How to motivate those you support

Everything we do is motivated by something. Even things we don’t want to do are motivated by the consequences of not doing them. But motivation has many facets and can work in a variety of ways; understanding some of these can help you in your role as a care worker.

Intrinsic Motivation

When we do something because we like it in itself – such as eating chocolate because it tastes good – we need very little encouragement! The same applies to hobbies that we enjoy, and all the vices we wish we didn’t have 🙂

Extrinsic Motivation

More often in life, however, we do things to get other things. With children, we entice them to tidy their toys in exchange for a treat; as adults, we generally work to get paid. This does something very important to the activity; it makes what we are doing a ‘means to an end’. And with that, it can often lose its value.  

The perfect example of this type of motivation, is an experiment which was conducted with a classful of children. All were given ice cream with the promise that if they ate it all, they would get some broccoli as a reward. What happened? Many of the children complained about having to eat the ice cream, with some even refusing to eat it, and asking to skip to the broccoli!  

Vexingly, even as adults, we still operate with the same basic ‘carrot and stick’ principle; however, we can make carrots out of our sticks!

Using Motivation as a Care Worker

Clients need, to varying degrees, to play an active part in their own wellbeing. This could be through encouragement to move around more, or to drink more fluids, for example. Often, we might resort to using rewards (extrinsic) – “Drink this and I’ll fetch you an extra biscuit with your cuppa” – or fear (also extrinsic – the desire to ‘avoid’) – “You’ll get dehydrated, Betty, and we don’t want that!”.  

However, a better way to change behaviour is to use good feelings that already exist around an activity. An example of this might be taking a walk through a favourite park, or perhaps encouraging more green-fingers clients to tend to plants in the home 🔗. It might take a little more time to work out what activities have intrinsic value for your client, but the results are far more likely to be long-lasting and self-driven.

We can give almost any Behaviour Intrinsic Value

It is slightly trickier when a behaviour just has no redeeming features for a client, but a combination of both types of motivation can help get them to the point where they engage in the activity for its own sake. Look for activities closely related to the desired behaviour which your client does have positive feelings for. These ‘milestones’ help to bring the person closer to the end goal.

For example:

Perhaps you care for someone who loves getting dressed up but not walking. Make a fuss: decide on which clothes to wear; what hat goes with what; which shoes look best. The walking activity will then become associated with feeling and looking good, and should eventually become part of that overall ‘good feeling’.  

Giving praise and encouragement are of course, always helpful. However, the goal is to get the individual to the point of doing the activity because they want to – not because they are praised. Remember: we are more likely to continue doing something unprompted when it makes us feel good. 

Thankfully, there are many intrinsic motivators that can apply to any behaviours, amongst them: a sense of achievement or fulfilment, a feeling of being in control, creative, important or independent; self-esteem, and of course; feelings of happiness or contentment!

Understand your client’s personal drivers

It’s too easy to see things from our perspective; how we would feel in that situation. But we are all different, with very disparate drivers. Let’s look at encouraging someone to be more mobile: 

A person who is fiercely independent will enjoy doing something that will enable them to feel self-sufficient. If you want them to be more active, try incorporating independence into your argument. “Just think, once you’re up and about again, you’ll be able to do that yourself”. 

Someone who prides themselves on their looks will be motivated by the feeling of doing something that will improve their self-image. “What a change I’ve seen in you since you’ve been in the garden more. You have a real rosy glow to your face!” 

Any social butterflies may be persuaded to go out for a coffee with “Why don’t we ask (Jenny) if she’ll be there? I know she’s hoping for a natter with you”,  rather than, perhaps “Let’s go for a coffee – the walk there will do you good”. 

…you get the picture!

As care workers, most of us likely do this naturally without thinking; but knowing what’s behind both types of motivation can help you to hone your powers of persuasion to better effect. So, find out what your clients’ key drivers are, mould their wellbeing activities around them …and, who knows, you might just see a few ‘sticks’ turn magically into ‘carrots’!