Sometimes it’s tough to be a manager. Your boss expects your department to hit key performance indicators and tight deadlines. And you can’t possibly meet these expectations on your own — that’s why you need your team to step up and perform at their best.
But even if you’re passionate about your job, your employees may not feel the same. Only 34% of workers said they felt engaged at work in 2021, and 17% said they felt actively disengaged and had zero enthusiasm or dedication toward their job.
And employees with low job satisfaction are expensive. They have a higher rate of absenteeism, are less productive than their more engaged counterparts, and contribute little to the company’s overall profitability. When all is said and done, an unengaged employee will cost your organization up to 34% of their annual salary simply due to poor performance.
It’s in your best interest to motivate your team properly. You could use a “carrot and stick” approach, using external rewards and deterrents to incentivize good performance and discourage bad performers.
While this kind of extrinsic motivation has a time and a place, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Each employee has a personal reason for doing their job. They may love the sense of accomplishment from an empty to-do list, socializing with their colleagues, or feeling part of a larger mission.
If you can identify and understand their internal motivations, you can inspire them to step up and perform at their best.
Here’s a closer look at the advantages of intrinsic motivation, how they work, and how they can benefit you, your company, and your employees.
Why is intrinsic motivation important?
There are two types of motivation. The first, extrinsic motivation, refers to the external factors that drive a person to do something. This includes incentive, fear, power, and social motivators — all of which encourage a certain behavior through external pressure.
For example, your favorite snack could be your incentive for completing a workout, and fear of getting in trouble might motivate you to meet your deadline.
Intrinsic motivation at work is rooted in self-determination theory, which stems from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory. These philosophies hold that people can motivate themselves to perform a task for its own sake if it aligns with their interests, passions, and personal values.
Subtypes include learning, attitude, achievement, creativity, and physiological motivation. If you’re motivated by achievement, the only reward you need is a job well done.
Extrinsic motivators work best as a short-term solution to poor employee engagement. If workers only complete their tasks to earn a quarterly bonus (an external, tangible reward), they may step up for a while. But they’ll stop working hard when the monetary reward is no longer big enough to justify the extra effort.
Intrinsically motivated people stay engaged for longer. They find personal satisfaction in their work, which carries them through even the toughest challenges. For example, someone who thrives off of helping others (an intrinsic value) will stay motivated if they can see the benefits of their contributions — even if it’s in the worker’s best interest to give up.
This makes intrinsic motivation crucial to any good team management strategy. If you can create conditions that nurture your team’s natural desires, they’ll reward you for your efforts. Here are some of the benefits of intrinsic motivation at work:
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Loyalty and dedication to the company. When a company supports an employee’s internal values and motivations, the employee will feel more at home. This translates to a higher commitment from the worker to the organization.
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An intrinsic motivation to learn. People who care about their work are always looking to improve. They see personal and professional development as a way to further act on their personal beliefs and values.
How to leverage intrinsic motivation
Keeping a team motivated isn’t easy. You’ll have to use your creativity, empathy, and communication skills to build meaningful relationships with your employees. As you get to know them, you’ll start to understand what drives them and adjust their work accordingly. If you can create a positive environment that supports everyone’s intrinsic motivators, everyone will benefit.
Here’s what you can do to support your team.
1. Ask about their personal interests
Try to learn about your employees’ lives outside of work. Don’t pry; many people like to maintain boundaries between their work and personal life. But small talk can teach you a lot about how a person likes to spend their time, providing a window into their personal beliefs and values.
For example, if one direct report plays competitive basketball on weekends, he might also enjoy friendly competition at work. To indulge his inner competitor, you could regularly update him on your team’s performance compared to other departments. This would help him feel like his contributions will help your team outperform others, boosting his motivation to succeed.
2. Indulge your team’s passions
Everyone on your team joined your business for a reason. If you can figure out what inspires someone, you can assign work that matches their interests.
Your graphic designer may spend a lot of time creating images for social media — even though her true passion involves creating prints and cartoons. You won’t always be able to assign her passion projects, but you can craft opportunities for her to create larger designs for your company. This will not only make her happy, but she may also learn new skills that will be useful in other tasks.
3. Limit external rewards
The occasional donuts in the break room can help show your gratitude for everyone’s hard work. But as soon as you tie such rewards to performance, you risk eroding people’s intrinsic motivators in favor of short-term benefits.
Save your external rewards for special moments. You can give someone a gift card for exceeding sales targets or for working extra hours to meet a last-minute deadline. However, the rest of the time, you should focus on fostering people’s intrinsic motivators. Giving kudos and celebrating accomplishments is a great way to recognize contributions without relying on rewards.
4. Understand your own motivators
Team culture starts at the top. If you’re motivated primarily by extrinsic rewards, your team will be, too. Find value in your work for other reasons, and your passion will rub off on your employees.
Consider these examples of intrinsic motivation:
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You may love the mentoring component of being a manager. Your passion for teaching will come through in your staff one-on-ones.
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If you care deeply about your company’s mission, you’ll do a better job of including your team in the big picture.
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You might love spreading positivity and a can-do attitude. This will translate to a strong work ethic and team spirit among your staff.
Your passion is contagious, so lean into it.
The right incentives will unlock employee motivation
External motivation is useful in short bursts. It can help employees run that extra mile, finish that final task, or proofread a document one more time. But as the stressors pile up, team members may wonder if the pizza party at the end of the month is worth the trouble of reaching milestones.
Eventually, the effort will outweigh the potential benefit, and they’ll step back for the sake of their well-being.
Intrinsic rewards are the solution here. Whether you’re trying to motivate yourself or your employees, you must lean into the things that make your job special. If you love mentoring, find opportunities to teach.
If you’re passionate about climate change, introduce sustainability initiatives at the office and lead your company’s environmental committee. Indulging your internal reward system will help reignite the spark in your work life.
The same holds true when motivating your employees. Pay attention to what drives them, then help them put their passions to good use. Then you will start to see the advantages of intrinsic motivation: better performance retention and mental health.
Your employees are less apathetic than you think. If you take a moment to listen, you’ll find they’re passionate individuals. You just had to look beneath the surface to see it.
