Dangle a carrot in front of a rabbit and wave a stick at the other end and you might get the intended behavior. However, dangle a people-sized carrot — i.e. money — in front of your employees and you’re in for a disappointment. While various motivational theories abound in the psychological world, only certain types are viable in the workplace. Discovering the best way to motivate employees is more difficult than you might think.
Beyond Carrots
Extrinsically based motivational theories typically use the reward and punishment model and do play a factor in workplace motivation –albeit a small one. Harvard psychologist Harry Levinson, author of “The Jackass Fallacy” reasons that this is because the manager is seen as manipulative and controlling while the subordinate is seen as stubborn and dumb — yes, like the animal referred to in his book’s title. To effectively motivate your team, it’s best to use a variety of intrinsically based motivational theories that focus on the internal motivation of each employee.
Best Motivation Theories
According to PayScale.com, the three best types of internal motivational theories are Merrill and Reed’s theory of Personal Styles, McClellan’s Theory of Motivation and Frederic Herzberg’s Motivation Hygiene Theory. In the first, employers are encouraged to identify the dominating personal style of each employee and then meet each style’s main need in order to motivate effectively. These include the Driver, Expressive, Amiable and Analytical styles.
McClellan’s Theory is similar to Personal Styles, only focused more on each person’s need rather than style. The needs are categorized under Achievement, Power and Affiliation.
Herzberg’s Theory operates under the premise that money (pay and benefits) is a hygiene factor and is only effective after the motivator factors (job enrichment, award and recognition) are in place.
Take Action
1. Make it personal. To learn the best way to motivate your employees, learn to recognize each team member as a unique individual. One way to help you do that is to ask employees to take a personality assessment designed for the workplace. The results typically outline inward motivations along with other aspects about the participant such as values, skills and communication styles. Once you obtain the results, seek to remember and apply what you learn to your communication style and expectations for the individual.
2. Enrich the work. Seek to make the work itself enjoyable for each employee. Open feedback channels, increase responsibility levels as an employee grows in your company and give your team the big picture so each member can see how he or she plays a part.
3. Reward success. While typical punish and reward motivational theories typically don’t work by themselves, rewarding an employee achieves results when other intrinsic motivation takes place. Take note of work well done and mention it in an email, company newsletter, in passing, or even by a quick trip to your team member’s desk. Offer gift certificates, cash bonuses and other tangible benefits to show you really do appreciate it.