Skill 4: Motivation and Self-Awareness

This article series explores each of the Top 10 Skills of 2023 identified by the World Economic Forum, offering a roadmap to make them accessible to every individual. In this article, we will delve into the fourth skill, “Motivation and Self-Awareness”. For information on the third skill, please refer to Resilience, Flexibility, and Agility.

Very Well Mind states:

“Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors.”

According to BetterUp:

“Self-awareness is the ability to focus on oneself and understand how one’s actions, thoughts, or emotions align or not with internal standards.”

Should we really focus on being optimistic, committed, innovative, and self-aware?

It seems odd to label motivation as a skill when it is so clearly related to an attitude. It is not something we can learn to do; it is something we must develop and become. Motivation itself is complex and requires many underlying character qualities to ensure it manifests in employees.

An individual must be optimistic to believe that emotions invested in their work will be rewarded with the desired outcome. Employees must be committed to the cause to find constant motivation and resilience to pursue a result. People must be innovative to take initiative if they wish to be proactive employees motivated to act without constant guidance.

While it may seem these traits cannot be taught, learning to amplify them when needed is possible. With conscious development of these qualities, it is possible to shape the attitude that underpins motivation. One can focus on commitment levels and explore how to evolve them, what actions to take, and how they will lead to increased motivation.

Equally questionable is considering self-awareness as a skill. It is not something we do but something we become. Therefore, like optimism, commitment, and innovation, evolving self-awareness is a personal learning journey to discover what works for an individual in relation to other potential behaviors. This requires an experimental mindset, where the learner asks, “What if I did this to enhance my self-awareness?” and sees what happens.

How to encourage employees to be optimistic, committed, innovative, and self-aware?

How can a company offer learning and development opportunities for a set of skills more related to a person’s personality than job performance? It might be easy for professionals in companies to believe that there is a need to hire individuals with these personal qualities and that they do not need training in them. In times of talent scarcity, it would be a luxury to dismiss someone with immense talent in their industry because they did not exhibit the necessary behaviors for the future of work!

Therefore, a company needs to take responsibility for helping individuals develop their Power Skills to maintain their motivation and increase self-awareness. Creating an environment where such development is valued is the first step. Celebrating people’s victories follows, and from there, it will develop a culture where cultivating motivation and self-awareness are fundamental to leadership within a company.

It is possible to argue that the demands on companies are too much and that this would distract from the core focus of making money or achieving other objectives. However, remember that these qualities were defined by the World Economic Forum, and they are suggesting that the path to profitability passes through cultivating these qualities in their people.

Conclusion

• Motivation is a complex combination of optimism, commitment, and an innovative spirit;
• These qualities are part of what it means to be human;
• If a company wants to make money, it cannot rely on hiring people with these character qualities; it must cultivate them in all its people.

Written by: Ederson Corbari