• What are three actions a manager can take to ensure they are providing motivational "health food" to your employees.

Optimal Motivation

Susan Fowler

When it comes to motivation, the reason you are motivated is what matters. Imagine you have 10 sales reps. According to motivation science, all 10 sales reps are motivated, but maybe in different ways. Why your reps are motivated leads to a spectrum of six motivational possibilities called "motivational outlooks." Understanding the spectrum of motivation is important because the difference between outlooks has empirically proven implications on results, both short and long term. 

Three of the six motivational outlooks are considered suboptimal. The disinterested motivational outlook is when people cannot find value or meaning in what they're doing. Or they might just be going through the motions because they're overwhelmed. The external motivational outlook is when people are motivated by the promise of tangible or intangible rewards. Tangible rewards are carrots, such as incentives, bonuses, spiffs, or prizes. Intangible rewards include the promise of power, status, or image. The imposed motivational outlook is when people are motivated by pressure, fear, guilt, or shame. They do what they you ask because they're afraid of what might happen if they don't. If the external motivational outlook is the carrot, the imposed motivational outlook is the stick. The suboptimal motivational outlooks are considered low-quality motivation. They're like motivational junk food, and like junk food, people might get an energy spike, but just as quickly, they crash.  So they're unable to sustain positive effort over time. There's a price to be paid for motivating people with more carrots and heavier sticks, in the form of diminished creativity, innovation, health, and wellbeing.

But three of the six motivational outlooks are considered optimal. The aligned motivational outlook is when people are able to align their goal to a significant value, such as learning, being of service, or problem-solving. The integrated motivational outlook is when people are able to connect their goal to a noble purpose, or contribute to something greater than themselves. The inherent motivational outlook is when people simply find their goal of interest, but they're not even sure why. They might just enjoy it, find it fun, or be willing to pursue the goal for no reward other than what they get from doing it. The optimal outlooks are considered high-quality motivation. They're motivational health food. A recent study reveals that people with optimal motivation are signficantly more likely to have employee work passion with the intention to perform above expected standards, to stay in the organization, and endorse it, and use citizenship behaviors and their discretionary effort on behalf of the organization. 

Understanding the spectrum of motivation means understanding that people are always motivated. The question isn't if, but why they are motivated. Your opportunity lies in helping people identify their current motivational outlook, and then facilitating their shift from suboptimal to optimal motivation.