This article is the first in a three-part series on employee motivation. If you want, you can jump ahead to Part 2 or Part 3.

I’ve mentioned in prior articles that the primary job of HR is to align employee behaviors with organizational strategies. To put it in the simplest terms possible, HR motivates behavior. Today’s article discusses some neat theories on motivation, and then dives into some practical ways you can begin to better motivate your employees today.

Motivation 101

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, I need to address a basic misconception about motivation. It’s very common to describe a person as either very motivated or unmotivated. While I will definitely agree that certain people have a disposition to be lazier than others, there’s no such thing as innate motivation (or lack thereof).

Motivation is context specific. A world class marathon runner is very motivated to train every day – but try to get him to stick to a weight-lifting routine for more than a couple of weeks. A professor of mine often shared a story about his nephew (let’s call him Drew). Drew was the kind of person that polite individuals would describe as “not the working type.” He spent a lot of time sitting on the couch or in front of his computer. It would be very tempting to call Drew unmotivated. But he also had an insanely large Led Zepplin collection – records, t-shirts, and a whole bunch of other Zepplin gear. Is Drew motivated to collect Led Zepplin items? Hell yes!

What’s the take-home from that story? When discussing motivation, the question isn’t “is this person motivated?”. The question is, “Are they motivated to do X?”, where X is, obviously, whatever you need them to do.

Expectancy Theory

Before we get into the practical aspects of motivation, we’re going to talk theory. The expectancy theory is well supported by research and (nerd alert!) is one of my favorite theories. It explains a person’s motivation to choose a particular behavior over others, given the choice of multiple possible behaviors. In other words, if they have a few choices (go to work today, stay home on the couch, or go to the beach), which one are they going to pick?

M = V x E X I

Motivation (M): How motivated will a person be to exhibit this behavior. The higher this variable is, the more likely they are to demonstrate the behavior.

Valence (V): The value a person places on the reward or outcome of exhibiting the behavior.

Expectancy (E): A person’s belief that they can exhibit the behavior needed to get the reward or outcome.

Instrumentality (I): A persons belief that if they exhibit the expected behaviors, they will actually receive the reward or outcome.

The combination of all three factors (valence, expectancy and instrumentality) determines a person’s motivation to behave a certain way. So what does this mean in practical terms?

Say your customer service is terrible, and you’re losing customers. You want your sales team to improve their customer service skills, and you’re offering a bonus for people who achieve a certain customer service score on your post-transaction surveys. Let’s evaluate a person’s motivation in this situation with the Expectancy Theory:

• Valence: Do they even value the bonus you’re offering? Is it time off, or is it cash? Perhaps it’s just a pat on the back and an ‘atta boy. If they don’t value the bonus you want to give them, it won’t motivate them to do anything. If they do value it, you’re off to a good start.
• Expectancy: Do your employees think that they can actually achieve high customer service scores? Do they have customer service skills, or do they think it’s not something they’re capable of? If they don’t think they can do it, they won’t be motivated to try.
• Instrumentality: This is where many, many companies get stuck in their reward and recognition programs. Your employees may value the reward, and may even think they can do what you need them to. But if they don’t think they’ll actually get a reward, it isn’t going to motivate them.

Demotivation: A Vicious Cycle

Instrumentality, or lack thereof, manifests in many ways in organizations. Sometimes, a reward program is applied inconsistently across departments. I’ve worked for companies where certain managers are more likely to recognize their employees than others. So, even if two employees exhibited the same behaviors, one would get a reward and the other wouldn’t. Managers who don’t take advantage of recognition programs kill their effectiveness and demotivate teams.

I’ve also worked for a company that had historically, over the last five years or so, never paid out a full bonus. As is common practice, they linked their bonus payouts to corporate achievement as well as individual achievement. That’s all good and well when your company is performing well, but when profit margins aren’t huge, it can have a substantial negative impact.

If you’ve read my article on evidence-based management, you already know how important data is to successful HR management. Studies have shown that the more your annual bonus is tied to company performance, the less likely it is to motivate your employees. That’s instrumentality at work. With the exception of small startups, employees generally feel like they lack control over corporate results. Therefore, they think that even if they do what they’re supposed to, they may not see their reward.

And that’s just what happened at my previous employer. I saw employees busting their asses off, succeeding at their individual goals, and then being paid only partial (and in some cases absolutely minuscule) bonuses at year end because of mismanagement in other areas. I certainly see the validity in not paying a bonus if your company is losing money. But if you’re seeing profits (albeit not where you want them to be), cutting employee bonuses can only hurt you in the long run. Demotivating your employees like that just leads to decreased individual and team performance, and ultimately decreased organizational performance. Do you see the vicious cycle forming?

In Part 2, I take a more in-depth look at how you develop rewards that people really value. I’ll also discuss how you identify performance gaps, and give you some ideas on how to fix them. Until then, I encourage you to start using the Expectancy Theory right now to analyze your reward and recognition programs.

How does your program stack up? Leave a comment below!