Motivation Part 1: Basic Psychological Needs

Sources:

Kleinginna,, P. R., & Kleinginna, A. M. (1981). A categorized list of motivation definition, with a suggestion for a consensual definition. Motivation and Emotion 5, 263 - 291.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York: Guilford Press.

Ryan, & Deci. (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist, 68-78.

Deci, E. L., Olafsen, A. H., & Ryan, R. M. (2017). Self-Determination Theory in Work Organizations: The State of a Science. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 19-43.

Elphinstone, B.Egan, P.Whitehead, R. (2021) Greater autonomous motivation for study and basic psychological need satisfaction by being presently aware and ‘letting go’: An exploration of mindful attention and nonattachment. Motivation and Emotion, 45 ,1–12.

In the post on Adam's peak, I analyzed my behavior during the hike using the Self-Determination Theory. Self-determination theory is currently the most proven and examined theory in the last 25 years on the subject of motivation. It is not just 1 theory but consists of several mini theories of which we are going to discuss the 2 most prominent in this 2 part series. As the title suggests this article will examine basic psychological needs and the next time we will look at the Organismic Integration Theory (it is very practical compared to the name;-)). 

But first: What do we talk about when we are discussing motivation? First of all the word itself comes from the Latin: Movere, meaning "to move". 

Deci & Ryan have developed the Self-Determination theory for more than 25 years to help us understand these deeper levels. They concluded that as much as we have physiological needs we also have psychological needs, and that to be happy, healthy, and live a fulfilled life we also need to "drink water from our psychological pool as much as that we need actual water" (Ryan & Deci, 2017).

The three basic psychological needs that they found were: Relatedness, Autonomy & Competence. In some similar theories, you will see that they only use 2 of the 3: Relatedness & Autonomy with Competence being in support of autonomy. These seemingly opposing factors of Relatedness and Autonomy will come back in many theories that we use within the Singularion way of working: Introvert vs Extrovert, Agency vs Communion, people or task orientation, etc. While seeming to oppose each other we can see that at the basic level, we require at least both and need to remind that going further up the iceberg. 

The need for competence is our need to be successful in what we do (whether we reach our goals or not). For this we need resources (beginning with our most important resource of time), skills & expertise. Through this, we can find new challenges and keep developing ourselves. 

The need for relatedness concerns the universal behavior of interacting with, being connected to and experiencing caring for other people. We want to empathize with and be empathized by other people. 

Every person needs to have all 3 needs fulfilled to feel Self-Determined. By being conscious of our behavior and seeing what does fulfill these needs and what does not we can be mindful of our actions and reach higher levels of fulfillment. A study (Elphinstone, Egan & Whitehead, 2021) has shown that the practice of mindfulness alone, and in combination with non-attachment, leads to higher levels of need satisfaction. When one of the needs is not fulfilled we will feel out of balance and most likely will have routines and patterns that are not good for us. When the needs are fulfilled within "our theme", as we discussed earlier, people will live a happy life of their choosing. 

So how can we use this model for ourselves in personal development? Now that we have all this information we can start analyzing ourselves using the model and see if we are missing one of the aspects:

• Am I doing what I want to do or do I follow somebody else's plan for example my parents or my partner (Autonomy)?

• Do I agree with how my company owners or manager acts and influence my life (Autonomy)?

• Do I feel I have the skills and resources to do my work (or navigate life) correctly at the moment (competence)?

• Do I still feel challenged in my work (competence)?

• Do I share the same values with the people I hang out or work with (Relatedness)?

• How often do I empathize with others around me (Relatedness)?

• How often do I let others empathize with me around me (Relatedness)?

If I don't know an answer or for example see that I am not empathizing at all with the people around me I can ask myself the Why-question and try to find the reason.

What I have found personally is that finding your theme is also an important topic. We get so many imprints from a young age of what we are supposed to do that we often don't realize what we want to do. If you have no idea my suggestion would be to experiment on a creative level and see what things can maybe drive you forward.

Now if you are a manager or an entrepreneur you can ask the same questions reversed for your employees. Are we fulfilling all the needs of our employees? We already know that employees who feel supported in their autonomy are more satisfied, thrive better, and attribute to greater organizational effectiveness (Deci, Olafsen & Ryan, 2017). 

Things that can contribute greatly to autonomy:

• Making a mission and vision that is written together with or supported by the employees;

• Learning a flexible leadership style so that you can take on an inspiring or coaching style when necessary in the specific situation;

• While delegation is an amazing tool, don't act blindly on delegating when the necessary competence is not there with your employees.

Things that can contribute greatly to competence:

• Make sure your employees are properly trained for everything they have to do (ask them, don't follow the company guidelines);

• Make sure your employees stay challenged in their work environment;

• Help them in their personal development;

• Set up a coaching system next to a performance review system in your company.

Things that can contribute greatly to relatedness:

• Set up a buddy system for starting employees so that they can connect easily within the company;

• Set up a value system together with your employees;

• Behavior that is not in line with the value system (formal or informal) should always be addressed to prevent norm degradation;

• And yes, also informal gatherings will help but don't make it a single time per year, e.g. we are going to Six Flags and have fulfilled the relatedness need thing ;-)

In general, it is a good idea to look at all the positions within your team and ask yourself if you are fulfilling the needs of the position with its design. Some positions are not meant to have a lot of autonomy for example, so what do you do to ensure that people still find their autonomy need satisfied?

We know that if we satisfy these needs within ourselves it facilitates higher levels of motivation, and psychological and physical wellness (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Here we also see the mind-body connection coming back. If it goes well with the psyche we have fewer complaints in the body. Fulfilling all 3 needs is thus a very important factor in our lives. 

But what is a higher level of motivation? We will go more into this in the second article, but in general, we can speak of 2 types of motivation: Intrinsic motivation & Extrinsic motivation. For us to classify the level of motivation in ourselves as intrinsic it has to come completely from within ourselves. We don't need other people, or for example mind tricks, to motivate us. Extrinsic motivation comes largely from outside of ourselves. We will go into this deeper in the second part of this article. 

While it is difficult to research the next statement I will make, we can also assume that these needs usually revolve around a theme for a person. A person who loves to work with cars is unlikely to find relatedness satisfaction in a group of people who love to read Immanuel Kant. 

And this concludes the introduction on the topic of motivation and what you can do yourself and within your company to improve the Basic Psychological Needs satisfaction. In part 2 we will look further into different quality levels of motivation, and how we can analyze on an individual basis what people might need to motivate them. 

If you have any questions or want to develop yourself or your team using this framework, reach out to me and we can work on it.

Its modern meaning connected to research goes back to Darwin who speculated about the existence of a cognitive function like motivation and in 1981 Kleinginna, & Kleinginna combined 140 pieces of research trying to make a singular definition (Kleinginna & Kleinginna, 1981). They could find a consensus that motivation is an internal state or condition that serves to energize behavior and give it direction. Three elements are important for this:

· An internal state or condition that activates behavior and gives it direction;
· A desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior;
· The influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction of behavior.

So motivation is the internal state that moves us toward our desires and needs. Through motivation, we "move around" in the world, fulfilling other needs than finding food, water, and shelter. Therefore in our Iceberg, it sits at the deepest level. It's the basic thing that drives us through life. 

Let's go into the 3 needs individually. The need for autonomy is a need to have control over our own choices in life. We want to feel that we are at the steering wheel of our own life. This does not always mean that you have full control over everything, but can also mean that you accept that you place this control with people you can trust (company leadership for example which also explains the huge impact of leadership on employee happiness, rather than the relatedness factor which revolves more around co-workers).