Careers and skills for life:
motivation and work ethic
STARTER:
Think about why you work hard in
school and why you want to work hard
in your future.
Challenge: What motivates you to
work? How do you keep organised?
More challenging: Why do these things
help to motivate you?
Mega challenge: What is motivation?
Why do you think this is also important
in the workplace?
STARTER REVIEW:
Employers really value hard working,
self-motivators because:
1) You are more likely to be focused
2) Motivation helps you to problem solve
3) Motivation makes you want to improve further
4) Organisation makes you produce your
best work
5) Motivation helps you to overcome setbacks
6) Organisation makes you more efficient
7) Both make others around you feel more
motivated
As you have probably already been thinking about,
all of these skills are absolutely crucial in almost
every job or workplace you can think of.
KEY WORDS:
Self-management – being an independent person who is able to manage their
own organisation, motivate themselves and get on with the job in hand.
Motivation – To have a reason to do something and finish it.
Employability -how ‘employable’ you appear to be to potential employers –
how much your skillset, qualifications and personal qualities meet the vacancies
you are applying for.
Learning Outcomes - Session Twelve:
Identify what motivation is and how we can show it. Identify how we can
motivate ourselves and improve our work ethics.
Describe different ways of using motivation. Describe what we can do to stay
motivated and working hard and what this looks like in practice.
Explain how we can improve our levels of motivation and evaluate which
employability skills relate to motivation and work ethic as well as why these are
so important to potential employers.
What do we think it looks like?
We know why being motivated is important now, but what
does hard work and motivation look like in action?
Complete the worksheet, filling in ideas about how
each person behaves in the office and how other
people see them.
How can people show and feel they are
motivated at work and in school?
Evaluate the best ways of showing motivation in
work and at school
[Link] 10 mins
[Link] 12 mins
Now, watching the clips, write a list of 10 ways a person can improve
their work ethic and motivation.
Use this list to fill in a diamond-nine graph. Staying healthy: Being physically fit, getting a
Most important at the top, down to least at the good night's sleep and doing exercise can all help
bottom. Be ready to argue your case! to make you feel motivated. Late nights on your
phone in the dark probably won't do that!
Communication: Working with optimistic and
motivated people can help to make you feel Keep improving: Always think about what you
motivated. This could be colleagues at work, could learn and how you could grow as a person
friends, family. Sharing ideas and problems helps. and in the workplace. Never stand still as this will
demotivate you.
Be optimistic: Staying positive in the face of
problems is really important and helps to keep you Timetable and prioritise: Sometimes in your job
motivated. The feelings of overcoming a problem you will be given big projects to work on.
can really help to make you feel good and motivate Prioritising these into smaller projects and
you further. timetabling these will help you to stay calm and
motivated.
Keep records of your success: It's a good idea
to record past achievements and keep those as a Be organized: You’re far more likely to feel
reminder of how you have achieved great things in motivated if you stay tidy, keep things clear and
the past. This can help to keep you motivated for organized at work and at home.
the future. For instance, look after your GCSE
certificates! Celebrate achievements: When you do have
success, celebrate it! This will keep you motivated
Motivate others: Working with others and helping to do even better.
them to stay motivated can actually help you as
well.
How good are you at being motivated? Be motivated
to think about
your
motivation!
1) Being
optimistic
Look at the examples of motivational skills provided. Use these to help you
evaluate your strengths and areas to improve in terms of motivation.
Complete your diamond for each key motivation skill provided in the examples.
How will you go out making improvements to your motivation? Provide examples.
Out of the skills listed, which do you think are likely to be the most important in any
workplace scenario? Why did you choose those?