The A-Z of Leadership: Motivation
Why extrinsic motivation doesn’t always work and why it can, at least in the long term, encourage bad behaviour!
Extrinsic motivation involves doing something because you want to earn a reward or avoid punishment.
Most companies reward their managament teams and employees for contributing to the success of the organisation (usually financial) as a whole. These rewards come in the form of bonuses, incentive events, gifts etc. Most companies attempt to incentivise employees in this way and that’s not an inherently bad thing. Of course, over time, the effectiveness of a bonus can decline as a motivator in that if it comes to be taken for granted it may no longer trigger the desired result.
Unfortunately, behaviour so incentivised, may actually be counter-productive and damaging to the company! A case in hand is what happened at a US bank back in 2016: Staff were incentivised to cross-sell to existing customers which unfortunately led to the creation of millions of fraudulent savings and checking accounts on behalf of clients without their consent! The company was fined a total of USD 185 mio by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and it continues to have legal, financial and reputation ramifications today. I suggest anyone involved in setting up incentive schemes study this case (I don’t haven’t named the bank but you can research it online)
Intrinsic motivation is different, it comes from within, intrinsic motivation involves doing something because it's personally rewarding to you.
Intrinsic motivation in a workspace environment is all about employees achieving their full potential when they are given freedom and responsibility over their work. By building a relationship of trust, you can, in turn, grant team members greater autonomy. People who get up on a Monday morning and look forward to the work week don’t generally do it due to extrinsic motivation. They look forward to learning new things, working together with colleagues to complete an exciting project, etc.
In summary, it can be said that while extrinsic motivation is helpful in certain situations, it may eventually lead to burnout or lose its effectiveness over time and one must be aware of the possible dangers. Intrinsic motivation is typically more effective long term for completing tasks and achieving goals in a way that makes you feel fulfilled.
To end here’s my favourite quote on motivation:
«When one is building a ship, one does not begin with gathering timber and cutting planks, but rather by arousing in people the yearning for the great wide sea.»
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Cheers, Nick