1. What are the costs and benefits of my efforts? Can I expect any rewards from the organization? What costs might I expect from that effort? Do my benefits from this effort outweigh my costs?
2. How much do I, personally (not my friends, family, co-workers, etc) value each of these benefits and costs?
3. If I expend the effort, what is the chance that I can actually perform at a level that would result in receiving the benefits that I value? Do I have the ability and the resources necessary to succeed?
Expectancy Theory says that if any one of these three elements is missing, we would not expect any effort. As the father of two teenagers, my mind went immediately went to my children and how, over the years, I've tried to motivate them. I know that I almost always have focused on the first two concepts - helping them understand how expending effort now can lead to getting something they want in the future. The concepts of delayed gratification and 'actions have consequences' have been been a focus in my trying to pass on work ethic and wisdom to my kids.
However, I think the one question that I haven't asked as often - and really is the critical first question - is 'Do you believe that you can do it?". It's a different thing than me simply telling a child "You can do it!". That support is usually helpful but isn't the same thing as understanding where the child is in believing in him or herself. Asking the question says that I'm interested in understanding what they believe about the problem or challenge and engages them in working out what is important in their lives (creates buy-in) and in developing workplans and solutions that they feel that they have equity in because they've helped create the plan.
Applying this to a specific issue, I might ask these questions of my son or daughter:
1. Do you believe that you can get A’s and B’s in school? Why or why not? Are there resources that you need that you don’t have that would get in the way of you accomplishing this goal?
2. What are the benefits you perceive from getting A’s & B’s in school? How much value do you place on these benefits? What are the costs of pursuing A’s & B’s? Do you value the benefits more than the costs?
3. What are the incentives that will motivate you to get A’s & B’s?
I may be naive in thinking that teenagers will engage in this dialogue, but I'm hopeful that it might lead to something beyond a simple carrot / stick approach and might actually let my kids arrive at something that at least looks like self-motivation? I think it's worth a try. Stay tuned.
