The Secret To Workplace Motivation

“I was stuck, and it sucked. I felt unheard and used. I was a cog in the wheel of the big engineering firm and didn’t feel I had an opportunity to grow. It was a defeating feeling, and I wanted more for myself.”

In February 2007, after a decade of working for big firms, Rick started his own firm to create opportunities for himself and the people around him. Rick wanted to create a different type of firm, one that truly cares about and invests in the future success of each employee.

Nine years later, he’d built a strong team around him, yet something was missing.

Every time he felt like the business was about to take a big leap forward, they took two steps back.

Whether it was dropping the ball on a client request or teams not being held accountable for following safety measures on job sites, Rick found himself constantly stepping in and putting out fires. He couldn't keep up.

Why weren’t his leaders taking ownership of their work?Why did they need constant supervision?

To get a clearer picture of what was happening, let’s first take a look at what drives people to take ownership of their work and to work autonomously and efficiently.

What Drives Human Motivation?

In the 1970s, Edward L. Deci and Richard Ryan began mapping the types of motivation inspiring people to operate at their best. Deci and Ryan identified two main types of motivation that drive all humans. Intrinsic motivation is when a person's desire to complete a task or project comes from within and is driven by their own internal enjoyment, curiosity or sense of purpose. Extrinsic motivation is when an individual is driven to complete a task or project for an external reward or fear of repercussion.

Deci and Ryan found extrinsically motivated individuals did the bare minimum to receive their reward or avoid repercussions, while intrinsically motivated individuals gave extra effort and energy to complete the task and felt energized to take on more related tasks.

If intrinsic motivation energizes individuals to work harder and give extra effort, how do you spark that motivation in others? Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory outlined the three key components driving intrinsic motivation.

1. Competency. Individuals don’t need to be experts in a domain to be motivated; however, they do need to feel they have the ability to accomplish their work. This looks like having people in the right role and enabling them to feel like success is possible in their work. Without competence, motivation quickly evaporates.
   

2. Autonomy. The freedom to choose how they complete their work. The balance between autonomy and structure is delicate. When people have structure to feel competent at doing their work, and autonomy in how they accomplish their work, their ownership of their work grows exponentially.

3. Relatedness. When you see how your work relates to the larger whole, your work becomes more purposeful. Employees who don’t see how their work connects to the rest of the team, and ultimately the bigger organizational picture, end up missing this key component of human motivation.

Peering through the lens of these drivers of human motivation helped uncover and explain some of the behaviors Rick was seeing with his team.

A Communication Problem

Despite Rick’s best intentions of creating a purpose-driven culture, cultivated by growth opportunities for each employee, Rick had unintentionally left his employees feeling disconnected and uninspired. He’d inadvertently created the very culture he left big engineering firms to avoid.

It was a hard truth to realize, and it afforded Rick the freedom to see his team in a new light. Together we explored where he was missing the mark—what drivers of motivation were missing for his team.

Fortunately, it was not a problem of skill or desire; the issues that Rick was experiencing stemmed from how he was communicating with his team.

Leaders in the organization weren’t clear on the direction they were heading or who was responsible for X client or Y deliverable. Lack of clarity left leaders uncertain about how to move forward, slowing their decision-making to a halt. They found themselves waiting for Rick to provide the answer.

This problem is not unique to Rick and his team. It’s something often found in fast-growing teams. Somewhere along the line, as teams grow, clear communication and vision-resetting become mission-critical. To get everyone rowing together, you and your leadership team need to provide clarity on the desired future, where you are going together and context around why you’ve chosen that future.

As I've noted in a previous article: "Providing clarity is more than just letting your people know what your goals are for the next quarter ... Where do you see the team going in the next one to three years?"

You and your leadership team need to think ahead and paint a picture of the future you see for your team. This includes the future strategic direction of the new product lines you aim to test out and who is taking the lead on each department and major project, all the way down to the number of people you want to have on the team, your desired revenue and so on.

By painting this picture, you can also help your team see where they fit into the picture—their role. This is the first step in your people feeling a sense of autonomy over their work. When individuals see how their work fits into the bigger picture, they can more confidently map out how to execute their portion of the larger strategy. Not only does this build an individual's autonomy, but it can also help enhance their sense of competency in their day-to-day work.

Originally published in Forbes on June 20, 2024.