Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose

 

The new principal at my internship played this video during staff development. He is really a visionary, exciting others and putting idea into action. More on that in another blog. I love the message. I am enthralled by the performance of this artist. I am constantly finding connections in my life. There were parallels between the three motivating factors and my past experiences with 4-H Youth Development. 4-H's youth development research identified 4 essential elements of positive development. We call it BIG- M. Belonging, Independence, Generosity, and Mastery. While watching this video, Dan Pink's Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose began to sound very similar. I find myself wondering why other research did not include belonging. While 4-H's BIG-M is directed towards youth development it still applies to adults and motivation. Many people are motivated by the need for belonging and a connectedness, more so than autonomy. In fact, many maladaptive behaviors are mainly driven for the need to be belong. For example, some people might exhibit behaviors such as clingliness (is that a word?) or helplessness sacrificing autonomy for a relationship with a lover, parent, or friend.

There is no question that 4-H's BIG-M and Dan Pink's philosophy on motivation are connected to school counseling or education in general. How can you incorporate these ideas into your school  counseling practice?