The motivational research concludes that money is not a sustainable motivator, with one exception: people expect to be paid the market value of the job. If someone is significantly underpaid, more money corrects that problem. After that, money alone doesn’t provide long term motivation or job satisfaction. In fact, recent research reveals that money as a motivator is a mixed-bag. Money used to control people is a demotivator. Conversely, rewards that affirm self-worth and meaning can be highly motivating. Read on for the three top motivators and four steps to motivate your team in 2023.
Three Top Motivators
Decades of motivational research reveals the most powerful motivators build:
- Positive Self-Worth
- Personal Accomplishment
- Meaning and Significance
Four Steps to Motivate Team
These intangible motivators inspire huge effort. Consider this, volunteers willingly contribute their time and energy toward a meaningful mission. Bikers, swimmers, and runners achieve personal accomplishment. Artists and musicians pursue their art for the personal satisfaction of excellence. Much of human behavior is driven by non-material motivators.
Anyone who successfully connects professional work to personal motivators will motivate their workforce. So, how does one do that? Here are four steps:
- Learn about Individuals
Find out how people spend their free time. Where a person spends their time and resources reveals personal motivators.
- Use Helpful Tools
Assessments can be useful in understanding core motivators. The DISC assessment is extremely helpful. It reveals workstyle and foundational drives. Feel free to download a sample DISC and my FAQ on the best assessments.
- Tie the Personal to Professional
Connect the personal motivators to the mission and value of individual work, and work of the team. People want to matter! They want their work to be meaningful. Show how it’s meaningful with both verbal affirmation and rewards.
- Wrap Everything in Care
Recent research reveals that intention is critical to motivation. Rewards that show appreciation, and build significance are motivating, but incentives that aim to control backfire.
And….contact me to discuss specifics on motivating your team for 2023. As they say: “devil is in the details”. Let’s talk about your details.
