Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic Motivation

 

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We all have different reasons for the things we do. If we get up and exercise, it may be for health reasons, for vanity, to look better to potential mates, to fit into your clothes better, to win at team sports, to train..... well you get the idea. We may all do similar tasks but do them for different reasons. We all get up and go to work in the morning. We go to get paid, and for some of us that's the only motivation while for some of us the motivation is to go and do what you enjoy every day.

There are two types of motivation, Intrinsic and Extrinsic. It's important to understand the difference between the two. As a leader you can use both types of motivation with your teams successfully, but one works better over the long term than the other. One can be used consistently and one can only be used occasionally.  Combined they can make a powerful combination that keeps you or your team moving forward.  So what are these two types and how do they work?

Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is when you are motivated by something internally. It is something that you feel and are compelled to do without being acted upon by an external force. Extrinsic motivation is exactly the opposite. Extrinsic motivation pushes you to do something you may not have chosen to do on your own but are being forced into by an outside force.

Intrinsic Motivation Examples:

• You read the new legal thriller novel because you love the author
• You order sushi for dinner because it's your favorite food
• You get up early and ride your bike for 10 miles because you love the feeling you get

Extrinsic Motivation Examples:

• You read the new legal thriller novel because you have to write a report for school on it
• You order sushi for dinner, even though you don't want it, because your partner loves it
• You get up early and ride your bike for 10 miles because your doctor is telling you to exercise more

It's easy to see from these examples that two identical tasks might be completed for different reasons. Here's an easy way to identify the difference. Intrinsic comes from Internally and Extrinsic comes Externally. 

How Can Leaders Use Motivation?

Now that we know the two types of motivation and what they are, we can develop a strategy to use them to achieve things. I mentioned earlier that one type of motivation is sustainable over the long term and the other type can only be used occasionally and still be effective. Can you guess which is which?

If you guessed that intrinsic motivation is the type of motivation that can be used over the long term you were right! Why is this true and why do they work differently?

Intrinsic motivation, being something that comes from within a person, is something that is, by definition, not impacted an external force. As a leader you cannot create intrinsic motivation in your team. You can only provide an environment in which their intrinsic motivation allows others to succeed. In many leadership lessons and courses they tell you that you must understand what's important to your team. This is what they mean. You must understand what they are intrinsically motivated to do.

If you can identify the things that a potential job candidate, team member, peer etc are motivated to do, intrinsically, you can then work to align their goals and work around things that allow them to express this motivation. It's really easy to understand what they are motivated to do if you ask them directly. If for some reason you cannot, you can observe them and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Strengths are things that people are naturally good at, and usually enjoy doing more than other things. Align their work to their strengths and you not only get them doing something they love, but also doing something they have a knack for.

Extrinsic motivation is something that people are forced to do. A leader can create extrinsic motivation in a team fairly easily. In fact, many leaders and organizations use extrinsic motivation as their primary tool and struggle for it. Extrinsic motivation can be created by running a sales contest to reward the top sellers on a team. You can use performance results to determine who will get a big promotion. People have extrinsic motivation to show up and do a good job so they don't get put on performance improvement or lose their job. Society uses extrinsic motivation by creating laws and jails, which is probably a good way to show that extrinsic motivation is only so effective, because our jails are crowded.

A leader can use extrinsic motivation on an irregular basis to drive performance, but not a consistent basis. For example if you run a sales contest in January and provide a $500 bonus for the winner and then attempt to run the same contest in February, you are likely to see decreased effectiveness in February. Remember, that unless someone is intrinsically motivated to do something they will not be naturally driven to complete it. By providing a prize, you created excitement and drove them to perform outside of their natural comfort zone. This worked initially because it was exciting, but over the long term you experience diminishing returns. 

You cannot continue to push people to do something they wouldn't want to do naturally. A great example is in the movie Office Space. Peter is meeting with the performance consultants, The Bobs", and mentions that he has a motivation problem.  Here's the quote:

That's my only real motivation, not to get hassled.  Well that and not losing my job, but you know what Bob? That only makes someone work hard enough not to get fired.

This illustrates exactly why extrinsic motivation isn't sustainable. You only get enough out of people to keep them employed. They don't go the extra mile or do their best work. They do enough to not get hassled. 

How can you combine the two?

Leaders can combine the two by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their teams. They should also talk to their teams directly and understand what they get excited about, what they think they're good at and what they like to do. Then adjust their work around the things that they enjoy and are good at doing. If someone loves to give presentations while another team member lovees building presentations, you should align their work around those things. You can then place goals and targets on those tasks and they will be excited to go and achieve them.

Once you have a team that is working intrinsically successfully, you can sprinkle in intrinsic motivation. When you have the occasional odd request that is a priority but doesn't fit neatly into your team's strengths you can use a contest or reward for completing it. As long as this only happens once in a while the team will be excited for the momentary distraction and work to achieve it. Once they've hit that target, they must be allowed to return to their intrinsically motivated work in order to maintain their motivation.

Have you led a team that has struggled with staying motivated?  How did you handle it? Tell me!  Post below or contact me!