Intrinsic Motivation and Engagement
Intrinsic motivation and engagement are keys to building sustainably high-performing teams.
Intrinsic motivation is often mistaken for extrinsic motivation – a drive that comes from externally motivating factors such as compensation or rewards, and engagement is often mistaken for hours worked.
In reality, intrinsic motivation and engagement are the internal, emotional drivers – the “why” behind an individual committing to their work and employer.
“Intrinsic motivation is the individual’s desire to perform the task for its own sake.”
“Gallup defines employee engagement as the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace.”
More on Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation has three key drivers (or pillars) originally from the Cognitive Evaluation Theory of Motivation and more recently popularized by Daniel Pink.
Mastery: information to increase competence
Autonomy: self-determination
Purpose: connection
Extrinsic motivation is defined as a contingent reward. Benabou and Tirole report that extrinsic motivators “have a limited impact on current performance, and reduce the agent’s motivation to undertake similar tasks in the future.” For sustained performance managers and leaders should focus on the pillars of intrinsic motivation.
Mastery
Information, competency, and anything that allows one to gain mastery and achieve success is a powerful and dynamic motivator.
Feedback, whether positive or constructive is intrinsically motivating because it is information that one can utilize to understand how to build mastery and be successful.
Training, development, growth, and opportunities to learn are all often coined as intrinsic motivators because they help to increase mastery.
Transparency, open dialogue, and information sharing are often associated with successful leadership because doing this also helps to increase mastery.
Autonomy
Autonomy or self-determination is an intrinsic motivator because it gives an individual control, this is based on the Self-Determination Theory.
Autonomy comes up in successful change management – when someone is a part of the decision to make a change, the change is more likely to be successful.
This need for control can also drive success and accountability. If the individual feels they have a say in the decision-making process, outcomes, and deadlines, they are more likely to be bought in and motivated to get the work done.
Autonomy is not an all-or-none facet. As a manager and leader, draw awareness to how many decisions you control and where your team members have opportunities to be autonomous and take part in decision-making.
Purpose
This is connection, it is the “why” things matter and how they interrelate.
Compensation can be an intrinsic motivator when it connects values between work and personal life. ”I work because I am trying to buy a house and need a big bonus this year to get my first family home.” The motivator is not income, the intrinsic motivator is the value of family or support.
The connection is often value-based. When a company or team's values connect to someone’s personal values it drives purpose to do the work.
Purpose or connection, in its simplest form, answers the question “why?” Why someone should work, complete a project, show up to meetings on time, etc. The why drives motivation. This is why great leaders lead with a why, with a purpose.
More on Engagement
Engagement or the emotional connection to work is not measured by how early someone shows up, how many hours they work, or if they meet expectations. Engagement is measured by an emotional connection.
Culture Amp, one of the leading employee engagement tools, measures engagement by:
Pride in one’s company
Willingness to recommend the company as a great place to work
How often they look for another job
If they see themself working there in two years
Whether the company motivates them to go above and beyond
There are plenty of external factors that impact someone’s ability to get to work early, work long hours, or show up 100% every day. An employee's true engagement goes beyond this. Think about aggregate engagement over time.
It is the employees who align with the company’s mission, product, service, and customers, that reliably deliver solid work over time. Think of the employees who check in with new hires without asking and regularly engage cross-department, these are the employees who are truly engaged. Engaged employees are the company’s champions more than workhorses.
Read further
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999, December). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effect of extrinsic ... Research Gate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12712628_A_Meta-Analytic_Review_of_Experiments_Examining_the_Effect_of_Extrinsic_Rewards_on_Intrinsic_Motivation
Pink, D. (2009). The Puzzle of Motivation. Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation?referrer=playlist-the_most_popular_talks_of_all
Benabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2003, January). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation. Princeton University. https://www.princeton.edu/~rbenabou/papers/RES2003.pdf
Culture Amp. (n.d.). Guide to defining employee engagement - culture AMP Support Guide. Engagement + Experience. https://support.cultureamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204539759-Guide-to-defining-employee-engagement
Sinek, S. (2022). Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action. Ted Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en.
