SEEKING MASTERY
HOW YOUR DEFINITION OF SUCCESS IMPACTS PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE VERSUS MASTERY
Writer / Dr. Dave Schroerlucke Photography Provided
I hope I’m not being too personal here, but what’s your orientation? Your achievement orientation, also called goal orientation or motivational style, refers to the way you conceptualize success and failure. How do you define success? Winning a championship? Setting a personal best? Learning something new? Do you think of achievement in terms of acquiring new skills, or in terms of doing better than others and gaining approval? Your response to this question says a lot about your source of motivation and tolerance for risk. In this article I distinguish between performance orientation and mastery orientation, and investigate how each of these orientations impacts performance.
Achievement orientation is most commonly divided into two main types - performance orientation and mastery orientation. Individuals with a performance orientation (also called competitive orientation or ego orientation) view achievement in interpersonal terms and strive to demonstrate superiority over others who are viewed as the opposition. Success is measured in terms of outperforming peers, and failures are seen as signs of incompetence that convey an undesirable loss of social status. In contrast, those with a mastery orientation (also called learning orientation or task orientation) view achievement in intrapersonal terms and strive to develop task mastery over time as evidenced by improvement relative to one’s own past performance. Success is measured in terms of meeting or exceeding personal goals. Failures are regarded as a normal part of the learning process, and important sources of information on how to improve. The table here offers a side-by-side comparison of the key distinguishing features:
20 / JULY 2021
