Motivation makes the world go round. It’s what gets us up in the morning, what helps us get through work, and what lets us enjoy our hobbies. What motivates a person can vary widely, but it can be the most important thing a person needs to get the energy, will, and drive to put in their best efforts.
James Sales’ motivational maps provide a list of the nine things that could motivate a person to take action, work hard, and achieve their goals. Each person ranks the nine categories differently, resulting in thousands of different combinations for high, medium, and low motivators. What motivates a person might change over time, but trying to force that change is like trying to alter their entire personality: it won’t succeed unless they want to change, and regardless it will be a slow and gradual shift. That’s why it is so important to know all the possible motivators: to identify what motivates other people, and maybe get better clarity on just what motivates you.
This article will discuss each one of the nine motivators: what they are, what they want, and some important dos and don’ts for dealing with people who have it as a high motivator. Everyone has about 2-4 motivators in each of the three zones: High, Medium, and Low. So before introducing the motivators, it is important to know the difference between high, medium and low.
High Motivators are what make a person want to keep doing something day-after-day for the rest of their life. Hobbies can sometimes fulfill high motivators, but that requires time and energy for the hobby outside work hours. Though it might take months or years, when high motivators are not met burnout, exhaustion, fatigue, and even depression, are almost inevitable.
Medium Motivators are the cherry-on-top if high motivators are already met, or a short-term solution if they’re not. While high motivators work long-term, medium motivators slowly become less effective if they are a person’s only motivation. If a person is struggling but still trying, their medium motivators are probably met but their high motivators are not.
Low Motivators are the boring or unpleasant motivators. Getting someone to work hard or start a new hobby using their low motivators is almost impossible because they are getting nothing they want out of the work or hobby. Low motivators show the biggest reason it is important to understand motivators: it is impossible to appeal to everyone with the same thing.
Now that High, Medium, and Low Motivators have been explained, we can move to the 9 Motivators:
Number 1: The Defender
The Defender is motivated by safety, stability, and predictability. They likely want a steady job with health insurance, a pension plan, sick days, vacation time, and consistent hours. This motivator tends to be higher among people with a spouse or kids, as it reflects the need to be the steady rock that others can depend on, though that is not always the case.
Do: Give them a consistent paycheque and make their work hours the same every week. Do not make them fight to use sick days, vacation days, and health insurance. Understand that many people with this type have families and might need to prioritize their family.
Don’t: Change their schedule every week, make their pay widely vary based on sales or some other metric, or leave them feeling like their job is insecure and they could be fired or let go at any moment. Consistency and reliability are what keep them around.
Number 2: The Friend
The Friend is motivated by belonging and friendship. They want to be in collaborative environments where everyone works together to solve problems. The kind of person who is happy to help out a co-worker who needs a hand, and wants co-workers who are happy to help them when they need it. The most likely motivator type to want to be friends with their co-workers.
Do: Create an environment where co-workers are in collaboration, not competition. Let them chat with co-workers at least sometimes. Let them work in teams with their coworkers and use joint space to collaborate.
Don’t: Force them to work alone or clamp down too hard on office chatter and socializing in the workplace. Tell them to come into work when they have plans with family or friends, they often need chances to socialize whether at work or not.
Number 3: The Star
The Star wants respect, recognition, and esteem. They value status and want to be thanked for the work they do. They are often motivated by titles and jobs that command respect—like doctors and lawyers—but are also motivated by awards that let them feel acknowledged and appreciated. They often want to be in the spotlight, and hate being ignored and neglected.
Do: Give them opportunities to be thanked and acknowledged. Let them be in the spotlight. Help them get their name out and be recognized for their work. Thank and appreciate them for the little things. This can be as simple as thanking them for doing their job or chores.
Don’t: Withhold praise unless they go above and beyond what is expected of them. Fail to give them proper credit for their work. Ignore them or insult their efforts, they are often people who need external validation from others to feel good about themselves.
Number 4: The Director
The Director wants power, influence, and control over other people and resources. Their goal is to be in leadership positions one day. They are motivated by opportunities to be in charge and show that they can manage and direct others. They want promotions, a ranking system or organized structure in their hobbies, and need to feel like there is room to grow and reach the top.
Do: Give them opportunities to be in charge of a team and show their leadership skills. Make promotions and opportunities to rise in the company achievable to them if they work hard. In terms of hobbies, they want to be the coach or learn the skills well enough to teach others.
Don’t: Keep them in the same position for years and years, they need upward mobility. Don’t make them work independently, deny them chances to take the lead, or force them to always work underneath other people.
Number 5: The Builder
The Builder wants money, material possessions, and an above average living. They want raises, can be happy to work overtime if they are getting overtime pay, and might even pursue side hustles as their hobbies. Overall, the builder is someone for whom money can buy happiness, so how well they are paid is the largest factor to them in the work they do.
Do: Pay at or above market value for their skills, they might look for higher paying opportunities elsewhere if you don’t. Consistent raises, and opportunities to make more money by taking on additional work will also appeal to them.
Don’t: Fail to give adequate raises. Fail to offer chances to make more money. Increase their workload without increasing their pay.
Number 6: The Expert
The Expert seeks knowledge, mastery, and specialization. The Expert is often someone who has a specialized skill they are passionate about. They are motivated by opportunities to learn more about their field, and show their expertise. More so than most other motivators, these are the people most interested in finding work in the field they have education and experience in.
Do: Give them opportunities to use their skills, take training to improve their skills, and let them show their expertise. Understand that their expertise will need an outlet either at work or through hobbies.
Don’t: Ignore their expertise, or make them spend a majority of their time on work that is not centered around their chosen skills.
Number 7: The Searcher
The Searcher seeks meaning, purpose, and wants to make a difference. They need to know that what they are doing matters, will help other people, or make the world a better place. They tend towards caring-oriented positions such as doctors, teachers, and social workers. Often, but not always, prefer public-oriented positions where they can see that they are helping others.
Do: Show them the big picture. Make sure they know how the work they are doing helps others or will have a positive impact on the world. Give them work that lets them see the impact they are having. Show them that you care as much as they do.
Don’t: Focus on profits or budgets, they are more likely to care about how many people they helped. Ignore or reject their efforts to do things like make the office more environmentally friendly or bring awareness to social issues. Give them a reason to think you don’t care.
Number 8: The Spirit
The Spirit seeks freedom, autonomy, and independence. A high motivator among most entrepreneurs, they want to do the work their way, with as little supervision as possible. They are good at reaching deadlines but feel untrusted and disrespected if checked up on too often. Give them the freedom to do what they want when they want and they’ll often provide great results.
Do: Give them the big picture and the desired end result so that they know what to aim for. Leave them be to get the work done. Give them room to bend the rules a bit in order to do what works best for them personally. Let them learn skills and hobbies at their own pace.
Don’t: Constantly check on their progress, force them to attend meetings that don’t really pertain to them, or be a stickler for rules or procedures. Micromanage them, they can often end up as the people who consider even normal levels of management and supervision to be too much.
Number 9: The Creator
The Creator seeks innovation, creativity, and change. These are the actors, artists, musicians, writers, dancers, and the innovators who want to come up with new and creative ways to do things. They are most energized when they get to be creative, when they get to think and figure out how to do something instead of just repeating what someone else has done before.
Do: Welcome new ideas and be willing to change things if they come up with a good idea. Give them opportunities to be creative and problems that need solving. Let them put their personal touch on projects as it helps them feel engaged in their work.
Don’t: Trap them in a routine for too long, they get bored easily and will want something new to do. Don’t discourage new ideas or originality, they get stifled and unmotivated when they can’t express themselves and show off their creative problem solving.
When you look at these lists, it becomes easy to see how different people will be motivated by different things and how people might seek out different work and hobbies if their motivators are not met. Someone who is mostly a Defender and Builder might love a 9-5 job that pays very well and offers bonuses and overtime pay, while a Creative and Star person would prefer to get a job in entertainment where they can get their name out into the world as an actor or musician. The Expert and Spirit person might want to go into business for themselves using their expert skills and might roll their eyes at the idea of a job with a steady paycheque and retirement plan if the job has nothing to do with their skills.
But no matter what motivates anyone, the final truth of all these motivators is that people are motivated and de-motivated by different things and that society gets nowhere if it believes that one motivator can work for everyone.Doing so is no different from the classic attempt to shove a square peg in a round hole: it doesn’t work. All you get is struggle and frustration from both the person whose needs are not met and from society for expecting the person to fit in.But now, with these motivators, it is easier to recognize when a person is a square peg, and ensure that a square hole is found for them.