Mastery Versus Performance
The Classic Orientations to Achievement
Mastery Orientation and Performance Orientation are two distinct approaches to achievement that people adopt, influencing their motivation, behaviour, and response to challenges. The two approaches are not created equal. In this Toolbox Talk, we’ll take a look at some important differences between the two and how they contribute to completely different work environments.
Mastery Orientation (Learning Orientation)
Mastery orientation is centred on the development of competence and a deep understanding of the factors that influence outcome. Individuals with a mastery orientation are primarily motivated by an intrinsic desire to learn, grow, and improve their skills.
Main Characteristics:
Goal Setting: Focuses on learning new skills, understanding content deeply, and mastering a discipline.
Response to Challenges: Views challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. Setbacks are considered part of the learning process.
Attitude Towards Failure: Tends to perceive failure as a necessary step toward learning and personal growth.
Feedback Reception: Values constructive feedback as a tool for improvement and learning.
Benefits:
Often leads to a deeper understanding of material.
Encourages continuous learning and adaptability.
Fosters resilience in the face of difficulties.
Performance Orientation (Ego Orientation)
Performance orientation focuses on demonstrating competence and outperforming others. The primary goal is to be judged as successful and to avoid negative evaluations of one's abilities.
Main Characteristics:
Goal Setting: Aims to achieve favorable judgments of competence or to avoid negative judgments. Success is often measured by comparing performance to that of others.
Response to Challenges: Might avoid challenging tasks if there is a risk of poor performance that could reflect negatively on one's abilities.
Attitude Towards Failure: Views failure as a threat to one's self-esteem and competence.
Feedback Reception: May interpret feedback, especially criticism, as a negative assessment of one's abilities rather than as an aid to improvement.
Benefits:
Can drive high levels of effort and short-term achievement.
Motivates individuals to excel in competitive environments.
Contrast and Comparison
Mastery orientation focuses on self-improvement and the intrinsic value of learning. In contrast, performance orientation focuses on achieving success relative to others and often depends on external validation.
Individuals with a mastery orientation are driven by an internal desire to improve, irrespective of external rewards. Performance-oriented individuals are motivated by external recognition and the desire to appear competent in the eyes of others. Mastery reflects an intrinsic motivation (and control) while performance reflects an extrinsic motivation (and control).
Mastery orientation generally promotes a healthier attitude towards continuous learning and long-term skill development. It is associated with greater persistence, resilience, and adaptability. Performance orientation, while effective in achieving immediate goals, may not encourage the same level of deep learning and may lead to avoidance of tasks that carry a risk of failing publicly.
Mastery orientation thrives in environments that support experimentation, risk-taking, and personal growth. Performance orientation is often more suited to environments where outcomes are closely measured, and comparisons among peers are common.
Conclusion
As can be seen from the above discussion, mastery and performance orientations promote very different personal and organizational outcomes. While the former creates stable internal capacity over the long term, the latter creates instrumental outcomes over the short term. An orientation towards either mastery or performance aligns with and fosters the adoption of other modes of perceiving, thinking, and being that strongly influence long term outcomes.