Release 6: Behaviour and Motives

Following on this training, I have been thinking some more about the main concept behind the whole exercise: Behaviour and Motives - a theory developed by McClelland. Basically, it provides an insight and offers a model to the fact that each behaviour we exhibit can be tracked back to 3 social motives (Achievement, Affiliation, Power).

The entire Theory is more complicated than what we (the participants) could see in 2 days, but some of the exercises we did around this theory had a significant impact on me and highlighted some of the reasons I feel about my current job the way I do...

Bottom line is, knowing about this theory has allowed me to take a new look at what I really like doing, where it comes from, and how to make sure that I can optimise the capacity that I represent depending on the type of role I am asked to play in an organisation.

Using it at (XP) team level:

It is also extremely helpful to keep this concept in mind at team level...

Of course the coach's role is to ensure that the team follows the defined and agreed technical practices, that the whole delivery heartbeat is preserved, that communication is flowing... Behaviour pattern matching is used to "spot" any disfunction within the team and resolve this before it starts having an adverse effect on the delivery, the velocity, the morale.

In light of what the Behaviour and Motives theory brought me, I am reinforced in the view that it is completely unfair to expect the same behaviour from everyone on a team. Instead, I am now looking at how to ensure that we get the best out of people depending on what really motivates them and what they really value.

By making this statement explicit to the entire team, the result is that any behaviour is accepted (within working environment limits of course) within then team and is understood for what it is. That is the step 1.

Step 2 is to look at ALL the behaviours exhibited by ALL of us and to filter the positive ones and the negative ones: from there, we can ensure that all team members end up showing positive behaviours that they actually feel comfortable with and contributes to the team and the whole XP stated synergy.