Use Motivation to Drive Performance

 

Motivation at Work matters.  Employees that are motivated perform at a high level and work without a lot of supervision.  Employees that lack motivation at work require constant oversight and performance management.  How do you differentiate between the two?

Many people do not feel motivated at work.  They come to work every day, they clock in, they do what they need to do, and they go home.  In fact, this may be the pinnacle of performance for a majority of employees in some organizations.  Employees don’t start their new job thinking, “I’m going to do a really mediocre job!”.  They start, excited and ready to work.  They want to impress their new boss, make money and move up the corporate ladder.  So why do so many employees seem to be at work physically but mentally somewhere else? 

It comes down to motivation. There are two types of motivation, Intrinsic and Extrinsic.  Intrinsic motivation is when someone does something because it is personally rewarding to them.  Extrinsic motivation is when someone does something to earn a reward or avoid a punishment.  Intrinsic motivation works consistently and is easy to manage. Extrinsic motivation can be effective, but only in certain situations and is typically unsustainable.  

Intrinsic motivation are things that you do because they are personally rewarding.  You feel an internal drive to complete and do these things.  Even without a manager or goals you would want to do these. Here are some examples: 

1. You write a blog post because it makes you feel fulfilled to share 
2. You wash your car because you feel proud to drive a nice clean car 
3. You sell a lot of new products and services at work because closing the sale feels so good 

Extrinsic motivation are the things that you do because of an external force.  You are either getting a reward or avoiding a punishment.  These are not because you feel an internal drive to do them. Here are some examples: 

1. You write a blog post because you have a deadline and can’t leave for your vacation until its done 
2. You wash your car because it’s filthy and your spouse has been nagging you about it 
3. You sell a lot of new products and services at work because of a sales contest to win a big price 

Intrinsic motivation works when an employee’s talents are matched to the work they are doing, and the environment fosters their talent.  For example, if someone is highly talented at sales and believe in the product, they are selling they would be intrinsically motivated to sell. They are likely to have high performance in the role and enjoy the work they are doing. The manager will not have to be overbearing or micromanage the employee.  The employee enjoys what they are doing and comes to work with a smile.  Every day they strive to outperform their own performance and that of those around them because it brings them personal pleasure.  Their manager does not need to provide rewards or punishments to drive performance, they only need to ensure that they continue to create an environment where their employee’s intrinsic motivation can thrive and that they are using positive accountability to acknowledge the employee's positive performance and that you are grateful for it. 

Extrinsic motivation only works in limited situations and typically for short periods of time.  If we have an employee that has talents that are not aligned with their job or don’t believe in the product or mission of their role, they are unlikely to excel. In fact, their performance is most likely to be middle of the road or poor.  Their direct leader is going to need to constantly manage this employee and will feel compelled to use extrinsic motivation to get performance. Their leadership will typically try two strategies to motivate their employee.   

They will try a reward.   

This is typically a contest or bonus for strong performance.  Sell X amount of product and you’ll win $100 or a gift card to dinner etc.  These can work in the short term if the reward is significant.  The employee will work hard and outside of their comfort zone to make the result happen to win the reward.  However, once they’ve won their performance will immediately return to normal.  The manager may run the contest again only to find that performance does not improve again.  For the contest to work again the prize must become bigger and bigger, otherwise the employees become desensitized to winning.   

They will try punishment. 

This is a threat to make something unpleasant happen to the employee if they don’t perform as required.  Just reading that you can probably feel why this isn’t going to work.  The relationship between manager and employee will become adversarial instead of collaborative.  Their primary motivation at work will not be to perform at the highest level, but at a level high enough to get their manager off their back.  This performance, usually mediocre, is only going to be sustainable if the punishment remains scary enough to keep the employee pushing.  Eventually they will become desensitized to the performance and start to slip.  Once this happens the employee will quit on their own or need to be performance managed out. 

If you have an employee that has the right talent for the role and they can believe in the mission of their role and organization, congratulations, you have someone that will perform at a high level.  Keep them happy by creating a positive environment and they will continue to do a great job for you.  If you have an employee that is a talent mismatch for their role and/or don’t' believe in what they’re doing, you must act quickly.  If you’ve identified them as wrong for the role you need to help them move on as quickly as possible to their next role so that you can hire someone right for the position. If that role exists within your organization help them move into that position. If the right role doesn’t exist for them in your organization, have an honest conversation about their match for the role and let them know that you will help them find their next role.  Give them a definitive end date and immediately start the search for a replacement. 

Have you implemented these strategies or been on the receiving end?  Tell us how it went in the comments below!