What really motivates employees? (It's not what you think)
Much has been written of late about “drive,” engagement, and humans’ inherent tendency to seek novelty and challenge. We like to explore and learn. We get excited about a cause or purpose beyond making money. In that we are social beings, group problem solving generates energy, positive emotions, and feelings of pride in having cracked the puzzle. But, we are still having difficulty in organizations understanding the subtleties of enabling people from the inside-out, rather than outside-in. How to tap into what really motivates people to perform well every day remains mysterious.
Like the private sector, governments have turned to sophisticated employee surveys to get inside the heads of employees with varying success. The results do provide clues and are useful for temperature checks. On the downside, surveys reflect group – not individual – views. Also, the results are often outdated by the time senior management is ready to implement changes. Surveys are blunt instruments for motivating employees and improving the “climate.”
Pay-for-performance is another tool borrowed from the private sector by government. The assumption is that external incentives work to spur employees to perform better than they might otherwise. This is semi-correct. It depends …
Recent research in neuroscience as it applies to management science has turned the tables on conventional wisdom. This article explores the newer wisdom about “performance management” through the lens of five common motivating factors. It provides practical guidance on how to “change up” each factor to improve performance – and reveals which one is the most important in complex work environments like government.
1. Recognition: For Tenacity
The common expression “the journey is as important as the destination” is not exactly right. The journey is far more important for motivation, positively or negatively. How recognition or praise is delivered enroute matters.
Praise for hard work, persistence, and working through difficulty appeals more to our inner motivations than what we have accomplished.1 Humans like big problems. We experience great satisfaction in rising to the occasion when the circumstances are difficult. A manager’s encouragement as the battle is unfolding is generally received well, if genuine. In that the intended results often have to change because of unexpected shifts in the environment, how we adapt is a much better measure of “success” and reason for recognition.
Praise for results still has a place as a means of celebrating after the fact because unexpected, positive, unconditional feedback motivates. It has less impact if the recognition is expected as a condition of achieving a specific result. Often, such recognition tends to short-circuit the decision-making process, potentially cutting off creativity.2,3
2. Incentives: Weak Returns
With the “war for talent” heating up as baby boomers retire, money has become one of the major attraction and retention tools for employers. Taking cues from the private sector, governments at all levels have been and are dabbling with pay-for-performance. But, there are dangers in this approach as it does not get to the heart of motivation and can be a de-motivator.
The majority of jobs now are non-routine requiring considerable cognitive skill in tackling complex assignments. The search for good solutions to unfamiliar problems is the source of intrinsic motivation, not money. Pay-for-performance and other related rewards tend to take the “fun” out of an interesting task, narrowing a person’s focus on the results. In turn, this encourages short-term thinking.4,5 Pay-for-performance works somewhat for routine jobs to make the drudgery worthwhile.6 But, overall, the best external pay motivator for most work today is fair wages.
3. Interpersonal Support: On the Upside
Managers are encouraged to be coaches and have “crucial conversations.” This is easier said than done. Any conversation bordering on the negative drives individuals’ brains to shut down, literally.7,8 Even constructive criticism is not well-received, as a rule of thumb. People experience such feedback as an attack on their status and pride, causing them to retreat into a defensive strategy.9
The more effective path for a manager is to inspire individuals and teams to get the work done. This means tuning into the emotions and issues of employees from their points-of-view. It entails working with people’s strengths, not weaknesses. Employees who are forced to do jobs where they are square pegs in round holes cannot give their best to an organization.10
A more fitting term for a manager that inspires is social intelligence. It shows up as having a genuine interest in and talent for fostering positive feelings in the people whose cooperation and support is needed.11,12 Instead of constructive criticism, the manager builds accountability by facilitating positive change.
4. Clear Goals: Employee-Led
Goal setting is vital in any circumstance to frame issues and provide the impetus to work toward something beyond the present. Our brains respond creatively to images of a new horizon or an improvement in our current circumstances.13 Furthermore, goals are a practical necessity to focus our attention, put aside distractions, and manage multiple competing interests.
If the goals are not owned by employees, success can be elusive. This limitation applies particularly in non-routine jobs in which the problems are well-known, but not the solutions. People are more successful in finding good solutions if they set and adjust the goals themselves.14 Aside from high-level corporate and departmental goals, those imposed by others (read: managers and the top leadership) are typically resisted and fail to generate “buy-in.” They also tend to limit deep thinking and yield dangerous side-effects such as unethical, short-term behaviour.15
A more effective role for a manager is to take the coach approach: asking lots of questions.16 This automatically shifts the dynamic to the self-generation of ideas, reducing resistance to change.
5. Support in Making Progress: The Power of Small Wins
Of the five factors, this last one is the most powerful motivator: being in an environment where managers provide the right resources, enable meaningful work, take down the roadblocks, and creatively facilitate the journey. The experience of “progress” – small or large – sparks positive emotions and perceptions about the organization, management, team, and self. In turn, the combined impact on a person’s inner work life drives innovative work and the desire to improve performance.17 The key is that the work must matter to the individual.
How can a manager keep motivation high using the “progress principle”? First, focus on what is left to accomplish (“to go”), rather than what has been completed (“to date”). Our brains are more vigilant and attentive when aware of a gap yet to be filled.18 Second, keep the purpose of the work front and centre in all communications. It is the “invisible leader” and unifying force, like a perpetual light guiding the “why” of work. A purpose commonly understood and shared elevates us to do good for the benefit of society, not just for ourselves. This is motivating in and of itself, making important each and every job that contributes to the whole.19, 20
We are all “tinkerers” at heart, so those who study evolution contend. We derive great joy out of inventing often from “spare parts.” We do our high fives when the seemingly unsolvable has been solved. We love to celebrate together. But, performance management has for too long focused on the negative. Most managers and employees do not welcome the task. In light of emerging neuroscience clearly telling us that negativity closes down our brains, and our openness to ideas and listening to others, no wonder we continue to struggle with managing performance.
New Ways to Engage, New Ways to Serve
It is time to use the opportunity to inspire people from within using “positivity” as a force for change. Positive emotions “broaden and build” by encouraging us to reach beyond what we know and to adapt. Positivity speeds up problem solving, leads to better solutions, improves accountability, and builds stronger organizational cultures.
If common purpose is the essential context, the most powerful managerial action for creating a positive culture is enabling progress. A by-product is a more durable, resilient organization. The resulting upbeat feelings build the personal strength to adapt to change.21, 22
The ripple effect of more reliable “performance management” goes direct to the community. With citizens knocking at government’s doors to be more engaged through social media and other means, they will encounter employees who willingly embrace new ways to serve. MW
1 D. Pink, (2009), Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Really Motivates Us, Penguin: New York, pp. 122, 67.
2 Ibid.
3 C. Jacobs, (January/February 2011), “Leading minds instead of managing behaviour,” Ivey Business Journal.
4 Ibid.
5 K. Murayama, et al., (October 20, 2010), Neural basis of the undermining effect of monetary reward on intrinsic motivation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
6 D. Pink, (2009), Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Penguin: New York, p. 62.
7 R. Boyatzis, (January/February 2011), “Neuroscience and Leadership: The Promise of Insights,” Ivey Business Journal.
8 D. Rock, (2009), Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long, HarperCollins: New York, pp. 212-213.
9 Ibid.
10 M. Buckingham, (1999), First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, Simon & Schuster: New York, pp. 94-96.
11 D. Goleman, (2006), Social Intelligence: Beyond IQ, Beyond Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books: New York, pp. 11-12.
12 D. Goleman and R. Boyatzis, (2008), Social intelligence and the biology of leadership, HBR Blog Network.
13 D. Rock, (2009), Your Brain at Work, HarperCollins: New York, pp. 209-210.
14 D. Pink, (2009), Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Penguin: New York, pp. 79, 90-91, 119, 122.
15 Ibid.
16 C. Jacobs, (January/February 2011), Leading minds instead of managing behaviour, Ivey Business Journal.
17 T. Amabile, and S. Kramer, (May 2011), The power of small wins, Harvard Business Review, p. 73.
18 H. Halvorson, (June 22, 2011), How to become a great finisher, HBR Blog Network.
19 P. Graham, ed. (1996), Mary Parker Follett: Prophet of Management, Harvard Business Review Press: Boston, pp. 56, 172.
20 S. Sinek, (May 2010), How great leaders inspire action, TED Talk video.
21 B. Fredrickson, (1998), What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2 (3), p. 307.
22 B. Fredrickson, (January 26, 2009), Positive emotions, YouTube video.
as published in Municipal World, October 2011
Linda Pickard is an award-winning designer of programs directed at developing the capacity of managers to excel in complex environments. Linda is President of Pickard & Laws and has a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Toronto.
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