company dearly.
Very often, leaders need to make hiring choices based on incomplete information. Similarly, leaders sometimes take leaps of faith in promoting people based on performance in their current role without having a fuller picture of how they might perform in a future role. Companies expound their corporate values through multiple channels, but is it important for employees’ personal values to align with those corporate values? If so, should these be factored into decision-making? It stands to reason that employees who are in alignment with the company’s values will pursue solutions and make decisions that encompass consideration of these values more naturally. One way of leaders gaining such insights into prospective or current employees is by considering a person’s motivators.
The concepts of motivational style were brought to the forefront of the personality discussion by a 1915 German philosopher and psychologist named Eduard Spranger and later incorporated as a focus of personality psychology by American psychologist, Gordon Allport in the 1950’s. What has emerged from the extensive work of these men and others, is a model of understanding and measuring the very specific values (a synonymous terms for “motivators” in this context) by which we are all influenced and which influence key personality components, behaviors, sense of purpose and drive
We all make decisions and react to situations based on our beliefs, values and attitudes. Some of these underlying beliefs come from experiences throughout our lives that have repeated themselves enough so as to become integrated into our thought processes reflexively. It’s not so much that these values are sub-conscious per se, but more so that our brains know what drives us and will therefore attribute greater importance, or take greater notice to specific aspects of certain situations that we face all the time. This greater focus or attribution most influences the choices we make. After all, who would want to base a decision on factors they don’t naturally notice or don’t attribute a lot of value to?
“…our brains know what drives us and will therefore attribute greater importance, or take greater notice to specific aspects of certain situations that we face all the time.”
So what are these motivators? The model discussed here categorizes beliefs, values and attitudes (in other words, “motivators,”) into 7 distinct areas. As you read through these, think about your own attribution of value to these areas. For extra credit, think about how your attribution of value agrees or disagrees with someone close to you, like a close friend, spouse, parent, sibling or child. We are all made up of a blend of these, so we each have at least a little bit of each one in our makeup. What matters, as we’ll see later, are the proportions and the combinations.
Aesthetic motivator: Value is in harmony, grace, symmetry and beauty and the human connection to the environment and the world. Thinking tends to be more subjective than objective, and someone with too much of the aesthetic motivator can be driven to the point of impracticality. Someone with very little of the aesthetic motivator tends to be less moved by experiences, feelings, creativity or experiential living.
Altruistic motivator: Value is in the love of people, helping people, being sympathetic and unselfish. The more that can be done to help others (and often with no expectation of return), the better, and someone with too much of the altruistic motivator can place others’ needs above their own. Someone with not enough of the altruistic motivator can be too self-interested, suspicious of others and even narcissistic.
Economic motivator: Value is in what is useful, and investments of energy, money or time should always yield a return of investment. Competition is highly regarded, and someone with too much of the economic motivator may actually place excessive importance on the bottom line and reaping rewards. Someone with not enough of the economic motivator will tend to place the potential opportunity for them to gain from a situation, decision or behavior as a smaller consideration and run the risk of paying too little regard to their own needs or desires.
Individualistic motivator: Value is placed on the individual’s uniqueness, the ability to stand out from the crowd and command attention. Reputation and freedom of action are most important, and someone with too much of the individualistic motivator will need the greatest amount of autonomy possible. Someone with not enough of the individualistic motivator may choose to “blend in” with everyone else, hide behind others who are viewed as more qualified and be perceived as shy and even boring.
Political motivator: Value is in power and control. Competition is viewed as a means to achieving yet more power over circumstances and people. Someone with too much of the political motivator will do all that they can to be in charge and will do everything possible to maintain this position. Someone with not enough of the political motivator will have very little faith in their own value and capabilities and a diminished sense of drive or urgency.
Regulatory motivator: Value is in structure and process, systems, protocols and discipline. Order and rules are of very high importance, both in establishing them and abiding by them. Someone with too much of the regulatory motivator can be viewed as very “black and white” thinkers with little room for gray areas. Someone with not enough of the regulatory motivator will desire situations that are extremely flexible with few or no rules. They will prefer to find solutions through out-of-the-box ideas than a structured, logical approach.
Theoretical motivator: Value is in discovery and learning. Rational logic and objective truth should be applied in decision-making, and the best tools for problem solving are ones that identify facts, differences, pays little attention to beauty or utility and where reason is paramount. Someone with too much of the theoretical motivator will often seek to learn for learning’s sake and can ignore practical application of the gained knowledge. Someone with not enough of the theoretical motivator is satisfied to view things at the surface level and doesn’t need to think any harder than necessary. They may often just “guess” at things rather than expend much effort in thinking things through.
Earlier I asked you to think about where you and someone close to you might score on each of these motivator scales. Did you come up with differences? And if you did, do you ever find that these differences show up as conflict? Or do similarities show up as aligned outlook? Do you think that having this insight and understanding might help alleviate some of that conflict or uncover areas of even further alignment?
Our individual personalities are all a unique blend of these motivators and many other factors. What gets a bit more interesting is when they are combined to create supporting or conflicting structures that reveal even more about a person. Consider these:
High Aesthetic + High Individualistic: That “unique, artsy and quirky” person. (We all know at least one!)
High Individualistic + Low Regulatory: The person who doesn’t pay much attention to “rules” and may even break some of them in order to stand out.
Low Individualistic + High Altruistic: The “giver/doer” who always puts other people before themselves, even at the sacrifice of their own identity. Such people may be prone to abuse by others who know how to take advantage of these qualities.
High Political + High Economic: The person who will use their control and influence to make sure that no one “pulls one over on them” and they always get the “return on investment” they seek and need.
High Altruistic + Low Economic: The “giver/doer” who operates purely out of the “goodness of their heart” without any expectation of reward for their efforts.
High Altruistic + High Economic: The “giver/doer” who is driven to help others. The “high economic” piece could mean one of two things. First, this person may always have an ulterior motive and be looking for a “quid pro quo” situation. Alternatively, this person may view the results of helping others as enough of a reward in and of itself that satisfies their economic needs.
High Political + High Regulatory + High Theoretical: The person who sees things as black or white and will always want to get their way. Sometimes, this person is seen as a “know-it-all.”
High Economic + Low Altruistic: The person is always looking for what they can get out of a person or situation without much investment or thought about others’ needs.
High Individualistic + Low Altruistic: Plain and simple: the person is self-centered.
Can you think of any additional combinations that make sense? Can you identify your own motivators and those of others? Coincidentally, there’s an assessment that measures and reports on just that. If you are interested in this assessment for yourself or others, please get in touch!
Ira Tau is a Certified Motivators Assessment Practitioner.
