Rest is a need; power is a need.

By Lillie Brown

In a world where being busy is worn as a badge of honour, where needing extra hours in the day and being powered by caffeine is part of the ‘norm’, choosing rest is a radical act. Many of us feel compelled to push our bodies to the brink, to keep saying ‘yes’ to things when we’re burned out, and to cast relaxation to the wayside. We tend to think of downtime as a luxury we cannot possibly indulge in, but choosing to relax is a critical component to maintaining your physical and mental health, being happy, and creating your best work.

As creative business owners and freelancers, our complicated relationship with rest is heightened by the irregularity of our income. Resting is something that we squeeze in between jobs, if we can, but this is a false economy. How productive are you when you’re exhausted, overextended, and uninspired? Science, it seems, has the answer.

Rest improves your health. When we’re overworking ourselves, our exercise routines, sleep habits, and diet tend to suffer because we’re exhausted and simply don’t have the capacity to prioritise these pillars of good health. Many studies have demonstrated that overwork leads to poor circulation, heart problems, high cholesterol, adrenal fatigue, subpar concentration, nervous problems, depression, and anxiety. That’s a frightening list!

Rest helps your productivity soar. It has been proven that taking frequent short breaks throughout the day is beneficial to our performance – but they need to be certain kind of breaks. A mindless Instagram scroll or reading blogs like this one don’t count (sorry!). For a break to actually have a regenerative effect, you must completely disconnect from whatever it is that you are doing. The best way to do this is a stroll in the great outdoors (bonus points for meandering through a green space), sans phone. A quick disco nap is also restorative if you can get away with it.

Rest boosts your creativity. A study from the University of York and the University of Florida found more than 40% of our creative ideas come during breaks and downtime when our minds are free to wander. Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a writer, academic and founder of a consultancy called Restful Company talks at length in his work about the power of “active” rest, which includes gentle exercise, playing, and engaging in hobbies. The parts of your brain that drive creativity are most active when you don’t have to focus, and moments of creativity take place when the mind is at rest rather than working. Anyone who has had a great idea while in the shower or walking the dog can confirm!

Human beings are not designed to function at a high level for sustained periods of time. Choosing to actively prioritise rest is both an act of resistance against grind culture and an act of self-care. As a freelancer or small business owner, you are uniquely placed to rewrite the harmful paradigms that keep us exhausted and uninspired and craft a new way of working that is holistic, sustainable, and centres your health and wellbeing.

Rest is a right, not a privilege. Think: what can you do to build rest into your schedule on a daily basis? Now, go do it – after that disco nap.

Jun 26, 2020

© Veer
kruwt

Not everyone wants to stand out from the crowd.

When your team members succeed, you might be tempted to show them off to the rest of your organization. But while some people thrive in the spotlight, others dread being "paraded around."

Managing a group of people with different personalities is never easy. But if you're managing or leading a team, it's essential to know what motivates your people, how they respond to feedback and praise, and what tasks fit them well.

David McClelland's Human Motivation Theory allows you to identify people's motivating drivers. This can then help you to give praise and feedback effectively, assign them suitable tasks, and keep them motivated.

In this article, we'll explore McClelland's Human Motivation Theory, and look at how you can use it to manage and lead your team more effectively.

McClelland's Human Motivation Theory is also known as Three Needs Theory, Acquired Needs Theory, Motivational Needs Theory, and Learned Needs Theory.

Understanding McClelland's Theory

In the early 1940s, Abraham Maslow created his theory of needs. This identified the basic needs that human beings have, in order of their importance: physiological needs, safety needs, and the needs for belonging, self-esteem and "self-actualization".

Later, David McClelland built on this work in his 1961 book, "The Achieving Society." He identified three motivators that he believed we all have: a need for achievement, a need for affiliation, and a need for power. People will have different characteristics depending on their dominant motivator. [1]

According to McClelland, these motivators are learned (which is why this theory is sometimes called the Learned Needs Theory).

McClelland says that, regardless of our gender, culture, or age, we all have three motivating drivers, and one of these will be our dominant motivating driver. This dominant motivator is largely dependent on our culture and life experiences.

These characteristics are as follows:

Those with a strong power motivator are often divided into two groups: personal and institutional. People with a personal power drive want to control others, while people with an institutional power drive like to organize the efforts of a team to further the company's goals. As you can probably imagine, those with an institutional power need are usually more desirable as team members!

Using the Theory

McClelland's theory can help you to identify the dominant motivators of people on your team. You can then use this information to influence how you set goals and provide feedback, and how you motivate and reward team members.

You can also use these motivators to craft, or design, the job around your team members, ensuring a better fit.

Let's look at the steps for using McClelland's theory:

Step 1: Identify Drivers

Examine your team to determine which of the three motivators is dominant for each person. You can probably identify drivers based on personality and past actions.

For instance, perhaps one of your team members always takes charge of the group when you assign a project. They speak up in meetings to persuade people, and delegate responsibilities to others to meet the goals of the group. They like to be in control of the final deliverables. This team member is likely primarily driven by power.

You might have another team member who never speaks during meetings. They always agree with the group, work hard to manage conflict when it occurs, and visibly become uncomfortable when you talk about doing high-risk, high-reward projects. This person is likely to have a strong need for affiliation.

Step 2: Structure Your Approach

Based on the driving motivators of your workers, structure your leadership style and project assignments around each individual team member. This will help ensure that they all stay engaged, motivated, and happy with the work they're doing.

Examples of Using the Theory

Let's take a closer look at how to manage team members who are driven by each of McClelland's three motivators:

Achievement

People motivated by achievement need challenging, but not impossible, projects. They thrive on overcoming difficult problems or situations, so make sure you keep them engaged this way. People motivated by achievement work very effectively either alone or with other high achievers.

When providing feedback, give achievers a fair and balanced appraisal. They want to know what they're doing right – and wrong – so that they can improve.

Affiliation

People motivated by affiliation work best in a group environment, so try to integrate them with a team (versus working alone) whenever possible. They also don't like uncertainty and risk. Therefore, when assigning projects or tasks, save the risky ones for other people.

When providing feedback to these people, be personal. It's still important to give balanced feedback, but if you start your appraisal by emphasizing their good working relationship and your trust in them, they'll likely be more open to what you say. Remember that these people often don't want to stand out, so it might be best to praise them in private rather than in front of others.

Power

Those with a high need for power work best when they're in charge. Because they enjoy competition, they do well with goal-oriented projects or tasks. They may also be very effective in negotiations or in situations in which another party must be convinced of an idea or goal.

When providing feedback, be direct with these team members. And keep them motivated by helping them further their career goals.

Comparative Theories

McClelland's theory of needs is not the only theory about worker motivation. Sirota's Three-Factor Theory also presents three motivating factors that workers need to stay motivated and excited about what they're doing: equity/fairness, achievement, and camaraderie.

Sirota's theory states that we all start a new job with lots of enthusiasm and motivation to do well. But over time, due to bad company policies and poor work conditions, many of us lose our motivation and excitement.

This is different from McClelland's theory, which states that we all have one dominant motivator that moves us forward, and this motivator is based on our culture and life experiences.

Use your best judgment when motivating and engaging your team. Understanding a variety of motivational theories will help you decide which approach is best in any given situation.

You may also see these abbreviations for McClelland's three motivators: Achievement (nAch), Affiliation (nAff), and Power (nPow).

McClelland's Human Motivation Theory states that every person has one of three main driving motivators: the needs for achievement, affiliation, or power. These motivators are not inherent; we develop them through our culture and life experiences.

Achievers like to solve problems and achieve goals. Those with a strong need for affiliation don't like to stand out or take risk, and they value relationships above anything else. Those with a strong power motivator like to control others and be in charge.

You can use this information to lead, praise, and motivate your team more effectively, and to better structure your team's roles.