Motivating People

Practical Strategies and Techniques for Support Workers

Robin Dynes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781351702454
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

In all types of support services and care situations one of the biggest challenges is motivating people to change their behaviour. It particularly applies to individuals who are difficult to motivate because they might lack insight, wilfully ignore or refuse to face their situation, are affected by depression or health problems or are victims of unfortunate circumstances or fear of failure. The task may be to motivate someone to improve their quality of life by participating in a group in a residential home, change a lifestyle because of health reasons, address offending behaviour, learn a new skill to obtain a job or complete an anxiety management programme. The strategies and techniques will help: arouse their interest in making changes; encourage the consideration of change; support their planning for change; mentor the person through planned actions; ensure momentum is maintained; guide the person in making positive use of any relapses; and make sure the change is successfully achieved. This is an invaluable resource for support workers, social workers, health workers, youth workers, probation officers, employment services, tutors and carers. The techniques can be applied when working with individuals or groups in all types of settings including residential homes, day centres, probation, education or youth work.

Part 1

Understanding How Self-Motivation is Developed

Striving to motivate others

A strong desire to help others, combined with a lack of motivation in service users, can result in feelings of inadequacy, failure, frustration and stress. It can also lead us to think it is our fault when someone resists taking action to deal with their situation. There are many things which influence an individual’s lack of motivation to take action. These vary from internal thoughts and fears to external influences, such as particular circumstances and unpredictable events, on top of which we have only limited contact time with each service user – anything from a few minutes to a few hours each day depending on the setting. For some, contact may be once a week or less. Service users’ resistance to change is not personal to us as workers and we should not allow it to become so.

It is very easy, especially for new recruits to a service, to get sucked into taking on service users’ personal problems and to try to fight their internal conflicts for them. Allowing the struggle to become personal in this way will, undoubtedly, be followed by feelings of helplessness, inadequacy or failure in the worker. This can quite quickly lead to stress and to feeling that this type of work is not for them.

Some understanding about motivation and some strategies and techniques to help individuals become self-motivated when they become 'stuck' or are resistant to change are essential, both in controlling stress experienced by staff and for empowering service users.

Becoming stuck in a motivational bog

Service users are frequently stuck in a motivational 'bog' or 'quicksand' that threatens to engulf them. They appear to be paralysed and unable to decide what to do or, indeed, unable to muster up the enthusiasm or energy to take action or adapt to necessary changes.

They may not recognise that they need to take action to change their situation. This may be because they wilfully ignore aspects of their circumstances, do not see the need, or fear the consequences of making any changes, or do not have the skills or confidence to be able to achieve different outcomes successfully. So they stick with what they feel is safe.

There may be aspects of their behaviour or attitudes which are not acceptable to others in the community or environment in which they live. These may have become ingrained over a long period of time, or may even have been established within their family culture over several generations.

Working with people who lack motivation or do not see the need for change can become draining for staff, resulting in burn-out and lack of job satisfaction, unless they adopt methods beyond those commonly used to motivate service users.

Some methods commonly used to motivate individuals

Some of the most common approaches used to motivate service users are given below. These work on some occasions, but are less effective at other times or with people who lack motivation and are reluctant to reach a decision about their situation or take any action (indeed, some may lack awareness or be wilfully ignoring that there is a problem).

The enthusiastic worker

This is the Lively and eager worker who "jollies' everyone along. This person outlines all the benefits of doing something and enthusiastically cajoles service users into taking part. Sometimes this does not work well: the service user may feel patronised and resentful while appearing to comply. It can also be difficult for the worker to keep up this level of 'jolliness' - making it exhausting for both worker and service user alike.

Making frequent but brief contacts

This can work well with many of those service users who are new to day centres or residential homes. Too much contact and socialising can be overwhelming, particularly if the person has been isolated, has poor socialising skills or lacks confidence. A very brief word or a smile as you catch their gaze from time to time can start to create trust, build confidence and draw them into longer conversations and into taking part in activities. However, this can be less effective with someone who resents being in the centre or home or has long-established maladaptive behaviour or other issues.

Doing the logical thing

It may seem logical that particular services or activities are valuable to the service user. These are explained and offered. After some discussion of what is available, agreement is reached that it would be beneficial for the person to take part in them. The individual is then expected to be motivated to take part in what has been decided. This common approach can work well as long as the person wants to collaborate and what is provided will meet their needs.

Asking the person to help you

This might be to help you with laying tables, watering plants, giving advice about something or preparing a room for an activity, among other things. You do need to make sure that you actually require help, however, otherwise this can come across as patronising. Also, you need to make sure that what you are requesting is within the person’s abilities.

Adopting a 'caring' role

In this instance it is assumed that if you care for and nurture the service user, this will ultimately lead to them wanting to engage in the services offered. This type of unconditional one-direction giving can be draining and can result in the worker feeling worn out. The service user, in turn, will probably still feel stuck and unmotivated.

Minimising 'involvement' or what is 'required'

People often fear new experiences because they do not know what will be expected of them. They fear not being able to do what is required, or looking stupid. To try to involve these people in activities, creating a situation in which they can be an observer or have a minor role may be enough to help them decide whether or not to participate. This enables them to acclimatise themselves to the situation and feel more confident about their ability to cope with it before becoming fully involved. It can work well with people who have some motivation but lack confidence – it is less effective with someone who is not motivated.

Adopting a 'minimum responsibility' attitude

Services are provided and it is the service user’s responsibility to cooperate and show some willingness to participate. They may be invited to arranged activities, but if they show a lack of motivation, the worker regards them as not being at a stage when they are ready to take part, as being depressed, as having decided the activities are not for them, or that there are other factors beyond the worker’s control. In this situation, individuals who lack motivation are often left to their own devices until a time when they might become cooperative.

Introducing people to something with which they are familiar

The service user may have a particular talent for doing something. This may be for drawing, writing poetry or doing a particular craft, such as embroidery or playing the piano. The person is more likely to participate in activities in areas in which they feel confident or can share their special talent or wisdom. It reinforces their self-esteem and provides a motivator for being involved.

Strengths and limitations of these methods

These and similar types of approach are useful in different situations, usually with service users who are already motivated in some way. The strengths of these methods include instilling hope in the service user, provided that the worker believes the service user can achieve their goal or participate in the activities suggested; giving the service user a 'kick start'; offering a positive attitude; helping, in some instances, to establish some empathy; and the fact that they can be empowering.

However, for a Large number of service users these methods do not meet their need as the methods often fail to:

• recognise the obstacles which have to be overcome or whether the person is able to make the change required
• take into account the price the person has to pay to make the change often the fear of what will be Lost is too high
• encourage self-responsibility
• acknowledge that what the worker sees as a benefit or as quite rational may not be seen as a benefit or rational by the service user
• recognise low self-esteem in a service user
• individualise the approach to the person concerned
• detect that what is seen as a negative consequence by the worker is not necessarily seen as negative by the service user. In addition, such methods may:
• be seen as patronising by some
• result in service users complying, but feeling that they are being forced into doing something
• in some instances be difficult to maintain and result in staff feeling drained and exhausted
• result in people feeling dependent
• create problems with boundaries, such as ignoring or neglecting the needs of service users because they do not appear to be cooperative
• be vague about outcomes
• appear to be collaborative, but frequently are not.

Other approaches need to be applied that inspire self-motivation and address such issues as low self-esteem, difficulty with overcoming obstacles, socially unacceptable behaviour, and social stigmatisation (which increases a person's sense of poor self-value and ability).

Confrontation versus self-motivation

The use of confrontational methods, such as threatening to withdraw a service and instructing or ordering someone to keep appointments or to do or not do something, rarely works in the long term. Self-motivation cannot be produced on command. It needs to be planted and cultivated within individuals. Make an effort to understand and focus on communication methods that create an environment in which individuals direct and control their own lives, and there will be fertile soil in which self-motivation can grow.

A process for developing self-motivation

Researchers James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente (1982) developed an approach which showed the stages through which people pass during the process of change. These stages are as follows.

Pre-contemplation

The person may or may not be aware of the need for change and does not want to do anything about it. They may be unaware of the dangers or ignore the situation. The effort to make change may be too frightening or difficult and they do not see it as a possibility. The task at this stage is to raise awareness. (For the tactics to use, see Part 2, Section 1: ‘Arousing interest’.)

Contemplation

The person knows or has become aware that there is a problem and, although undecided, is thinking about it. They may be pulled between 'do they' or 'don't they' do anything about it. The 'benefits' and losses' of doing something will be floating about in their head. During this stage you will need to reinforce movement in a positive direction. (For tactics, see Part 2, Section 2: 'Encouraging individuals to consider change'.)

Determination

There is a "window' when the service user feels that change is possible and is open to developing ideas about how they can achieve it. This is the time to explore ideas, options and past skills which can be utilised, and new skills which can be developed, and to set goals and work out a plan. (For tactics, see Part 2, Section 3: ‘Supporting people when they plan the change’.)

Action

This is the period during which the service user makes the changes. They may start by trying out one of the options. Lots of encouragement and support will be needed. (For tactics, see Part 2, Section 4: ‘Guiding the person through planned actions’.)

Maintenance

Once changes have been made, the person will need to review plans and look at ways in which they can ensure the new behaviour is sustained. (For tactics, see Part 2, Section 5: ‘Ensuring momentum is maintained’.)

Relapse

People often make several attempts to change a behaviour or habit before succeeding...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: Understanding how self-motivation is developed
• Part 2: Strategies and techniques for motivating people
• References
• Appendix