The Crucial Learning team has developed the Six Source Model that is useful in a number of applications from understanding behavior to influencing it. One of the best uses is to check your appraisal of a situation. People often default to thinking “that’s just the way they are,” a personal motivation issue. Yet as this model shows, there are a number of other possibilities that could be going on, often more than one. Humans are complex and rather than rushing to assumptions, it is wise to step back and consider the background and the foreground, the forest and the tree.

Dimension	Motivation	Ability
Personal	Category 1 – Personal motivation Thought: “The person is acting this way because that’s who they are.” To influence: make the activity desirable.	Category 2 – Personal Ability Thought: “The individual doesn’t have the training to do the activity.” To influence: look to educate.
Social	Category 3 – Social Motivation Thought: “Peer pressure encourages the individual in a direction.” To influence: change the direction of peer pressure.	Category 4 – Social Ability Thought: “The peers are enabling the behavior.” To influence: leverage peer pressure to enable the better behavior.
Structural	Category 5 – Structural Motivation Thought: “Rewards and correction influence behavior.” To influence: look at all the sources of reward and correction on the person and ensure they are aligned to the behaviors you want to see.	Category 6 – Structural Ability Thought: “The environment supports certain behaviors.” To influence: change the environment.

References

Grenny, J. (Ed.). (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change (2nd ed). McGraw-Hill Education.

Patterson, K. (Ed.). (2005). Crucial confrontations: Tools for resolving broken promises, violated expectations, and bad behavior. McGraw-Hill.