External Motivation

This month’s behaviour management strategy

External motivation

Last month I wrote about the Internal pattern of motivational language that can be very powerful in getting students to engage with what them to.  The other side of the coin is the External pattern.  The Internal/External language pattern is part of what is called Language and Behaviour profiling.  In this model of language we either have an Internal language pattern or an External one – or a combination of both.  People with an External pattern are motivated to do something because of things outside themselves [external to them] for example what other people say, what their boss or their mother thinks or because of the results that they get.  Sales people are typically externally motivated by the figures at the end of the month and the resultant size of their pay packet.

This is very useful when working with young people.  A class of students is likely to have some with each pattern.  If we use External language with are more likely to motivate those with an External pattern.  The results of choosing the right language can be remarkable and can happen very quickly.    

Examples of External influencing language: 

• The class above you found this a great idea.
• I can tell you that if you do it like this you will succeed
• Market research tells us that this is the best way to do it
• If you do a good job you can take it to show the head teacher
• Have a go at this and then bring it to me and I will tell you how well you have done
• Your mother will be very impressed with what  you have done today

One of the things with students who have this External pattern is that they don’t know how well they have done unless you tell them.  They need praise from an outside person – preferably one in an authority position – to be motivated.  This is in contrast to the Internally motivated who are not so concerned whether we think they have done well.

If you are talking to a group then there is likely to be some students with one pattern and some with the other. The trick is to use some External and some Internal language in what you say to them.  For example:  “I will be explaining more about how powerful this language pattern can be in the Drama for Challenging Behaviour course in November.  You will know whether you can benefit from coming to that course and I can tell you that the people who have learnt and used this pattern are amazed at the results you can achieve by using it.” ☺