Summary of Motivational Maps

What you need to know in a nutshell!

Within each person there are nine motivators – we all have these motivators, and we all have the full nine. The difference is that each individual has the nine in a different order and at a different level of intensity. This gives rise to the possibility of millions of potential combinations in an individual’s profile. Over 30,000 Maps have been completed and we still have never seen two individuals with identical Maps; furthermore, because motivation is partially based on our belief systems, it changes over time. It is not static or fixed, and so it is impossible to stereotype anyone according to their motivators, since these will change. Usually, most people are directly influenced not by just their top motivator, but by their top three motivators; rarely, this can be their top two or top four, but the scoring shows what really counts or not (which are motivators scoring > 20).

Motivation is energy; it is what fuels us to do ‘things’ – things we want to do. Without motivation we are unlikely to set out in the direction we want to go (towards our goals) and are even more unlikely to use our knowledge and skills effectively. In short, motivation is the fuel in the tank of the car we call performance. Thus, knowing what motivates us and how to reward – or re-fuel – our motivators is to enable higher levels of energy, greater levels of performance and productivity and to seriously increase our satisfaction with life.

The nine motivators are not random or discrete but instead form a holistic unity. They are divided into three groups of three; the groups like the motivators themselves have properties as well as motivational qualities. Some motivators are aligned and reinforce each other; other motivators conflict and cause tension, whether that be at an individual (that is, internal), team or organisational level. The tension is not necessarily a bad thing; it can lead, for example, to procrastination – to taking longer to make a decision – but equally taking longer can sometimes mean making a better decision. In Motivational Maps, therefore, as an absolute rule, there is no good or bad profile: context determines the meaning of every profile.

So, to expand and summarise the key principles underpinning Motivational Maps, then there are nine key points:

1. All Map profiles are good. There are not good or bad profiles – the diagnostic is ipsative, which means that you are measuring yourself against yourself, so you cannot be ‘wrong’. What you ‘think’ can be wrong but how you ‘feel’ cannot be: it is how you feel and so it is with your motivators, as they are feeling-based.
2. Context is everything in interpreting Maps. There can be no one meaning isolated from the context in which the individual is operating. Profiles may suit or re-inforce a specific context or not; ‘or not’ may mean that intention (will power), knowledge, and skill will have to accomplish that which one is not motivated to do, or it can mean the difference between focus (the motivators aligned and not closely scored) and balance (the motivators less aligned and the scoring narrowing or close) and which is relevant in a given situation.
3. Motivational Maps describe, measure, and monitor motivation. They make our invisible emotional drives visible and quantifiable. At last individuals, managers and organisations can get a handle on this key issue and through Reward Strategies do something about it – namely, increase it. Maps are a complete language and metric of motivation.
4. Motivators change over time. This happens because our beliefs change over time and these belief changes affect how we feel and therefore what motivates us. Thus, regular monitoring of motivation is appropriate and effective. From a coaching perspective this is so powerful because it is a focused opportunity to explore, too, what one’s beliefs are and whether they are supportive of what one is trying to achieve.
5. Motivational Maps are not a psychometric instrument. Psychometric-type tools inevitably describe a ‘fixed’ personality, a core which is unchanging. Maps are stable but fluid over time. Maps take an ‘energy snapshot’, for motivation is energy. Technically, Motivational Maps are a Self-Perception Inventory.
6. Motivational Maps do not and cannot stereotype individuals. This follows from the fact they change over time, so whatever someone’s profile is today, there is no guarantee it will be the same tomorrow. That said, the Maps are usually stable for about 18–24 months. But nobody should suggest, in a personality sort-of-way, ‘I’m a Searcher’ or any other motivator.
7. There are nine motivators but they are correlated into three groups. These three groups represent, amongst other things, the three primary modes of human perception: Feeling, Thinking, and Knowing. Each perception has fascinating and differing properties.
8. Motivation is highly correlated with performance. It is possible to be a high performer and yet de-motivated, but the price for this, middle or long-term, is stress and health problems. Having a highly motivated workforce is going to reduce illness and absenteeism, as well as presenteeism (the being there in body but not in mind or spirit).
9. Motivation is a feature and people buy benefits. Let’s not forget that because motivation is a feature, then it features in many core organisational (and non-organisational) activities: leadership, teams, performance, productivity, sales, appraisal, engagement (70 per cent of engagement is motivation), recruitment, careers and more beside. People usually, therefore, buy the effect or benefit of motivation rather than wanting it directly. Think essential oils! Usually applying an essential oil to the skin requires a ‘carrier’ oil, so too with motivation: it’s wrapping the mapping.

What, then, are the nine motivators and what do they mean? The motivators are in an ordered sequence which correlates with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (see Figure S.1). At the base are what we call the Relationship (R) motivators – representing the desire for security (the Defender), belonging (the Friend), and recognition (the Star). They are Relationship motivators because the primary concern of all three is people orientation.

Then, in sequence we have the three Achievement (A) motivators. These are in the middle of the hierarchy. First, there is the desire for control (the Director), then the desire for money (the Builder), and finally the desire for expertise (the Expert). They are Achievement motivators because the primary concern of all three is work orientation.

Figure S.1 The nine motivators

Finally, we have the three Growth (G) motivators. These are at the top of the hierarchy. These are the desire for innovation (the Creator), then the desire for autonomy (the Spirit), and at the apex – though this does not imply superiority – we have the desire for meaning or purpose (the Searcher). They are Growth motivators because the primary concern of all three is self-orientation.

From this brief re-cap of what Motivational Maps is about we hope that – if you haven’t yet encountered them directly – your first response will be: ‘That’s fascinating – so what is my profile? What are my top three motivators?’ A good idea at this point is to request to do a Motivational Map – see note 12 of the Introduction to find out how to access a Map.