How leaders motivate people at work

 

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Non-monetary Ways to Motivate Your Marketing and Sales

 

Not long ago I shared with you my ideas about the monetary ways to motivate your marketing team. Some say that money rules the world and in some way, I must agree. However, there are still so many ways to motivate your marketing or sales teams to work better, faster and more effectively. Today I will share some idea on how to keep your team motivated.

Of course, many people wake up every morning and go to work just for money. But every day I meet more and more people who put other things on top of money, and they appreciate other things that can motivate them.

Education

If you think of this, the first thing coming to your mind is why my marketing or sales need an education. They just need to pick up the phone and call the customers or brainstorm some new ideas on how to attract new customers. That’s how many C-suits think and that really makes me sad.

The truth is that fo many salesmen or marketers it is of great importance to improve their knowledge, level up what they already know, level up their own market value. For such employees education is a much better education than salary rise or some fishy KPI.

If you motivate your team with some educational seminars, forums, conferences, you might get really unexpected results

If you motivate your team with some educational seminars, forums, conferences, you might get really unexpected results. They can learn new marketing and sales techniques, meet new people from a similar or close industry, share some ideas. And in this case, we have a win-win situation – the company has highly educated employees, who are ready to implement something new and show better results in marketing or sales, and the employees have new experience and knowledge.

Such an approach may cost the company several thousands of US dollars per year, but the outcome will cover the investment many times. And I want to underline that this is an investment, not expenses like many managers think.

Try to find the best programs together with your employees so this is not just your decision but a mutual one. In this case, your team is more likely to perform even better. Make an annual schedule for all your educational programs, decide on your goals and set them to live.

Challenge

Almost every person engages in some competitions every now and then. It might be a challenge with your neighbor who has a better car or house, it might be who visited more countries, etc. Every single marketer or a salesman like a competition or a challenge.

Every single marketer or a salesman like a competition or a challenge.

So you need to think of something that can challenge your teams. This might be anything that can make them work with fire in their eyes. Just some of the challenges you can try:

• Complicated project
• Important customer
• The task other teams failed with
• Time shortage challenge
• etc

Recognition

This one is closely connected with the challenge. I’ve never met a person who doesn’t like to be recognized for their achievements. For some employees, recognition can be more important than money.

They just like to be appreciated by their colleagues and management. If they complete some project, find the new customer or generate some one-million ides, then you need to thank them. Especially such employees like when it is done in public when their colleagues can hear it.

Such people want to feel important, they want everything they do to be recognized. It is important for them to understand that they do not waste their time doing some unnecessary work.

For some employees, recognition can be more important than money

As good as it might be this kind of motivation has a negative side a well. As you can see it might seem and feel like you want to pick the favorite employee or team and grow their ego. In time such employees might think that they are really special and they have to be treated differently. And this is the time when they stop working at all, just bragging how important they are.

Their colleagues as well might feel that their work is useless because they are never being recognized for their input, and this is the time they stop working too because they are sure that no matter how hard their work they will never be thanked for that.

So this is the motivation you have to use wisely.

Awards

You can organize some sort of a monthly/quarter/annual competition with some set of awards. For sales this can be:

• Highest sales
• Number of new customers
• Number of product sales in pieces
• Fastest order
• Number of purchase orders
• etc

For your marketing team you can use:

• Number of leads
• Number of website visits
• Conversion rate
• Brand awareness
• Organic search growth
• Cost of customer acquisition
• etc

Depending on how many people you have in marketing and sales teams you can have 3 prizes or just one prize per period. You know your employees so you can easily work out the prizes list, or you can ask for help from your colleagues. As a matter of fact, you can run from time to time some sort of questionnaire to get to know your employees desires better.

Depending on how many people you have in marketing and sales teams you can have 3 prizes or just one prize per period

Based on the acquired knowledge, your company revenues, etc. the prize fund can include:

• Latest electronics (TV, tablet PC, smartphone, kitchenware, entertainment systems, etc.)
• Educational courses (sales, marketing, financial planning, foreign languages, acting classes)
• Travel stuff (suitcase, plane tickets, train tickets, hotel stay, etc)
• Books (marketing, sales, business, fiction, non-fiction, comic books, manga, magazines subscription)
• Official day-off
• Entertainment (movie/theater/concert/museum/etc tickets)

As you can see, there are so many different options for prizes, so it works for you for many years to come. And this doesn’t have to be expensive.

So basically these are some of the non-monetary ways to motivate your employees. I will continue to share with you this list in the future. So far I guess this will be enough for you to try and test some of the offered methods.

Stay tuned and motivated!

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Marketing Motivation: Salary Is Not Enough

 I’m sure that every marketing director, chief marketing officer, head of marketing department every once in a while ask themselves questions like “Am I paying enough my marketers” or “Am I paying too much?” and even “What if I pay more?”.

And these questions always are followed by even more important one – “How can I motivate marketers to do more?” Of course, there are many non-monetary ways to motivate your marketer or marketing team to do more, to do better, to reach new levels etc. Today I won’t be listing them and leave it for another post later this year.

Today I would like to share with you an exclusive method I used for my marketing team to work harder, more creative, more effective and gain more leads, more potential customers, better potential customers.

Your potentials customers are closer than you think

For every company, and especially, for the B2B industry, the more leads marketing generates, the better our company results in general. For the B2B market, it is always difficult to support a certain amount of new leads per month, and there are some periods with less potential customers, and there are some periods which exceed your expectations.

And of course, as a CMO you want this number to be predictable and controlled. You want to get at least 20, 30 or 50, or even more leads per month depending on your business and your sales team who proceed to work with leads generated by your marketing team.

To keep this figure predictable I tried to come up with some marketing motivation for my marketing team which could guarantee the minimum number of leads we needed to keep up with the general sales plan.

Of course, first, we needed a certain number of leads with certain conversion rate per month. The more the better, of course, and here you can face some problems as well, that’s why you need to be quite careful with just number of leads. If you do not set additional rules, your marketing team can generate hundreds or thousands leads, 99% of which will be worthless.

You do not need 99% of your leads to go there

That is why I set another variable to this marketing motivation method – lead quality.

Every B2B company has a sales plan for a year consisting of sales forecasts from current customers and an additional plan for new customers. This additional plan is divided into 2 parts – one part for the active sales department and another part for the marketing department.

Based on that I prepared a simple formula for my marketing team, using which my marketing team was highly motivated to generate not just a lot of leads, but a lot of quality leads:

Mm = Qpc*Npc*Cpc*S

where:

Mm – marketing motivation

Qpc = PSpc/ASpc*100%

Qpc – lead quality index

PSpc – new leads sales plan previous quarter

ASpc – actual new leads sales previous quarter

Npc = Ppc/Apc*100%

Npc – the number of leads per month index

Ppc – leads plan per month

Apc – the actual number of leads per month

Cpc = PMpc/AMpc*100%

Cpc – customer acquisition cost index

PMpc – customer acquisition cost plan

AMpc – actual customer acquisition cost

S = 1/2 of your marketer’s regular monthly salary

Of course, there should be certain rules and limitations used to guarantee this formula properly works. In my case, I set the following limitation for my marketing team which is to be followed strictly otherwise there is sense to pay extra your marketer.

My marketing motivation limitation was that with Npc<70% or Cpc<70% the motivation bonus wasn’t calculated at all. So it always had to be over 70% and my marketer knew it, and my marketers set their goals to exceed it.

Good marketing motivation leads to good results

All numbers I used to set the plan were based on previous years data. As a result, using this marketing motivation formula in 6 months my marketing team started to generate more quality leads and the sales plan was exceeded by 56%.

Always keep in mind – motivation is everything in marketing. If there is no motivation, there is no marketing, and eventually, there are no sales…

PS: alongside with that formula I used other non-monetary marketing motivation tools to drive my team. I will share them with you later this year.

And while you’re thinking about your marketing team motivation take some time to watch these amazing marketing inspiration movies described in Best Marketing Movies To Inspire Your Team article.

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Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and goals

Motivation can be split into intrinsic (passion or self expression) and extrinsic (money or social status). Extrinsic motivation has proven to better foster creativity. The cause is still often debated but one correlating factor is possibly distraction.

The terms intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are frequently used and are sometimes a source of confusion. Below, I try to share my understanding of these term as they are used in self-determination theory (SDT). First, I'll explain what the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is and  then what the terms intrinsic and extrinsic goals mean.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Let's start with the question what motivation is. Motivation is energy for action. Motivation is our reason for engaging in activities. These reasons can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation refers to activities we do because of the inherent satisfaction they give us while doing them (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Typical examples of intrinsically motivated behavior are playing, exploring, improvising, making music, and exercising a hobby. Although intrinsically motivated behavior actually can, and usually does, lead to something useful - we generally learn from it - this is not the reason for doing it. The reason is the pleasant experience we have while doing it, not that it also tends to be useful. Intrinsically motivated behavior is active, spontaneous, and interested.

Intrinsic motivation, according to SDT, is a natural source of energy which is present in any human being (and in many other animals) throughout the life span and which leads to pleasure and growth. Yet it can be undermined to a certain extent. The degree to which intrinsic motivation manifests itself is firstly dependent on the degree to which the needs for autonomy and competence of the individual are satisfied and secondly on the degree to which the individual's need for relatedness is satisfied  (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Several types of events, such as the presence of rewards can, under certain circumstances, diminish intrinsic motivation. This happens when people start to feel that they not doing the activity because they enjoy it but in order to get those rewards.

Extrinsic motivation refers to activities we engage in because of their instrumental value. In other words, we do them because they lead to some desired outcome. Sometimes people think that, by definition, extrinsic motivation is less positive or powerful than intrinsic motivation but this is not the case. SDT posits that any individual has the natural propensity to internalize extrinsic motivations which are valued and endorsed by significant others.

In other words, in our development we have an ongoing focus on trying to understand what important people in our environment value and on internalizing these values.When we will have fully internalized these values they will have become our own to such an extend that we will be fully motivated to behave in ways which are in accordance with them.

When this is the case, the quality of our motivation is high. It usually leads to good work and we get
energy from working at what we find important. When we are doing things which are in line with our deeply held (internalized) values we act with integrity.

Together, intrinsic motivation and internalized motivation are called autonomous motivation. The picture to the right illustrates this. Being autonomously motivated for the activity you are doing means that you fully endorse the doing of the activity because you find it inherently satisfying or because you deeply value what you hope to accomplish by it.

Intrinsic and extrinsic goals

One part of SDT, the Goal Contents Theory, focuses on types of goals people set and the aspirations they have in their lives. The theory distinguishes between intrinsic and extrinsic goals (Kasser & Ryan, 1993; 1996). Examples of intrinsic goals are: good and intimate relations with people, useful contributions to one's community, and personal growth. Examples of extrinsic goals are: wealth, fame, admiration, and power.

The core of the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic goals is the following. Intrinsic goals are focused on outcomes which we inherently value; extrinsic goals are focused on instrumental outcomes. Achieving intrinsic goals leads directly to the fulfillment of our basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Achieving extrinsic goals does not. This is probably the main reason why achieving intrinsic goals generally is associated with more well-being than achieving extrinsic goals is (see for example Sheldon & Krieger, 2014).

We generally feel good when we achieve personal growth and close relationships. In contrast, when we achieve things like wealth and fame, we generally do not feel too well (read more here and here). However, there is an exception to this last remark. Achieving extrinsic goals can lead to well-being and flourishing when, in turn, these outcomes (such as fame and wealth) are used to achieve other intrinsic goals (Landry et al., 2016). An example of this may be the way Bill Gates now uses his fortune to help fight diseases. The table below summarizes the above.

Deliberate practice and intrinsic motivation

If we strictly use this terminology we could say that learning is a side effect of intrinsically motivated activity but not that we are intrinsically motivated to achieve specific learning outcomes. When we deliberately engage in a learning activity, for example through deliberate practice, our activity is instrumental. The reason for saying this is that the activity has the purpose of achieving a specific learning outcome. Strictly spoken, we are thus extrinsically motivated. But this does not mean we can't derive fulfillment or pleasure from the activity. We certainly can if we deeply value the skill we want to get better at.

As we are engaging in deliberate practice we are extrinsically motivated (because the activity is instrumental). But as we notice that we are making progress we are achieving an intrinsic goal (providing we value the skill we are learning). This realization leads to the fulfillment and well-being that is associated with achieving intrinsic goals.

That intrinsic motivation and deliberate practice are not the same thing does not meant that they aren't interrelated, though. They are. Research by Vink et al. (2014) has shown that intrinsic motivation and deliberate practice can promote each other. The more you are intrinsically motivated for and activity, the more you tend to be motivated to engage in deliberate practice in order to get better at it. The reverse is also true. Engaging in deliberate practice appears to strengthen intrinsic motivation. This may have to do with a process which Silvia (2008) describes and which I call interest renewal (read more here).

Finally, what started as extrinsically motivated behavior may transform into intrinsically motivated behavior. If we start out studying in order to learn for our exams the primary reason for doing the activity is extrinsic (because it is instrumental). But, if, when we are reading, we totally lose sight of our goal and are fully absorbed by the content we may continue to read without any sense of purpose and we may be fully continuing because of the interest and enjoyment we experience. If this is so, I think it is fair to say that our motivation has become intrinsic.

Conclusion

Intrinsic motivation and internalized motivation are conceptually strictly distinguished from each other. But in practice they can be interwoven, can merge into each other and can strengthen each other.

5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Stay Motivated

• Kayla Sloan

As an entrepreneur, staying motivated can make the difference between business success and business failure. Other people will appreciate your work ethic and you will have a greater chance at success.

There are other positive outcomes that could happen as a result of staying motivated as well. Your home life can improve and you may make more money in your business.

But staying motivated, regardless of the many positive reasons to do so, is not always easy to do. Below there are 5 ways entrepreneurs can stay motivated that can help you.

1. Focus on the Positives

When you are tired or lack motivation staying positive about your work is not always easy. One thing that can help you to remain motivated is to keep your focus in the right place.

Rather than keeping your attention on negative people and situations, concentrate on what is positive. Even if the only good thing about your day is that you got up and got to work, make that your focus instead. Keep working and stay thankful you are able to do so when others aren’t able.

2. Create a Mission Statement

One way entrepreneurs can stay motivated is by creating a mission statement. Are you wondering what that is and the purpose for it?

A mission statement summarizes your goals and values. It can give you direction and help you remember your purpose or reason for starting your business in the first place. Furthermore, it’s a great tool to help you stay motivated.

3. Set Goals

Setting business goals is akin to creating a business plan. To put it another way, you are creating a map of where you are going and steps for how to get there. Instead of simply plugging along in your business you will have a reason for working every day.

Think of it like the end zone in a football game. If you have ever watched football you know that the goal is to get a player in the end zone with the ball so that team can score.

Having goals is very similar. It gives you something to work towards, which can ensure that you keep working even when it’s hard.

Perhaps you are working hard so that in the future you will be able to take more vacations. Or, maybe you are working hard now so you can retire early and have more leisure time. You could be trying to have a larger nest egg for retirement.

No matter if your goals are short term or long term, having clear goals gives you an end zone to move toward in your work.

4. Get in a Routine

If you are in business for yourself and working at home some people find it hard to get started each day. Something that can help is to get into a routine.

Begin each day by getting yourself ready and then getting your cup of coffee and rolling up your sleeves to tackle your work. Or, read a short motivational story. You can find plenty of sources on the internet on Facebook or from other sources.

The point is to set up a regular routine that can help you get through your day. You might be surprised by all that you can accomplish by doing this one small thing.

5. Enjoy Small Rewards

Another way entrepreneurs can stay motivated is by enjoying small rewards. Working without ever rewarding yourself can make you begin to question why you are working in the first place. This can zap your motivation and put you on a path toward failure.

You don’t have to spend thousands to give yourself a reward. You can enjoy small rewards that help you keep your focus.

Get your favorite drink from a local coffee house once a month. Or, make a special treat at home once per week. Find something you enjoy that makes you feel good and indulge once in a while. These small rewards are what make life worth living and can keep you going.

When you want to thrive in your business, staying motivated is important. Use these ideas to stay motivated so you can reach your goals.

An Overview of Employee Motivation (Part 3): Methods and Manners of Motivating Employees

We have examined the older, more traditional theories and approaches to motivation, and the newer, more modern approaches to motivating employees in the workplace. In the last of this series on employee motivation we will explore ways to actively motivate employees that have been proven to work – because, well, they get employees to work.

Important Factors to Encourage Motivation

These are some of the contextual factors in the workplace that many employees find motivating.

• Management and leadership actions that empower employees
• Transparent and regular communication about factors important to employees
• Treating employees with respect and dignity
• Ensuring regular employee recognition
• Feedback and coaching from managers and leaders
• Above industry-average benefits and compensation
• Providing employee perks and company activities
• Positively managing employees within a success framework of goals, measurements, and clear expectations

Employee motivation in essence describes an employee’s intrinsic enthusiasm about work and their drive to accomplish work. As mentioned in previous posts in this series every employee is motivated about something in his or her life. Motivating employees about work is the combination of fulfilling the employee’s needs and expectations from work, and workplace factors that enable employee motivation – or not. These variables make motivating employees quite challenging. Information about motivating employees (people who work) is readily available (its literally everywhere), but it’s hard to apply and implement the ideas in many workplaces. Too many workplaces still act as if the employee should simply be grateful to have a job. Managers are sometimes on power trips, and employee policies and procedures are often formulated based on the assumption that managers can’t trust employees to do the right thing.

Communication is often not transparent and there are usually secret messages or hidden agendas; hence motivating employees in this work environment is quite tough, if not impossible.

Fortunately, most work environments are not this extreme. They each have their own set of problems, but managers appreciate and recognise that motivating employees will bring positive results for the organisation. These ten tips about motivating employees provide a basic understanding of employee motivation, and they also target key areas for success in motivating employees.

Ten Tips for Motivating Employees

Below are some tips about employee motivation and creating a work environment for motivating employees. This is the bottom line for motivating  employees.

• One can’t motivate another person, one can only provide an environment at work that is conducive to and supportive of employees choosing to become motivated about issues related to work. One’s actions in the workplace either encourage motivated behaviour or they discourage employee motivation. In some workplaces, company policies and management behaviour actually stifle and squelch motivation. Actions and activities in the workplace that provide an environment supportive of motivating employees don’t have to be expensive. They don’t need to involve company financed events or company sponsored parties, gifts, or monetary awards. Activities and recognition that cost money are welcomed by employees as part of the motivation mix, but their impact on motivating employees is short term and will not over-ride the consequences of how people feel treated everyday in the workplace.
• Much of the workplace environment that encourages employee motivation involves management time and commitment: genuine interest and caring, employee-oriented policies and procedures, and attention from both senior managers and line managers are all appreciated and valued by most people.
• Clear direction plays a major role in motivating employees. When research is conducted about what supervisory behaviour makes a manager a ‘bad boss’, the lack of clear direction ranks first consistently. Employees want to know exactly what leaders and managers expect from them. When they have the reassurance of clear direction, motivating employees becomes easier because employers and employees have created a framework for their expected performance.
• Motivation is prevalent in workplaces where people are treated as valued human beings. Trust, respect, civil conversation, and listening prevail in a workplace that fosters employee motivation.
• Employee motivation is a constant challenge, as what motivates one employee is possibly not motivating for another. Research indicates that while treating employees nicely is a factor in motivation and happy employees are also a factor in employee motivation, more is needed for a successful organisation. After all, a workplace of happy employees is great, but it doesn’t guarantee quality products delivered on time, delighted customers, or profitability – all essential to providing those happy employees with jobs. Factors such as demanding goals, success measurements, and critical feedback ensure the organisation’s success.
• Actively solicit information from the employees and from your coworkers about what motivates them. Employees know what they find motivating and they can tell employers if they ask. Following through on the information given is key as employees test employers constantly to see if their word is good. If asked, people expect to see something changed as a result of their response.If it doesn’t change, and employers don’t tell them why, they risk wasting all of their efforts in motivating employees. Responding to employee needs and complaints is key to ensuring employees are motivated.
• Lastly motivation at work is a choice employees make. No matter how hard managers try or how supportive company policies are, there is a bottom line for motivating employees. Employees choose to exhibit motivated behaviour at work, and ultimately are in charge of motivating themselves.

Motivation through ROWE

A Results-Only Work Environment (or ROWE) is a management strategy where employees are evaluated on performance, not presence. In a ROWE, people focus on results and only results – increasing the organisation’s performance and effectiveness while creating the right climate and culture for people to manage all the demands in their lives – including work.

With ROWE:

• Teamwork, morale and engagement soar, which leads to fewer workers feeling overworked, stressed out or guilty.
• People are where they need to be, when they need to be – there is no need for schedules.
• There is diminished judgment on how people spend their time, so people at all levels stop wasting the company’s time and money.

ROWE recognises that life is an individual experience and that no two lives are identical — and leverages this to achieve better performance from each individual. ROWE is not Flexitime, telecommuting, job‐sharing, or allowing employees to work from home a couple of days per week. In a Results-Only system, employees and volunteers can do whatever they want whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. Employees are more motivated by the autonomy and personal accountability which results in healthier, more productive employees who see their work as part of a more holistic life.
ROWE for Business

Successfully adopting a Results‐Only Work Environment will position the company to attract and retain talent that will show up energised, disciplined, flexible and focused, and essentially ready to deliver all results necessary to drive the business. A ROWE workforce is more efficient, productive and loyal to the organisation while also feeling satisfied, fulfilled, and in control of their personal and professional lives. A Results-Only Work Environment is all about productivity (usually), but more importantly, the workforce will respond to the business as if it were their own, and can diminish time-wasting monitoring of employees by superiors – who need to do their own job.

ROWE business results:

• Increased productivity and efficiency
• Talent retention and attraction
• Optimization of space and resources
• Elimination of wasteful processes

Concluding remarks

One could infer that regular and continual motivating of employees can be beneficial to all levels of system within an organisation; and can lead to less time-wastage and a more productive and innovative workplace. However, one must remain cognisant of the manner in which motivational techniques are presented, utilised and implemented; and moreover should remain abreast of the latest trends and methods of best motivating employees to be engaged, happy and productive. Notably since healthy, motivated and engaged employees boost performance and essentially bolster organisational effectiveness.

References:

• Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology. New York: Academic Press.
• Bedeian, A. G. (1993). Management (3rd ed.). New York: Dryden Press.
• Bowen, B. E., & Radhakrishna, R. B. (1991). Job satisfaction of agricultural education faculty: A constant phenomena. Journal of Agricultural Education, 32 (2). 16-22.
• Buford, J. A., Jr., Bedeian, A. G., & Lindner, J. R. (1995). Management in Extension (3rd ed.). Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Extension.
• Buford, J. A., Jr. (1990). Extension management in the information age. Journal of Extension, 28 (1).
• Buford, J. A., Jr. (1993). Be your own boss. Journal of Extension, 31 (1).
• Chesney, C. E. (1992). Work force 2000: is Extension agriculture ready? Journal of Extension, 30 (2).
• Conlin, M. (2010) Smashing the Clock. Bloomberg Business Week. October, 2010. [Accessed 19thDecember: http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-12-10/smashing-the-clock ]
• Harpaz, I. (1990). The importance of work goals: an international perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 21. 75-93.
• Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (1959). The motivation to work. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
• Higgins, J. M. (1994). The management challenge (2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
• Huffington Post. (2013) Is ROWE The Future Of Work? Or An Unworkable Fantasy? [Accessed 19 December 2013: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/15/rowe-future-work_n_3084426.html]
• Kovach, K. A. (1987). What motivates employees? Workers and supervisors give different answers.Business Horizons, 30. 58-65.
• Kreitner, R. (1995). Management (6th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, July 1943. 370-396.
• Pink, D. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Rivergate Books
• Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior. New York: Free Press.
• Smith, G. P. (1994). Motivation. In W. Tracey (ed.), Human resources management and development handbook (2nd ed.).
• Smith, K. L. (1990). The future of leaders in Extension. Journal of Extension, 28 (1).
• Terpstra, D. E. (1979). Theories of motivation: borrowing the best. Personnel Journal, 58. 376.
• Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation. New York: Wiley

http://www.worldsviewacademy.com

An Overview of Employee Motivation (Part 2): A Modern Look at Motivating Employees

Following on from the last blog post where I presented some of the traditional, ‘old school’ theories around motivation, we can now delve into some more recent thinking around motivating employees in the workplace.

Firstly, let’s look at Daniel Pink’s ‘third drive’ approach to motivating employees:

The Third Drive

Scientists have long known that two main drives truly power human behaviour – the biological drive including hunger, thirst and sex, and the reward-punishment drive already discussed in my previous article. However in 1949, Harry F. Harlow, professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, argued for a third drive – intrinsic motivation – the joy of the task itself.

His theory was based on studies of primate behaviour when solving puzzles. Harlow found that when presented with a puzzle, monkeys seemed to enjoy solving the puzzles without the presence or expectation of rewards. He found these monkeys, driven by intrinsic motivation, solved the puzzles quicker and more accurately than monkeys who received food rewards. Edward Deci, a university psychology graduate student, went on to replicate these findings with human beings in 1969, concluding that human beings have an “inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise their capabilities, to explore, and to learn.” (Pink, 2009, 8) This essentially means that motivating employees is actually about motivating them, and not all about merely throwing money at them!

Why the Carrot-and-Stick Approach Doesn’t Always Work

The ‘carrot-and-stick approach’ worked well for typical tasks of the early 20th century – routine, unchallenging and highly controlled. For these tasks, where the process is straightforward and lateral thinking is not required, rewards (the carrots) can provide a small motivational boost without any harmful side effects. But jobs in the 21st century have changed dramatically; they have become more complex, more interesting and more self-directed, and this is where the carrot-and-stick (rewards and punishment) approach has really become unstuck. Pink demonstrates that with the complex and more creative style of modern jobs, traditional rewards can actually lead to less of what is wanted and more of what is not wanted.

He provides ample evidence to support the notion that this traditional approach can result in:

• Diminished intrinsic motivation (lowered third drive);
• Lower performance;
• Less creativity;
• ‘Crowding out’ of good behaviour;
• Unethical behaviour;
• Addictions; and
• Short-term thinking

A New Theory of Motivation

Daniel Pink proposes that businesses should adopt a revised approach to motivation which fits more closely with modern jobs and businesses, one based on self-determination theory (or SDT). SDT proposes that human beings have an innate drive to be autonomous, self-determined and connected to one another, and that when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives. Organisations should focus on these drives when managing their human capital by creating settings which focus on our innate need to direct our own lives (autonomy), to learn and create new things (mastery), and to do better by ourselves and our world (purpose). This forms part of the holistic view of employee engagement, but does not directly inform how employee engagement is enacted and ensured throughout an organisation.

Below are a few initiatives that fit with Pink’s revised motivation theory which will assist an organisation to motivate its employees in the correct way:

Autonomy – provide employees with autonomy over some (or all) of the four main aspects of work:

• When they do it (time) – Consider switching to a ROWE (results-only work environment) which focuses more on the output (result) rather than the time/schedule, allowing employees to have flexibility over when they complete tasks. (this is expanded upon below)

• How they do it (technique) – Avoid dictating how employees should complete their tasks. Provide initial guidance and then allow them to tackle the project in the way they see fit rather than having to follow a strict procedure.

• Whom they do it with (team) – Although this can be the hardest form of autonomy to embrace, allow employees some choice over who they work with. If it would be inappropriate to involve them in the recruitment/selection process, instead allow employees to work on open-source projects where they have the ability to assemble their own teams.

• What they do (task) – Allow employees to have regular ‘creative’ days where they can work on any project/problem they wish – there is empirical evidence which shows that many new initiatives are often generated during this ‘creative free time’.

Mastery – allow employees to become better at something that matters to them:

• Provide “Goldilocks tasks” – Daniel Pink uses the term ‘Goldilocks tasks’ to describe those tasks which are neither overly difficult nor overly simple – these tasks allow employees to extend themselves and develop their skills further. The risk of providing tasks that fall short of an employee’s capabilities is boredom, and the risk of providing tasks that exceed their capabilities is anxiety.

• Create an environment where mastery is possible – to foster an environment of learning and development, four essentials are required – autonomy, clear goals, immediate feedback and Goldilocks tasks.

Purpose – take steps to fulfil employees’ natural desire to contribute to a cause greater and more enduring than themselves:

• Communicate the purpose – make sure employees know and understand the organisation’s purpose goals not just its profit goals. Employees, who understand the purpose and vision of their organisation and how their individual roles contribute to this purpose, are more likely to be satisfied in their work.

• Place equal emphasis on purpose maximisation as profit maximisation – research shows that the attainment of profit goals has no impact on a person’s well-being and actually contributes to their ill-being. Organisational and individual goals should focus on purpose as well as profit. Many successful companies are now using profit as the catalyst to pursuing purpose, rather than the objective.

• Use purpose-oriented words – talk about the organisation as a united team by using words such as ‘us’ and ‘we’, this will inspire employees to talk about the organisation in the same way and feel a part of the greater organisational cause.

The Main Role of Employee Motivation
Motivated employees are needed in modern rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help organisations survive and progress, and are generally more dynamic and productive. To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform. Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex. This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly. For example, research suggests that as employees’ income increases, money becomes less of a motivator. Also, as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator.

In the next article we’ll explore the methods that enable and engender motivation amongst employees, and examine how old and new approaches to motivation could actually be the foundation of employee engagement and employee retention – which ultimately ensure improved organisational performance.

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