Anyone that has ever worked in a team setting knows there is a natural standard distribution to motivation towards training. Most fall into the kind of generally interested in developing themselves. Others fall into the really over do their interest and have no interest whatsoever in training. 

Non Performers – Unmotivated 

As you approach creating a training plan you are more than likely thinking from the perspective of biomotor, biomechanical, bioenergetic, but not psychological. Majority of the group will be the correct focus, for the bottom percentile psychological will be your focal point. 

A good model to start with is the Readiness to Change Model. In there most guys in the bottom percentile of motivation fall before pre-contemplation. They simply do not want to do this, so our goal is to get them at least thinking about wanting to train. Before we go into how we do that, it is important to note the alternative. A lot of misses and late arrivals, skipping sets or missing reps, and worst of all being a negative influence on the rest of the group. 

Readiness to Change Model

There is a concept called the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule. Where the Pareto Principle applies here is that the 20% of the group will occupy 80% of your attention. Said another way, 20% of the group are the loud minority. This is often the most challenging part of coaching. Prioritizing a bunch of people that do not want to be there, getting a majority of the feedback or discipline aspect. While neglecting the ones that are doing a great job or do want to be there. This 80% begin to resent being there, and makes the 20% that did not want to be there, even larger. 

20% of the group will take up 80% of the coach’s attention

How we deal with this loud minority comes from the Motivation Skill continuum. This is broken down into Motivation (desire to do something) and Skill (ability to do something). Depending on their skill, motivation to do something is significantly impacted. For example, if they are really good and not challenged their motivation will be really small. If they are really bad and their motivation is low, their desire to do something will be nothing. 

This is essentially a quagmire where we if we have unmotivated people regardless of their skill are going to struggle to want to do anything. The focal point should be motivation and incentive. Seeing the reward of doing something is what motivates people to do so. If they have a high skill level, focussing on things that are challenging and giving positive feedback. If they are a low skill level, focussing on things they can improve on and encouraging them to keep progressing. 

Motivation-Skill Continuum=

The idea is to zero in on what makes a difference with that athlete regardless of their skill. Frame it in a way that the unmotivated athlete will appreciate relative to their value system. Use your assets at your disposal – coaches and teammates. Do not hold it over their head, but as a support towards getting something they want. 

Moving everyone to the right on the standard distribution is the goal. Having models and systems to encourage the unmotivated to become motivated is critical to managing the workload so you can focus equally on the rest of the team. This will create a balance between your focus and manage motivation of the entire team. 

This is never easy, the struggle is managing the bad days. Not letting this be an extreme deterrent for you the coach to maintain the plan. Incentives and group dynamics do not always work – commitment to the larger goal has to take precedence. Keep at it and don’t give in when it gets hard.