Motivating Employees: Strategies and Benefits
Inspiring Employees to Achieve Their Best
In today's fast-paced and competitive business landscape, motivated employees are essential to success. An engaged and energized workforce can be a powerful driving force behind a company's growth and innovation. Organizations of all sizes and industries must prioritize employee motivation as a crucial aspect of their operations.
In this article, I will explore the topic of employee motivation, including the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, best practices for keeping employees motivated, and an analysis of four motivation models, or the motivation quadrant. If you are a people manager looking to improve your team’s engagement or just seeking to boost your own motivation, this is for you.
When I think about motivation, a metaphor comes to mind. A motivated individual is like somebody having a self-powered electric generator that keeps them going and going. In contrast, a non-motivated employee has a battery that discharges often. And the more you go through the charge/ discharge cycle, the more effort it takes to charge it, the more difficult and costly it becomes to recharge, and eventually, the battery will hold less and less charge over time.
The motivated person moves forward constantly and at a high velocity with the "accelerator pedal to the metal." You only have to point in the correct direction. The non-motivated individual needs a constant push from the back. If you don't watch them, they slow down, coast, and eventually stop, like an EV running out of power.
The motivated employee wants to do more, learn more, and be more. The non-motivated employees want to do less, learn less, or do nothing if possible.
This dichotomy highlights the importance of thoughtful hiring. Once you bring somebody on board, you better understand who that person truly is. Is that individual self-motivated and has the equivalent of a self-charging battery, or do you have to "charge them" often and deal with the high cost and maintenance?
Motivation Types
There are many types of motivation theories out there, including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self-determination theory, expectancy theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, fixed and growth mindsets, goal-setting theory, Herzberg's two-factor theory, and others.
This article will mainly focus on Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation, but I will also examine how we influence employee behavior using Positive and Negative motivation.
Intrinsic motivation refers to the drive to engage in an activity for its own sake and not for external rewards. It is self-driven, coming from within yourself, and it is fueled by personal interests, values, and goals. Getting things done brings you joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction. This is why it is essential to work on projects that you enjoy. It is easier to do great work when you have fun doing it.
Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, is when the main reason to work is for rewards or incentives. These can be money, praise, or maybe punishment.
Working for a bonus, raise, or reward is an extrinsic motivator. Also, fear of punishment is another one.
In other words, intrinsic motivation is driven by internal factors, such as the individual's own interest and enjoyment. Conversely, extrinsic motivation is influenced by external factors, such as rewards and punishment. Â
Negative and Positive Motivation
Managers can influence behaviors and reinforce motivation by using Negative or Positive motivation.
Positive motivation is when managers use positive reinforcement or rewards to encourage certain behaviors. They can be tangible (bonuses or raises) or psychological (praise or recognition).
Negative motivation is the type of motivation that is driven by the desire to escape negative consequences or punishment.
Positive motivation encourages you to move towards something good (carrot). Negative motivation prompts you to avoid something bad (stick)
From Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs perspective, Positive Motivation activates higher needs, while Negative Motivation stimulates lower ones. This is why negative motivation works short term as it threatens people's basic needs, and people will react out of fear of punishment. But it will not work long-term as people will only do the minimum work to avoid punishment and not much more.
Negative motivation is a short-term crutch for lazy managers. It doesn't take any particular effort, as you only need authority and a long stick. It may work short-term, but it has a good chance of creating a toxic culture and a decline in morale, hurting the long-term environment.
I don't believe in negative motivation at work. Yes, there will be some unique situations where negative motivation can be used as a last resort when employees don't respond to any other measure. But it shouldn't be used as the default measure. Positive motivation brings lasting effects and works well in any environment long-term.
Generally speaking, I believe there is more value in doing something good than doing something bad. I prefer the carrot to the stick, I guess.
The Motivation Quadrant
Managers can use either positive or negative actions to influence intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. If we combine these concepts, we end up with four different quadrants or models. Only one model works well, and if you or your employees are not in that quadrant, make plans to cross over there.
Enjoyment – this is the winner and, really, the only one that has lasting effects. People find pleasure in the activity itself and are driven to do it for its own sake. This is where you truly maximize the output of your team.
Rewards – people will do the activity for the rewards only. When the rewards are not up to par, they will not be motivated anymore. This may occasionally work when the rewards are psychological (praise, recognition) and people see growth in their role. Their primary drive may be to learn as much as possible in their role.
Disinterest – people in this group perceived their tasks as tedious or unenjoyable. There may be internally motivated but need rewards to keep moving. This is where managers must make adjustments and give their employees more suitable work duties. These are likely high-potential employees that are given non-challenging work.
Punishment – this is not the place you want to be. You get a double whammy by getting punished when you don't do something you don't want to do to start with.
Positive intrinsic motivation is the only option that works well. Despite this, some organizations actively carry out the other three types of motivations with inferior results. Negative motivation is a loser from the get-go. Also, continuously rewarding people for doing their job has limited usage.
Think about how you currently motivate your team and in which quadrant each employee falls. Make a plan to migrate them to the first quadrant whenever possible. This is hard work, but it is a win-win-win situation – for the employees, the organization, and yourself.
Best Practices to Keep Employees Motivated
What are some of the best practices we should keep in mind?
Don't apply negative motivation to your best employees; it will always backfire. Nurture them carefully instead and watch their growth.
Analyze employees' satisfaction and dissatisfaction separately, using Herzberg's dual factor theory. Understand what the factors that motivate people are. Also, consider when to do job enrichment vs. job enlargement.
Think about positive and negative motivation and apply it carefully at an individual level. Each of your employees will react differently to each input. Focus on positive motivation primarily but be ready to use negative motivation when all other options are exhausted. Change gears as needed.
People don't change; move on people quickly. People generally have a set point around which they will not move much. Once you decide whether somebody will work out or not, take action.
When somebody does not work out, accept it, decide quickly, and move on.
Vice versa, when you see the upward trajectory for a promising employee, don't wait until they reach a certain artificial threshold to give them additional responsibilities. Promote them now, if adequate, and let them grow from within their new responsibilities.
For motivated people, the journey matters the most, not the destination. They enjoy the ride itself and are not interested in the benefits that much. Once they reach their destination, they will set up new goals and get back on the ride.
People that are not motivated care about the destination more because that is where the rewards are, and they will make the minimum effort necessary to get there.
To sum up, the best way to motivate people is to genuinely care about them, help them, support them, and mentor them. This matters the most; if you approach it with the best intentions, you can live with the outcome. If you do it correctly, everything else will fall neatly into place.
I will leave you with two great quotes from Simon Sinek that exemplify how outstanding leadership impacts us.
We follow those who lead not because we have to but because we want to.
We follow those who lead, not for them but for ourselves.