Aug 08
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The Four Rewards of Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic (internal) versus extrinsic (external) motivation
A significant contributor to a state of CEOFlow is an environment in which employees are motivated primarily intrinsically by their own work, enjoyment and purpose (all in alignment with the organization of course!)…rather than motivated primarily by extrinsic motivators like fear, exaggerated incentives or control.
While 100% intrinsic motivation may not be realistic, work towards an intrinsic/extrinsic motivators balance of 80/20, 90/10 or 95/5.
Sustainable growth and momentum
In the first situation, an intrinsically motivated environment / “pull management” system, the organization is not unhealthily dependent on the CEO. The CEO can step away or turn their attention to other things and the growth machine will keep on keeping on! For example, the same system and team structure I created at salesforce.com is still going strong, three years after I let go of the reins. I was especially proud of how the team didn’t miss a beat when I moved on. Even though I was still withing salesforce.com, they didn’t need me.
“What have you done for me lately?”
In the second situation, a company dependent on external motivators and control and “push management system”, the company is highly dependent on the CEO. As soon as employees lose sight of the carrot or stick then everything likely either stops or runs off the rails (not instantly, but the bigger the company the slower the degeneration because of inertia). Thus, the CEO can’t let the pressure up -“what have you done for me lately?”
Kenneth Thomas’ “Four Intrinsic Rewards”
Kenneth Thomas is a professor of management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. He’s the author of a book called “Intrinsic Motivation at Work – Building Energy & Commitment”. One of his golden nuggets is a matrix of “The Four Intrinsic Rewards”:
- A Sense of Choice
- A Sense of Competence
- A Sense of Meaningfulness
- A Sense of Progress
Here’s a summary of how he describes each:
1. A Sense of Choice
Do employees have a say in how their work is executed? Or an opportunity to select roles/tasks that they feel are a good fit for them? Or are they in rigid, predefined career paths or job descriptions, with little room for them to choose where to go or how to perform?
2. A Sense of Competence
This is the sense of accomplishment and job-well-done that an employee feels after skillfully performing responsibilities they’ve chosen. Even if the job is skillfully performed, the sense of competence can be sabotaged by the common attitude of “nothing’s ever good enough” – either from managers or coworkers.
3. A Sense of Meaningfulness
Do employees feel their roles and tasks are part of a higher purpose, that there is meaning in them? Is it worth their time and energy? Not just the elite employees – but everyone, the line workers, the janitors, the assistants. Meaningfulness, like other energies and attitudes, is infectious.
And yes, even the coin-driven salespeople should connect with meaning. The true, pure coin-operated salespeople a) are the ones closing customer that you don’t want because of their enormous integration/delivery/support costs, and b) when the coins stop coming, that salesperson’s going.
4. A Sense of Progress
This is both a sense of task/project progress, as well as personal development progress. Is the time and energy of your people, applied to their tasks and areas responsibilities, making a difference? Are they making progress or treading water?
Today, it’s common for task overload to lead to an environment of busyness and clutter…and a palpable feeling of “everyone’s so busy, we can’t get anything done.” Likewise, at the end of the year, it’s common to feel the guilty feeling of “oh – we’d better do some employee reviews.”
