Enterprise skills session 5
Introduction
• Intro What’s your T shirt?
The enterprising person - you
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You used the internet to do 3 diagnostic tests:
(Seligman’s) Learned optimism test
(Rotter’s) Locus of control
GET test
and then used WORDLE to produce a word cloud
with words and phrases that were in your
mind/thoughts after the above 3 diagnostic tests
• And a learning log.
• So let’s look at what the GET test, Locus of
Control and Seligman’s model are able to tell
us.
Seligman
• Seligman Adversity Belief Consequences Model (using
Seligman questionnaire) Learned Helplessness theory of
depression (that depression results from our perceived
absence of control over the outcome of situations in our
lives).
• His research indicates that we can learn to be more
optimistic. His research found that some people have learnt
how to behave helplessly. They become passive, affects
health, outlook on life. How we perceive or view events in
our lives as being controllable by us or not – essentially do
we think we are in control of our own lives or not?
• If we believe we are not in control of our lives then we
experience more stress and will be less enterprising.
Seligman’s Adversity Belief
Consequences Model
• Used to change our beliefs – positive optimists
• THREE dimensions 1 temporary versus permanent, 2 pervasiveness or
how widespread something is, 3 personalization: internal versus external
• 1 temporary versus permanent
• Optimists attribute good events to permanent causes and bad events to
temporary causes
• 2 pervasiveness or how widespread something is
• Optimists attribute success is due to universal explanations example I'm
clever.
• Optimists attribute unwanted failure to specific explanations for example
a person is a harsh marker
• 3 personalization: internal versus external
• Optimists externalise things and blame other people when things go
wrong, they don't internalize and blame themselves.
Seligman
• Seligman argues that we can learn and adopt
a different more optimistic way of dealing
with setbacks, we can listen to what our
internal dialogue says can argue with it against
our self limiting beliefs and doubts.
• This is known as our explanatory style – the
way we explain things to ourselves e.g. mental
self talk.
Seligman ABCDE model
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Adversity that is encountered
Beliefs what is our belief about this?
Consequences (feelings) what are the consequences?
Disputation - dispute your beliefs –
4 methods:
What is the evidence?
What are the alternatives?
What are the implications?
How useful is this?
Energizing
Your comments
• What information about yourself did you find
out from doing the on line test ?
GET test
• Developed by Durham University Business
School as part of the work of the Enterprise in
Education Learning Team.
• Designed to ‘test’ the individual’s personal
tendencies associated with being enterprising.
• But – is the enterprising person made or
born? Nature vs nurture? Don’t worry if you
got a lower than average score.
GET test can measure
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Need for achievement
Need for autonomy
Creative Tendency
Moderate/Calculated Risk Taking
Drive and Determination
Get Test Need for achievement
Need for achievement Maximum score – 12 Average score – 9.
• If you have scored well in this section you have many if not all of
the following qualities:
• Forward looking
• Self sufficient
• Optimistic rather than pessimistic
• Task orientated
• Results orientated
• Restless and energetic
• Self confident
• Persistent and determined
• Dedication to completing a task
GET test Autonomy &Independence
Need for autonomy/independence Maximum score – 6
Average score – 4
• The person who scores high in this section:
• Likes doing unconventional things
• Prefers working alone
• Need to do their ‘own thing’
• Needs to express what they think
• Dislikes taking orders
• Likes to make up their own mind
• Does not bow to group pressure
• Is stubborn and determined
GET test creative tendency
Creative tendency Maximum score – 12 Average
score – 8
• A high score in this section means that you:
• Are imaginative and innovative
• Have a tendency to daydream
• Are versatile and curious
• Have lots of ideas
• Are intuitive and guess well
• Enjoy new challenges
• Like novelty and change
GET test risk taking
Moderate/calculated risk taking Maximum score –
12 Average score – 8
• If you have done well in this section, you tend to:
• Act on incomplete information
• Judge when incomplete data is sufficient
• Accurately assess your own capabilities
• Be neither over nor under-ambitious
• Evaluate likely benefit against likely costs
• Set challenging but attainable goals
GET test drive & determination
Drive and determination Maximum score – 12 Average
score – 8
• If you have achieved a high score in this section, you
tend to:
• Take advantage of opportunities
• Discount fate
• Make your own luck
• Be self confident
• Believe in controlling your own destiny
• Equate results with effort
• Show considerable determination
Your comments
• What information about yourself did you find
out from doing the on line test ?
Rotter’s Locus of Control
• Rotter’s Social Learning theory of personality
• Locus of Control – our beliefs about what
causes(s) good/positive or bad/negative
things to happen in our lives.
• Locus of control refers to the extent to which
we believe we can control events which affect
us.
Rotter’s Locus of Control
• A high internal locus of control means that we
believe that we are in charge of our lives and we
assume that what we do has a direct influence on
us – and so we behave and act accordingly.
• A high external locus of control means that we
believe that our lives are at the fate of others and
how we act and behave does not have much
impact.
McClelland TAT test
• Thematic Apperception Test - people shown
pictures and asked to describe what they
thought was happening in them.
• Clear differences found in people’s answers.
• McClelland identified 4 characteristics of
people with a strong/high need for
achievement.
• Need for achievement – nAch
Your comments
• What information about yourself did you find
out from doing the on line test ?
McClelland Need for Achievement
• 4 characteristics of high achievers:
1. Preference for moderate risk taking
2. Belief that they are personally responsible for
performance
3. Need for regular feedback on how well they
are doing
4. Innovativeness – they are more innovative
McClelland Need for Achievement
• Extent of achievement motivation varies from
individual to individual.
• McClelland’s research suggests that the need
for achievement n-Ach is not hereditary
(nature) but results from environmental
influences, and that people can be trained or
can learn to develop greater motivation to
achieve.
McClelland Need for Achievement
• Suggests 4 steps in developing the drive to
achieve
1. striving to attain feedback on your performance,
reinforcement of success strengthens the desire
to succeed
2. developing models of achievement by emulating
those who have performed well
3. attempting to modify self image to see your self
as needing challenges and success
4. Thinking bout yourself in more positive terms.
Exercise – an example of a McClelland TAT test picture
– What is happening to the people & what will
happen to them in the future?
Bandura’s social construct theory
• Bandura – Self Efficacy
• Belief that we are capable of performing in a certain
manner to attain certain goals.
• Self Efficacy is the belief that we can do something
• A high self efficacy is positive, we put in effort for
longer, we persist in something, we take on tasks we
believe we can do and achieve.
• Self efficacy is not the same as self esteem, it is task
related e.g. I can have a very high self esteem but a low
efficacy for something such as DIY or rock climbing.
What does all this imply
• Rotter’s Locus of Control, the GET test, Seligman’s
learned helplessness, Mclelland Need for
achievement, Hofestede’s modes of culture,
Bandura’s social construct theory.
• That some people ARE more likely to be
enterprising than others, BUT that we can change
our behaviour and learn how to be more
optimistic, positive, enthusiastic and act and
behave in a more enterprising way. We can learn
to be more enterprising
• Key question – what are you going to do
differently in the future now that you have
this information?
• NLP saying “If you always do what you’ve
always done, then you’ll always get what
you’ve always got”
• Short break ?
Review of your interview with an
entrepreneur
• Some input from you.
• What characteristics/values/attitudes did the
entrepreneur demonstrate and how did they
demonstrate them? How could they tell?
What were the symptoms?
• Anything which you found that which was
particularly unusual or surprised you?
Making imaginative use of Achievement Motivation
Constructs Building on Rotter, Bandura, McClelland,
and Seligman EXERCISE
• Part 1
• For each of 4 individuals noted in the handouts a
characteristic behaviour pattern is mentioned.
The aim is for us to gather explanations as to why
they behave in that way. For each description
you should spend up to 4 minutes and consider:
• What kind of individual is this?
• What he/she wants to do?
• What the results of his/her behaviour will be?
Making imaginative use of Achievement Motivation
Constructs Building on Rotter, Bandura, McCllelland,
and Seligman EXERCISE
• Part 2
• The general instructions are the same as before
• But now you have to write as much achievement
orientation into the stories as possible. The
description of the individual must be saturated
with achievement orientation. The story
nevertheless has to be integrated and not
nonsensical. Up to 10 minutes can be spent on
each one.
Reflections ?
Metaphors exercise
• An exercise to get you thinking deeply about
your own outlook/view/perspective on life or
things right now.
• A metaphor is the expression of an
understanding of one concept in terms of
another concept, where there is some
similarity or correlation between the two.
• A metaphor is the understanding itself of one
concept in terms of another.
Example of a metaphor
• The following sentences illustrate how the
metaphorical understanding of anger-as-fire is
expressed:
• Your insincere apology just added fuel to the fire.
• After the argument, Dave was smouldering for days.
• That kindled my ire.
• Boy, am I burned up!
• Source
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/
WhatIsAMetaphor.htm
Metaphors Exercise part 1
• Part 1 making a statement
• In pairs or trios each person makes a statement
about ‘how they feel life is’. Right now at this moment
in time; or alternatively how they feel life is generally.
• Your statement must be only one sentence. If you think
it’s too difficult then just consider a metaphor for one
aspect of your life-world view.
• Write it down.
• For example you come up with statement “life is a
bowl of cherries” or “life is a bed of roses” or “life is full
of exciting opportunities”.
Metaphors exercise part 2
• Part 2 exploring content
• The other person (or pair) then explore(s) the
content (aka the what) of the metaphor and
what it represents
• Do this by asking questions and clarification. If
in threes then the 3rd person observes and
takes notes or can also ask questions (decide
which in advance).
exploring the what – typical questions
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how many cherries?
what type of bowl are they in?
how big is the bowl?
can you eat them?
what colour are they?
do they have the stalks on?
are the cherries attached to each other?
what type of bowl is it?
What colour of rose? How do they smell? Are they thorny
and spiky or soft?
• Are they fresh or mouldy
• Add in questions of your own....
Metaphors Exercise part 3
• Part 3 exploring why
• After they have explored the content explore the
why.
• exploring the why – there is only 1 question
• Why cherries? (Or why specifically cherries or
that specific type of rose – depending on how
much info has been teased out so far?).
Metaphors Exercise part 4
• Part 4 changing perceptions(?)
• You now ask “How could you look at life
differently if you use a different metaphor?”
• How might your new metaphor make you a
more enterprising person?
Metaphors Exercise part 5 ?
• How may your metaphor may be changed?
• “what would happen if you changed ‘cherries’
to ‘apples’ or ‘soup’?”
• or “what would be the result if you changed
the red rose to a giant yellow-orange dahlia?”
What metaphors might the most
enterprising people have?
• What are the top entrepreneurs’ metaphors?
• What is Richard Branson’s perhaps?
• “Life is a fantastic wonderful exciting
opportunity and I am a lucky person” or “life is
unfair and I am unlucky”?
Metaphors part 6
• And finally another exercise
• Construct a metaphor to describe yourself when
you are (working/acting) at your most
enterprising/entrepreneurial.
• What would the symptoms be?
• Continue with this in your own time as part of the
self study. Perhaps use wordle to help?
• Bring your metaphor with you next week!
Reflections
Self Study
• After today review your reflective learning logs and your Skills
audits again in the context of the new information you have
from today’s session, particularly from the metaphors
exercise.
• Imagine you are someone else, who does not know you other
than from reading these.
• Would they think you were likely to be an enterprising person
(or not)?
• Key question – what are you going to do differently in the
future now that you have this information? Learning Log
• And construct a metaphor describing you when you are
working/acting at your most enterprising.
• Use wordle website to produce a new word cloud
Website with resources
• My email A.G.Holmes@hull.ac.uk
• The wiki website for the course
• http://enterpriseskillsuniversityofhull.wikispac
es.com/