Power of Intrinsic Motivation

Daniel Pink in his book Drive says that people would prefer activities where they can pursue three things.

1. Autonomy: People want to have control over their work.
2. Mastery: People want to get better at what they do.
3. Purpose: People want to be part of something that is bigger than they are.

Or as Leadership Consultant, Wally Bock, states, “This matches research that I've done with class members for over twenty-five years. They discuss a time when "it was great to come to work" and then create a description of what those times are like. The descriptions vary slightly in wording but always include the following.

Productivity
Community
Interesting and meaningful work
Clear and reasonable expectations
Frequent and usable feedback
Consistency
Fairness
Maximum control possible over work life

I'm describing the kinds of workplaces where intrinsic motivation happens. Pink is describing three things that provide that kind of motivation. In most highly effective workplaces, it's the boss that is the most important force creating an environment when intrinsic motivation can happen.”

Top management sets the basic compensation and benefits structure. If that isn't perceived as fair and consistent, natural intrinsic motivation won't kick in.

It’s your individual supervisor who has the biggest effect on your daily working environment. That's why there are pockets of excellence in otherwise horrible companies and why even the best companies have workers who are unhappy and teams that are unproductive.

In the real world, intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and their effects interact. You don't have a simple choice of which lever to pull. You have to understand and influence a complex system. To equate compensation as the only extrinsic motivator ignores praise, promotion, preferment (in scheduling), the admiration of peers, time off, and a host of other positive incentives.

Key Ideas that matter:

Key Idea: There is a difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

Key Idea: Intrinsic motivators are more powerful.

Key Idea: If you use monetary rewards to get people to perform the way you want, those rewards may have the opposite effect.

Celebrate Your Employee's Successes

Keeping your staff motivated and on task takes more than wishful thinking. Setting up a plan for employee recognition is one step toward making your workplace a more productive one. By instituting a well-planned and monitored success-recognition program, you will reinforce the positive work behaviors your company is seeking in its staff.

How to Celebrate Employee Achievements

Step1

Establish the criteria on which you will recognize your employees' successes. Most successful programs will be inclusive of all staff and should provide specific requirements for eligibility that are well outlined for both staff and management. The kind of success that is expected for the reward should be clearly understood by all.

Step2

Among the most successful ways to recognize employee excellence is a non- monetary reward. Whether it is based performance objectives or related to a predetermined milestone, a symbolic award helps to increase employee morale and connection to the company which ultimately enhances retention.

Step3

Rewards can be a team-building event by organizing a lunch or other event to which an entire department is invited. These kinds of rewards are best given at random intervals, so that they are not taken for granted by your staff.

Step4

Wherever possible include your company's brand with your employee recognition connecting the reward with your company and its culture. Making an award meaningful is important to the process.

Step5

Elevate the award beyond the mundane. Just as a gold watch, given to an employee for many years of dedicated service, may become a goal to which many aspire, but your reward system should offer items that are highly sought after, such as high-tech electronics, luxury brands or custom items which have symbolic meaning.

Step6

Recognize an individual employee's successes with a hand-written note reinforcing why the employee is being recognized. This note could then be used as entry in a points system, from which items of individual interest may be selected.

What is a Culture of Appreciation?

Employee recognition is a communication medium that rewards and respects the contributions that help make the company a great place to work. By recognizing your employees/co-workers effectively, you encourage and reinforce the very actions/behaviors that create a better working environment for everyone. An effective recognition system is simple, immediate, and powerfully reinforcing.

To continue with your cultural transformation, you need to promote a culture where informal and formal recognition become a part of the management philosophy across the entire organization. We need to start respecting our co-workers by simply saying:

Why Should it be Part of Your Culture?

Never doubt that recognition is the fuel that propels organizations past their peers. This is so, because appreciation engenders a sense of camaraderie, connecting employees to each other, their department and to their company. Simple signs of appreciation have been proven to:

Foster job satisfaction Build self-esteem Increase production Decrease absenteeism Attract the best candidates for a job

In order to become “better”, you need to retain the talented employees you already have and attract candidates who are looking at your organization as a place of future employment. You must strive to become “better” with every step that you take on your "great place to work" journey. Recognizing your employees is a proven way to make people feel good about themselves and hence their environment. In addition, a culture of appreciation can lower barriers to collaboration and reward mutual successes.

Different Forms of Recognition

"In good times, employee engagement is the difference between being good and being great. In bad times, it's the difference between surviving and not. In good times and bad, low engagement reduces performance and profit. And under the current circumstances, many companies can't afford to let those drop."

So what are these different types of recognition employees need? From Gallup’s “tips to help managers keep employees focused and engaged,” I see five types of recognition:

1) Recognition of effort – what we commonly understand as recognition for employees who go above and beyond expectations.

2) Recognition of skills and talents – noticing what each employee is good at and prefers to do, then giving them the opportunity to do it.

3) Recognition of the need for focus and direction – helping employees overcome the rampant rumors and focus on what you need them to do.

4) Recognition of personal needs – showing your employees you care about their well being by taking the time to understand them and their unique needs.

5) Recognition of the need to grow and develop – understanding employee needs to continue to learn something new and follow a career path in your company.

Is Your Company Committed to Engaging Employees?

Imagine working for a company where nearly 25% of the employees hate their jobs, over half (55%) of the employees are apathetic and uninterested and do just enough to stay employed. Only the remaining 20% do their job enthusiastically and care about the company’s future. Unfortunately, you don’t have to look far to find such a company. This is the profile of a typical US Company.

Why are today’s workers so disengaged?

A recent global survey by Towers Perrin gives some insight:

For employees, the real driver of engagement is the belief that a company cares about them. Senior management's interest in the well-being of employees is what most drives engagement, according to the survey.

For many employees, "caring" translates to providing opportunities for career development.

Other key factors to employee engagement are trust in the organization's leadership and feeling a sense of pride when workers see their organization's logo.

"Appreciation is the single largest driver of a company’s caring attitude.”

But employee appreciation must be aligned with what's important to the company.

Each employee wants to see a clear vision about where the company is going and to know "my supervisor plans my work around things that matter”. It motivates the American worker.

Workers feel their bosses and companies appreciate them, according to the survey, when they…

-- Believe their companies are great at showing appreciation to those who excel.

-- Observe senior management modeling the behavior.

-- Perceive a clear connection between recognition and goals of the organization.

-- Experience recognition as timely, personal and sincere.

Follow this link to see how your company measures up:

Five Signs Your Company is Committed to Engaging Employees