What is Motivation?

I recently completed my first quarter of PA school and I can say with confidence that I found my career match. In just 12 weeks I gained more knowledge than I thought was humanly possible. Although much of my time was spent learning about the science of clinical practice, I am now able to reflect on some of the other less cerebral aspects of my PA career. 

Like most aspiring clinicians, I am inspired to be a PA because I want to improve the lives of others. I used to believe this skill would be perfected by integrating my knowledge and ability to motivate others. However I have gained a new perspective on motivation after learning about the servant leadership model introduced by Robert Greenleaf in the 1950s. A recent interview with acclaimed author Daniel Pink on the Center for Servant Leadership website reveals that motivation is “not something that one person does to another,” rather “motivation is something people do for themselves.” 

How then does one instill motivation in another? I surmise that there are endless answers to this question but servant leadership provides the framework. To practice servant leadership one must understand the contraposition—hierarchical leadership. A hierarchal leader feels that he has earned a job title prestigious enough to coerce others. Conversely, a servant leader does not control others but rather collaborates with others to improve outcomes. 

A clinician that leads through service would work as a teammate with his fellow providers and listen to his patients with empathy and curiosity to discover what the patient knows. Pink describes this concept as “information parity” whereby the clinician and his/her patient are equals. In other words, the clinician does not know more than the patient. This may appear counterintuitive but the patient has already relegated him/herself as the novice with respect to medicine, disease, and clinical care; that's why they are seeking the service of a professional. And the minute a clinician attempts to influence the patient with hubris instead of humility, then the relationship is lost. Only through discovering a patient’s own understanding and convictions to make healthy change can the clinician and patient work together to motivate. 

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This concept is not exclusive to health care either. We are all sellers of something whether it be health care, commodities, education, etc. I encourage the readers to check out the podcast with Daniel Pink on the Robert Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership website for more information and some interesting examples of how humans are always “selling” something; the success lies in how we sell it.