In the 1961 book, The Achieving Society, motivation and personality were inter-related and theorized by David McClelland. Our personalities affect our self motivation skills and our individual needs are important, with regard to motivating ourselves and also motivating others in the workplace. Focusing upon different needs of different personalities is necessary in order to increase productivity and self-fulfillment.

The three different needs that David McClelland’s theory is centered on are connected to motivation and personality. Achievement is the first, and this type of individual has the desire for achievement, success and is goal orientated. Few motivational exercises are needed with this type of person as they strive forward to challenge themselves. They tend to also respond well to positive feedback and continue to work hard in order to succeed in whatever is put before them. While this personality type is easy to motivate, it is still important to look at ways of continuing to motivate such a person by praise or good feedback when they’ve accomplished a difficult task. Encouragement is always needed.

The second way in which personality and motivation function together is through affiliation. This just means that someone with this sort of personality needs and desires to become part of a group, and values associations. To increase motivation for this kind of individual, it would be worth considering methods to use teamwork as the means of completing a task, but also as the end product of a task.

Motivation and personality work together in another way when control is involved. This is the third of the three needs put forth by McClelland, and someone with this kind of nature wants to be the controlling agent in changing the lives of others. It is easy to improve motivation for this kind of person, because generally all that’s necessary is the establishment of greater responsibility for them.

The three needs discussed are important for motivation and personality within a company or even for your own self-identity. Knowing how personality and needs are related and seeing how each individual is different in their needs can bring about great change in the work place. David McClelland’s work focuses upon achievement, affiliation and power. Motivation techniques can be effectively used to achieve success for each individual worker. A happy individual will be more productive and also will work better if their personalities are considered when placing them in a position of importance or as part of a team.

It takes a lot of discipline to improve motivation, but it isn’t impossible. Visit our site on Self Motivation to find out what you can do to get yourself motivated and back on track.