By Matt Richter

Three Motivational Strategies When Engaging Learners: Structure, Autonomy Support, and Involvement

INTRODUCTION

Conducting a magic trick at the 2023 Self-Determination Theory Conference.

In May, I had both the honor and pleasure of attending and presenting at the Self Determination Theory Conference. It was a thrill. This is a photo of me conducting a magic trick during my session. But that isn't the point-- beyond the shameless, self-aggrandizement. 

No, the point is actually that I learned something soooooooo important. I learned that after 24 years both studying and applying SDT, I was right! It is truly an informative and prescriptive model that touches so many different domains. More importantly, I sat in session after session, watching research presentations reinforce, replicate, update, and even challenge the results of studies I originally read years and years ago. I don't remember the actual number Rich Ryan shared in the opening keynote, but I think it was something like 4000+ peer reviewed studies have been published globally and cross culturally on SDT. It is one of, if not the most widely studied major modern psychological theory in the books! And that's pretty cool.

Why is that trivia number of 4000+ important... because, it ain't trivial! 

It means, after about 50 years of research, thousands of those studies, and decades of applied work, as well, we have something we can glob onto across many disciplines. And for me, in the discipline of learning and education, that is saying something-- especially given much of the pseudo-science and snake-oil permeating throughout.

But I lied. Sorry.

This article isn't intended as an SDT love-fest, either... although, I could do that. Happily.

No, this article is about motivation in the context of professional learning and how supporting the motivation of your learners isn't rocket science. In fact, it‘s pretty darn easy... at least to understand what’s needed for you to create a more intrinsically motivating learning environment.

(Ok... it is potentially difficult to execute-- especially when we are talking about compliance programs and their ilk.)

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

According to SDT (resources at the end of the article), we humans all have three basic psychological needs.

I'm not talking about physical needs like hunger or temperature-- although the lack of food or the lack of warmth can certainly undermine how motivated one might feel.

No... these are psychological needs. They are in your head, heart, essence... however you might want to think of it. When learners are embarking on a learning journey and the more those psychological needs get satisfied, the more likely they will be intrinsically motivated to actually… you know… learn.

Why is this important?

Because, as a learner, when I am more intrinsically motivated to engage in a task, activity, initiative, etc., I am likely to do it passionately, focus for a longer period, and take the time needed to work through the required lessons. When those needs do not get met, or they get thwarted, I become frustrated and need external reinforcement to keep me in the game. Or, worse, I tune out and eventually quit.

So, when I am more intrinsically motivated to learn, when my psychological needs get met in a learning situation, I am more likely to engage in the learning process. In the context of professional learning, this equals more efficiency, more effectiveness, and more productivity for both learner and firm.

What we have to remember is that motivated learners do not learn without good instructional design!! 

REPEAT: BEING MOTIVATED DOES NOT EQUAL LEARNING!

Motivation is not the vehicle for how learning happens. Rather, it is the vehicle for opening the door for learning, and keeping it open. So essential, but not a replacement for good pedagogy. But, that's another article.

So, what are these needs? And what are the strategies you need to employ to support them?

STRATEGY ONE: PROVIDE STRUCTURE AS A MEANS OF SUPPORTING LEARNER COMPETENCE

The first, and I like to call this the "permission-to-play" need, is COMPETENCE. Competence means I feel like I can accomplish the task at hand. I can be effective at what I am doing. In the context of learning, it means, that I see the light at the end of the tunnel and believe I can learn what I need to learn. I believe I will eventually develop the knowledge and skills (capability) and have the capacity (time and resources) to succeed. To support the need of competence among learners, you need to provide structure. Without structure present, without clear goals, expectations, feedback, and good pedagogy, the ability for learners to experience the other two needs satisfactorily gets undermined. That’s why supporting learner needs to feel competency is “permission-to-play.” Without structure, learning is chaotic and stressful. Even when learners like you, like each other, and see meaning in the program in the first place. So, to provide that structure, you need to:

1. Be sure there are clear goals and expectations for the program built. And that you have communicated them. (I urge you to review Will Thalheimer's video on learning objectives to explore the best ways to do that. Reference at the end.)

2. Ensure that learners have the learning tools, resources, and even budget they need to succeed (within your own capacity to make it happen).

3. Please, please, please make sure you have well-designed, learning-science informed instructional design to enable effective learning transfer!!!! This is CRITICAL!!!!

4. Provide the right level, the optimal level of challenge, so learners are neither bored, nor overwhelmed and frustrated. 

5. Ensure learning is within their grasp and attainable.

6. And, please be sure you have an effective training facilitator who can deliver that program well.

7. Put in place post program, in the workflow support and coaching, to ensure learners have the continued learning resources necessary to continue the learning transfer within their areas of responsibility.

8. Provide informational feedback– input on what happened as they practice and apply what they learn. Feedback needs to be focused on the facts and not a commentary on the person. This should exist during the program and after the program as learners continue to internalize what they have learned.

STRATEGY TWO: PROVIDE AUTONOMY SUPPORT AS A MEANS OF ENABLING LEARNER AUTONOMY

The second need to consider is AUTONOMY. All learners have a need to feel autonomous. Autonomy means I freely, volitionally, participate in an activity. Autonomy is the perception I have a choice (the aforementioned volition) in performing a task and that I am not influenced by any other source to do it. No money, no gold star (read Edward Deci's book to get that reference), no threat of punishment, or desire for approval from my boss, etc. In other words, for me to feel autonomous when learning, I need to want to learn for the sake of learning the topic offered. I need to buy into the notion that “I need this— whatever this is.” A sense of autonomy must be present for intrinsic motivation to occur. 

Control is the opposite of autonomy. Control occurs when the learner feels they don’t have a choice in being there, or whether to participate in an activity, or that the topic is silly and they nonetheless are compelled to waste their time. In other words, learners are influenced by some external source to engage.

I don't want to imply one cannot learn via extrinsic means. On the contrary!! External reinforcement is extraordinarily effective. But only as long as the reinforcement remains, and ultimately gets stronger. Without it, the learner will likely focus on its absence. With it, the learner focuses more on its presence and not on learning itself. Ultimately, extrinsically motivated learners become frustrated by the whole experience. It can work! But, it is short term and unfulfilling. Strategically, with compliance training, we often have to leverage extrinsic means. Too often the inherent value of the compliance programs are long lost or poorly conveyed. But, then again, we all hate those programs, forget nearly everything in than. And complain incessantly about them. And that’s from the learner, the trainer, and designer perspectives! So, how’s the compliance training world working?? Not so good! In other words, the structure of compliance programs is so poor, the autonomy support cannot exist.

More positively, though, in the context of learning, this means I am interested and curious. I am willing to engage in the learning process because I see the purpose and meaning of it. Conversely, this also means that if you ask me to participate in frivolous, or stupid activities, my sense of purpose plummets... and therefore my need to feel autonomous disappears. When I perceive the inherent value of a task, I more readily engage in it. Meaning and purpose are really the underpinning causes behind one’s sense of autonomy. When something is meaningful to me, I want to maintain that meaningfulness. I continue to participate. It has value for me. To provide autonomy support in the context of learning, you need to:

1. Try an understand the learners' perspectives and let them know that you do. Share your perspective– as information, and not as a mandate.

2. In other words, CONNECT the meaning and value of the program to the meaning and value the learner will have for it.

3. So do provide a rationale when asking participants to engage in an activity.

4. Foster ownership and agency for them as we work toward learners transferring what is gained in the program back to the job.

5. Offer meaningful choices for how they engage in well-designed activities within reasonable parameters.

6. Minimize the use of controlling language and behavior.

7. EMPATHIZE!!! Especially when the learner is resistant, struggles, or faces obstacles.

STRATEGY THREE: INVOLVE AND ENGAGE AS A MEANS OF SUPPORTING LEARNER’S SENSE OF RELATEDNESS AND BELONGING

The third need we must support is RELATEDNESS. Relatedness is the feeling that one is emotionally tied to significant others in one’s life. It is a sense of belonging. The relatedness need is met when learners feel “we’re in this together.” The more we can make learning experiences involving and participative, the better. In the context of in-person programming, fostering that sense of belonging can be social. Yet, we can still accomplish this virtually, asynchronously, through activities that build connection and a sense of "Oh, others have the same challenges and experiences as me." The more we get learners to develop a sense of collegiality, the more they are likely to engage and participate willingly as a fully contributing part of the learning community. The more they are likely to help each other both during and after the program. To involve learners more, you must:

1. Support said learner involvement– their dedication of time, attention, resources, etc. That means getting their bosses to support them, as well!

2. Ensure as much as is in your capacity that their organizations also support the initiative or participants will simply go back and quickly identify that the powers that be see no value in what was just completed.

3. Be friendly and warm when engaging learners-- but genuinely and authentically.

4. Be patient when learners struggle. Avoid being judgmental. I know... we are never judgmental, but still... don't!

5. Do your best to be selfless when engaging them– when impossible due to differing objectives, empathize and work toward an acceptable approach for how they can apply what they have learned back on the job.

6. Find ways for them to contribute to the other learners and feel ways others have supported and contributed to them.

7. Be as predictable as possible from an interaction standpoint. They should be able to forecast how you will react to both positive and negative information. To both positive and negative behavior. To both positive and poor performance as they learn.

8. Be authentic and genuine with all your engagements. Don’t fake it in other words, demonstrate authentic respect for those in your programs. Model what you expect from them, as well.

9. Speaking of authentic, demonstrate you want your learners to succeed. And that your support of them has no strings attached— is non-contingent. Just authentic connection.

10. Work to establish relationships within a professional context. These take time, but invest the time! This assumes the learning initiative isn't just a one-and-done.

CONCLUSION

When all is said and done, you cannot motivate learners to learn. You can demotivate and frustrate, however, by ignoring or undermining the basic needs your participants all have as humans. You do also have some power to influence the learning environment. To support learner competence focus on structure. provide autonomy support. Involve and engage. Indirect... yes. But crucial to your desired outcomes. The company that asked you to provide a learning intervention. And most importantly to the learners themselves. 

My friend, Clark Quinn, wrote a wonderful book, Make It Meaningful (Disclosure: I am part of the publishing team at The Learning Development Accelerator, and likely biased😊.) It is about making learning connect on multiple levels and Clark elegantly used SDT to inform his approaches. A highly readable and useful book! 

REFERENCES

Deci, E. L., & Flaste, R. (1996). Why we do what we do: Understanding self-motivation. New York: Penguin.

Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999a). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2002). The “What” and “Why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11:4, 227-268.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2002). Overview of self-determination theory: An organismic dialectical perspective. In E.L. Deci & R.M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of Self- Determination Research (pp. 4-33). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (Eds.), (2002). Handbook of self-determination research. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.

Ryan, R. M. (Ed.). (2012). The Oxford handbook of human motivation. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York: The Guilford Press.

Thalheimer, W. (2015). Learning Objectives Videos. https://youtu.be/PRX1RwxybCs