To see most corporate leaders trying to motivate their employees, you’d think the field was swathed in foggy mystery. I’m surprised I haven’t yet seen anyone chanting over the entrails of a goat as they try to figure out the sublime black art of employee motivation.
Silly rabbits.
Fact is, we know a HUGE amount about what motivates people and why. But before we get to that, let’s look at the sad and silly strategies that are still tried, for reasons unknown, despite the fact that we KNOW they don’t work.
I call them the Three Fs—fear, facts, and financial reward.
Myth #1: That employees can be frightened into motivation
Want people motivated to work hard and well? Threaten ’em! That’s the reasoning behind this first myth. And it works just about as well as threatening children to get them to behave—not very well.
One problem with motivation by fear is that it only works so long as the stick remains overhead. The moment the stick is removed from view, all bets are off. Like most negative reinforcements, it has no staying power.
Another disadvantage of the fear factor is the low-quality thinking we do under its influence. Research in several fields has demonstrated that our decisionmaking, our work quality, and our judgment go straight down the drain when we are afraid.
So if it’s low-quality work, poor decisions and bad judgment you want from your workers, keep ’em scared of losing their jobs, demotion, or any of the hundreds of other negative incentives employers try. But please don’t expect motivation to come from it.
Myth #2: That employees can be informed into motivation
This is what I call, confusingly, the fact myth—the idea that we can motivate employees simply by giving them facts and figures and numbers and projections.
Now don’t get me wrong. Keeping your employees in the loop about what’s going on in the company and where you’re headed is a key part of employee engagement.
But that’s the beginning of a motivation strategy, not the end. It lays the foundation for a broader effort to give the employees a greater feeling of ownership and connection to the vision of the company.
Information by itself is not emotional, and motivation is about achieving and maintaining an emotional connection between the employee and the company. Once you’ve achieved that connection, once employees feel a sense of ownership, then they will care about, even THIRST for, all that yummy data.
Myth #3: That employees can be paid into motivation
This is the big one, the myth that wouldn’t die. One study after another shows that while fair compensation is important, employee engagement and motivation do not go up substantially as compensation increases AFTER the point of fairness.
Motivation stems not from dollars but from more personal factors. An employer who cares enough to listen. Clear, consistent expectations. A sense of the importance of their work. Opportunities for advancement. Good relationships with others in the workplace, especially the supervisor. Regular feedback. Celebration and rewards for success.