No matter the size of your organization, having a team of motivated, hard-working employees is crucial to your business success. When people lose their motivation they become less focused, less productive, and less creative, all having a negative impact on the bottom line. The challenge today is that motivation is changing. A previous post entitled “The New World of Work” examined the dynamic changes that are upon us in the workplace and with regard to motivation, managers and leaders need to adapt as well.
Finding out everyone’s individual motivators and catering to them can be a constructive approach in the short term. Yet on the flipside, creating and fostering an environment that is conducive to people motivating themselves, may yield much larger returns in the long run.
Examining this issue further, the Harvard Business Review published an article this month, discussing a new motivational model targeting every person’s innate emotional drives. These four drives underlie the every action that we take.
- The drive to acquire (obtain scarce goods, including intangibles: social status, etc.)
- The drive to bond (form connections with individuals and groups)
- The drive to comprehend (satisfy our curiosity and master the world around us)
- The drive to defend (protect against external threats and promote justice)
The theory (backed by evidence) is that since these drives are ingrained into our minds, the degree to which they are satisfied conversely affects our emotions and behavior. The authors suggest that as a managers and leaders, we need to attend to all four of the drives to truly impact employee motivation.
How do we do that you ask? The article suggests that for each drive there is a primary lever that we need to use in order to maximize fulfillment. The following table matches each drive with its corresponding lever, and suggestions of actions to be considered.
© 2008 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation
When each lever is properly executed, the model motivates because the actions taken on all fronts reinforce one another - a holistic approach, setting the stage for intrinsic motivation.
Instead of asking yourself: How can I motivate my employees? Ask: How can I create an environment that is conducive to my employees motivating themselves? Chances are if you address all four drives above, you are off to a good start…
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