Find What Drives Your Success

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What motivates you? During job interviews, the interviewer will more likely than not ask, “what is your motivation” “what is your motivation in applying for this job?”

Most people fail to take the question seriously. When preparing for interviews, people tend to focus on studying the company and the role but fail to devote as much time to examine themselves. When preparing for a job interview, it is essential to have extensive knowledge about the organization. It is also vital that you make a list of interview questions you will be asking the interviewer.

To successfully interview the interviewer, you must understand your motives. You must understand what motivates you to success and fulfillment.

Importance of Motives

Motives are the cornerstone of our motivations. Therefore you must know, understand and can clearly describe and explain what motivates you. During a job interview, when I ask an applicant what motivates them, I want to know why they are interested in the role they have applied. I want to hear how their motivations in applying for the job align with the company culture, the clients we serve. I am also looking for honesty.

Understanding Your Motivations

Your motives drive your potential for success, progress, and fulfillment. Understanding what motivates you helps not only you but also helps those who work with you. In a 2018 article, Forbes highlights five major motivators in the workplace.

Forbes contributor and author Mark Murphy describes the five major motivations that drive people’s action at work (1) Achievement, (2)Power, (3)Affiliation, (4)Security, and (5) Adventure. Knowing which category(s) you are in will help guide your career decisions, associations, the industries you decide to join, etc.

Understanding your motives may prevent you from accepting a job where you will become disengaged within a couple of weeks. Let’s consider the five motivators and how they help you make wise career decisions.

Motivated By Achievement

People motivated by achievement thrive when provided with challenging projects. They are high achieving, goal-oriented individuals, driven by projects that keep them engaged. They work most effectively alone or in the company of other high achievers.

The good news is that people motivated by achievement can thrive in any environment as long as their success can be measured.

Learn how to express your need to achieve to others. Look for jobs that will challenge you. A company culture that reward achievement and high performance should be on your list of must-haves at work, so is a culture where feedback is readily provided. Incorporate these cultural needs into your value statement.

Motivated By Power

People motivated by power like to be in charge and like being able to influence others. The title is more valuable than money or achievement—individuals who are driven by power work very hard to gain recognition and power.

People who are motivated by power thrive in cultures that provide opportunities to lead or where they are empowered to impact the behavior of others. They thrive in cultures that give recognition and reverence.

If you are a power-motivated individual, embrace it, however, embrace it with humility because others may misunderstand your motivation. Establish your own goals and career-related outcomes because it will provide clarity for you and future employers.

When job hunting, look for team-oriented environments. During interviews, ask whether there are opportunities to lead a team or team motivational opportunities. Consider careers in coaching, consider what you do best, and use it as an opportunity to coach others using the abilities that are natural to you.

Motivated By Adventure

People motivated by adventure are risk-takers. They are quickly bored with routine and thrive in a constantly changing environment. The idea of starting something new or jumping on what’s new and exciting drives their success.

Adventure driven individuals do well working alone and will thrive in environments that are continually changing. Individuals motivated by adventure thrive in an ever-changing environment.

If you are adventure-driven, work to stay ahead of yourself. Determine what skills you have that can be incorporated into your work to help you stay engaged.

You are driven by the newness of an adventure, however, because adventure-driven people are easily bored work on how to maintain focus. A good practice is to take the time and determine what you are the best at and incorporate those skills into every project, assignment, task

Achievement and adventure are my work motivators, and my dominant skills are analyzing and strategizing. I examine my progress at work at least once a week and incorporate strategies to push me towards achieving the goal.

Figure out your abilities and greatest strengths and ensure that the work you choose to do incorporates your abilities and skills. This will help you to maintain focus when a project takes a long time to complete.

Motivated By Security

People driven by security are motivated by a clear and predictable career path and pay. They dislike change and disruption and will, therefore, remain in a job for a long time.

If you have a high need for security, during interviews ask questions about the organization. Questions like, “what is a typical tenure at this company?” “is there high turnover?” These questions will help you to decide whether the work environment is right for you. A role that is whose duties are well defined will most likely be a good fit for a security-driven individual.

Motivated By Affiliation

People driven by affiliation are more interested in establishing happy relationships with other people and the acceptance of others. Affiliation driven people thrive most in environments that incorporate a lot of interaction with other people.

Look for work that has an element of customer service or other service industries with high client interaction. It is also vital that you learn how to set boundaries to prevent others from taking advantage.

Why It is Important to Know your Motivations

Having a good knowledge of yourself prevents you from making bad career choices. Understanding your motivations helps you to accept roles where you will have a high level of success and fulfillment.

So take the time to study your motivations, your skills, and abilities and align your career search with your findings to help you in succeeding.

thanks for exploring this topic with me.

Idara Joy

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