This article is part of the Renegade Manifesto Series.
When you recruit people, train them, and lead them, understanding what motivates them is really important.
Most companies fixate on what’s called instrumental motivation – things like merit increases, cash bonuses, free days of vacation and so on. It’s carrot and stick management.
Does it work? Sure. Almost everyone is motivated at least somewhat by money.
If this is the only way you motivate your employees, though, you’re missing a huge opportunity. There are four other “types” of motivation:
- Intrinsic
- Internal Validation
- External Validation
- Goal Identification
Tapping into these other four – particularly intrinsic and goal identification – is how you move beyond just motivating your employees and start inspiring them.
Intrinsic Motivation
When you think about intrinsic motivation, it’s important to separate “doing” from “succeeding.” Someone who’s truly intrinsically motivated likes the actual act of doing something, whether or not they’re any good at it or reach any sort of goal.
For example, I occasionally like to go to mini-golfing. I’m absolutely terrible at it, and don’t really care if I get better or not. I don’t care if I win or lose, how many strokes it takes me to sink the ball, or even if I played better than last time.
On a beautiful summer night, engaging in the maddening ritual of trying to get a tiny ball into a little plastic cup is a pretty good time. I’m intrinsically motivated to play mini-golf. If I played to get better, or enjoyed winning, that would be a different kind of motivation that I’ll talk about in just a moment.
If you can place your employees in roles that they genuinely enjoy, they will work harder and be substantially more engaged than if they’re doing the job just for the money. The trick, of course, is to put them into a role they both enjoy and are good at. In other words, don’t hire me to be a professional mini-golfer!
Internal and External Validation
These two types of motivation are actually pretty similar. People motivated by validation like knowing and hearing that they’re good at things that they want to be good at.
Going back to my mini-golf example, if I played a lot with intention of getting better, I would be motivated by validation. If I liked basking in the glory of crushing my friends in a game, I would be externally motivated. But if just knowing that I played better than last time drove me to play harder, I would be internally motivated.
For people who are driven by internal validation, this means placing them in stretch assignments. Give them the opportunity to shine.
For people who are driven by external validation, recognition is very important. Celebrate success! If you don’t have a system in place to publicly recognize the accomplishments of your people, develop one today!
Goal Identification
Goal identification is a really powerful thing. It occurs when a person so strongly identifies with your organization’s mission that they will do things just to see that goal realized.
This is how many non-profits recruit and retain their employees. Right now you may be thinking, “That works great for companies that make cool products, like Apple. We make widgets. Who’s going to get excited about that.”
You’re right. No one cares about widgets. The trick is not to get people to rally around the goal of selling more widgets. You need another goal.
Zappos is an excellent example of company that inspires their employees through goal identification. Zappos sells shoes. Online. (Actually, now they sell more than shoes, but you get the idea) Not very sexy.
Zappos’ goal is not to sell more shoes. It’s to provide the best customer service. Ever. They actually tell their call-center reps that their one job is to “Delight customers.” Zapponians, as they call themselves, deliver happiness. That’s a goal a lot of people can get behind.
So how do you make this work for you? Think back to your UVP. Do you compete on quality? Customer service? Use these as your goals. Tell employees their goal is to make the highest quality product possible, or to delight your customers.
This has a fantastic side-effect, too. When people know what their goal is, they can start making their own decisions about a lot more things. “Will this result in a higher level of customer service? No? Then I shouldn’t do it. Yes? Good, I can move ahead.”
You’ll be amazed at what your people do when they’re working towards a goal that’s bigger than they are!
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I would submit that you are not “intrinsically motivated” to play mini-golf – you are motivated to have a good time outdoors with friends and family. Golf is simply the mechanism to achieve the true goal. You could probably say the same thing about Bocce Ball, Lawn Darts, etc.
Just like in the workplace we confuse the activity with the motivation. We believe people are motivated to “insert goal here” but forget that those activities are typically vehicles for the true motivation.
I think your second example of validation is the real thing for most people. Knowing whether a wants/needs external vs. internal validation is key. I would also suggest that in almost every case, regardless of the initial driver (internal/external) recognition of growth, change, success is required. Even if I do something for myself – it is always better if someone else recognizes it as well.
I really liked the validation angle.
@Paul – this doesn’t happen much, but you’ve completely changed my perspective on intrinsic motivation (well done!). You’re absolutely right. I don’t enjoy the process of playing mini-golf as much as I enjoy the fun I derive from being with friends and family. I also love snowboarding (though I’m only ok at it). I enjoy that I’m outside being active more than I enjoy the actual act of snowboarding.
Your comment reminds me a lot of a recent presentation by Tony at Zappos about how almost everything people do is motivated by a desire to be happy.
And I think validation, both internally and externally, is where organizations and managers can get the most bang for their buck. Thanks for the comment – and rocking my thought process a bit this morning.
Chris