D is for The Drive To Keep Developing

People love to keep developing. They love to go through the stages of focusing on drive, discovery and development.

A person may respond hesitantly if you ask them: “Do you want to change?”

They may respond differently, however, if you ask them: “Do you want to develop?”

The person may say: “Of course. I want to keep developing.”

People love to follow their inner drive and gather information. They love to develop as people and professionals.

Looking back, can you think of a time when you followed this path in your own way? You may have been learning a skill, getting information about an illness, finding solutions to a challenge or exploring a new field.

If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.

Describe a specific situation in the past when you focused on going through the stages of drive, discovery and development.

Describe the specific things you did to focus on going through these stages.

Describe the specific things that happened as a result of going through these stages.

Drive is the starting point. As the old saying goes: “The learner learns what the learner wants to learn.” You can see this in action everyday.

The 75 year old wants to learn how to use a computer so they can Skype their grandchildren who live halfway across the world.

The person recently diagnosed with an illness wants to learn everything they can about the potential treatment options before their appointment with the specialist.

The charismatic leader realises that they can use their power to inspire or intimidate people. They decide they want to learn skills for building an encouraging culture in which motivated people can achieve peak performance.

Imagine you are a coach and somebody asks you to help them to develop. Sometimes it can be useful to ask them the following things.

What do you want to learn? What do you feel driven to discover more about? What are the reasons you want to learn about this topic?

How do you learn best? Do you learn best by doing, reading, studying positive models, asking questions or whatever? What are the Dos and Don’ts to follow to help you to learn best?

Let’s explore your motivation a little further. Let’s ensure we are focusing on the right ‘What’ – the real results you want to achieve – before embarking on the ‘How’.

What do you want to do with the learning? Do you simply want to enjoy the journey of discovery? Or do you want to apply the learning in any way?

If you want to apply the learning, what is your goal? How do you want to use it in your life and work? What will be happening that will show you have achieved your picture of success?

People are driven to discover and develop. Sometimes they want simply want to learn. Sometimes they want to use the learning to achieve success.

Looking to the future, what do you want to learn? How would you like to continue to develop?

If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.

Describe a specific situation in the future when you may want to focus on going through the stages of drive, discovery and development.

Describe the specific things you can do then to focus on going through these stages.

Describe the specific things that may happen as a result of going through these stages and continuing to develop.