Stop trying to motivate people

While motivation is an important aspect of leadership, it is deeply misunderstood. Many leaders fall into the trap of believing that we can “motivate people”, either through motivational quotes or talks, or by offering them certain incentives. However, because these beliefs about motivation are wrong, leaders – despite their good intentions - engage in counterproductive behaviours, and most attempts to “motivate employees” fail.

Here, I invite leaders to challenge traditional approaches to motivation. I will discuss why leaders desperately fail in motivating people, the true nature of human motivation, and what can be done to help people flourish at work.   

Myth 1: People are either motivated or not 

This is a very common misconception. Many people fall into the trap of perceiving motivation as black or white, and believe that some people are motivated, some are less motivated, and others not at all. But motivation is not something we have or don’t have. We are all motivated, but by different reasons. Think of two people attending an after-work drink. The first person goes because she wants to socialise with colleagues and have a nice time with them, whereas the second person attends because he wants to gain his boss and colleagues’ approval, even though he doesn’t enjoy being there. Both of them ‘are’ motivated to go to the event, but they have different reasons.

So, instead of asking whether someone is motivated to do something or not, what we need to ask is ‘by what’ they are motivated. This will help us work on improving the ‘quality’ of the motivation, not its amount (more is not better when it comes to motivation). High-quality motivation is choosing to do something, while low-quality motivation is having to do it.

Myth 2: Leaders can and should motivate their people

We see this pressure on leaders a lot; they have the role of motivating people. The common expectation is that if you use the right tools, then you will be able to motivate everyone. But motivation is not something that should happen to people. That’s why leaders should not be accountable for motivating others, but rather for helping employees create a work environment that satisfies their psychological needs to the greatest extent possible and develop positive perceptions of their work. Employees should feel energised, psychologically safe, that they can use their skills to achieve something, that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves, and they have some control over their daily tasks. You might argue that all of these are part of motivating employees. Although I agree, I propose that by changing the way you perceive motivation and the language around it, things get easier for both the leader and the employees. Try replacing “motivating people” with “facilitating” and see what happens.

Myth 3: Rewards are effective in increasing performance

Leaders tend to exaggerate the effect of external rewards on long-term performance. 

Bonuses, weekend getaways, gift cards, and competitions with prizes are some examples. Some employees might be delighted to receive these incentives and would accept them if offered, but do they have an effect on performance? Not really. In fact, external rewards have the potential to kill employees’ enthusiasm and willingness to strive for goals. You might see short-term effects such as an increase in sales or productivity, but long-term aspects such as high performance, general wellbeing and flourishing might not change at all. Think about it: what if a person stops receiving the incentives? Because she’s used to the rewards, she might become disinterested and disengaged. But what if the reason someone displays effort is not receiving the reward, but love of what they are doing? Then the reward would be meaningless and might even backfire. Besides, incentives can be effective at the start of learning and engaging in new behaviours, but in the long term, they fail to help people maintain their progress. Motivation should stem from our personal values and purpose, not by status, money, or power. Motivation is at its best when we have the desire to succeed at something and to grow and learn, not to impress others or gain their approval.

Implications for Leaders

Ever wondered why employees report being energized on Friday and feeling down by Sunday afternoon, so that the mere thought of working has an impact on their wellbeing? The answer lies in the extent to which at least two of their psychological needs are satisfied. Most people feel a lack of autonomy at work, but experience more autonomy on the weekends by engaging in activities they freely choose and enjoy doing. Also, they get to connect with others more on the weekend, satisfying their need for relatedness. If you want people to have high-quality motivation, then make sure their basic psychological needs are satisfied. When their needs are satisfied, people will want to engage more, contribute more, and connect more. Then, they will not need an external force to motivate them.

Here are some action steps you can take to facilitate these needs: 

Relatedness

• Make sure employees have the chance to interact with each other and their managers in meaningful ways

• Allow and encourage moments of play and humour

• Introduce opportunities to serve others, such as volunteer mentoring activities

• Recognize employees’ contributions and support them

• Establish a trusting relationship and try to maintain it by being consistent

• Be more accepting about bringing your own emotions to work and encourage others to do the same

• Rather than imposing a competitive culture, encourage a cooperative and collaborative one

Competence

• Give employees sufficient responsibility, but realistic deadlines

• Help employees use their skills at work

• Provide a wide range of choices on how to achieve a task

• Provide an appropriate level of challenge (not too difficult, not too easy)

• Give regular constructive feedback on employees’ effort and progress, specifically focusing on behaviours and how to improve them

• Provide continuous learning opportunities

Autonomy

• Be more responsive to employees’ perspectives

• Give them choices regarding some aspects of their work, such as work schedule or methods used

• Include them in decision-making, especially when the decisions directly affect their work

• Show that what they think and feel matters and that a diversity of thoughts and emotions are appreciated

• Rather than telling them what to do, encourage them to figure out the best way to get the job done

• If things need to be done in a certain way, give reasons why

• Invite them to identify, develop, and operationalize their own values

Concluding Comments

Leaders should not underestimate people’s needs to learn, grow, flourish, and serve. These, not rewards, are the things that keep them going. Do not choose the easy way out and keep offering incentives; think about the bigger picture and the long-term positive effects that providing an environment and developing an attitude that fosters the satisfaction of psychological needs can have on your employees’ wellbeing, which will eventually result in higher performance.