How to motivate someone goes beyond just offering praise or rewards—it's about understanding the deeper forces that drive them. Whether you're aiming to inspire a friend, colleague, or yourself, recognizing the power of intrinsic motivation (inner desire fueled by personal fulfillment) and extrinsic motivation (external incentives and rewards) is crucial. This article examines how to leverage both types to build lasting motivation that makes a difference.
Understanding motivation: intrinsic vs. extrinsic
Knowing when to use extrinsic or intrinsic motivation—or a combination of both—can make a difference in any organization. Choosing the right motivational approach for tasks can enhance productivity, improve job satisfaction, and help you accomplish your goals more effectively.
Extrinsic motivation
Simply put, extrinsic motivation comes from external factors. It's driven by the desire to receive external rewards or avoid negative consequences. In marketing and sales, extrinsic motivation often powers many processes. For example, sales departments usually work on commission—the higher the sales, the higher the salary.
"Rewards can deliver a short-term boost—just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off—and, worse, can reduce a person's longer-term motivation to continue the project." — Daniel H. Pink, 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us'
If you're a sales representative, your income depends mainly on commission. The more products you sell, the more you get paid. In this case, the extrinsic reward is financial gain, a powerful motivator.
"Employee of the Month" is a classic example of extrinsic motivation. To earn this title, employees typically work overtime, participate in volunteer projects, or strive to exceed their KPIs. Recognition and possible rewards are extrinsic factors that encourage higher performance.
Social media influencers are a good example of people often guided by external motivation. The more likes, shares, and followers they get, the more expensive their ad posts become. In this case, the extrinsic reward is social approval and monetary income, which motivates the influencer to publish content continuously.
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation is fueled by personal interest or satisfaction from the task itself. This internal drive compels you to act without external rewards or pressure. It's a type of motivation that comes from within and is often associated with personal growth and self-esteem. Unlike extrinsic motivation, where external factors such as money or recognition act as motivators, intrinsic motivation is motivated by curiosity or a desire for self-improvement.
"The most powerful motivators—autonomy, mastery, and purpose—are intrinsic, and they work best when people are driven by their internal desires rather than external rewards." — Daniel H. Pink, 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us'
Some employees find intrinsic motivation in contributing to a positive company culture. They get involved in team building, inspire other employees, or take on corporate social responsibility initiatives. These actions often don't bring immediate tangible rewards but provide personal fulfillment and purpose. For some people, the social aspect of work is an essential source of intrinsic motivation. They find satisfaction in cooperation and enjoy communication in the workplace.
Employees who strive for mastery overcome challenges, learn new skills, and improve their work. For example, a marketer may learn innovative digital tools not because he has to but because he wants to succeed in his field. For some entrepreneurs, the primary motivator is not profit but satisfaction of customer needs. They derive great joy from seeing how their products positively impact customers' lives.
Companies that effectively set clear goals and explain how each team member contributes to those goals are more likely to attract such employees. Also, people motivated by autonomy value the ability to make choices and decisions independently. They like tasks where they have control over their actions and can realize their vision. Successful people with a sense of purpose find motivation to contribute to a more important cause than themselves.
"Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives." — Daniel H. Pink, 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us'
The best approach to motivation is often a balanced mix of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators tailored to your business or team's specific needs and goals.
Top motivational strategies
"The best leaders are those who develop others. In education, the best teachers are those who inspire their students to become lifelong learners." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities'
Every great business starts with the people behind it. Uniting and inspiring your team is an excellent leadership skill. These techniques will also help you understand what motivates you, enabling you to move more cheerfully and productively in any sphere.
Techniques for the workplace
A competent approach to motivation can give the following advantages:
Improved work quality and overall company productivity
Creation of a positive and friendly team atmosphere
Long-term retention of top employees (reduced staff turnover)
Increased staff loyalty and responsibility
Development of a sustainable corporate culture
Daniel H. Pink, a renowned businessman and lawyer, believes companies should focus on the next generation of employee motivation methods. In 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,' Pink illustrates the essence of motivation with an interesting case study of Atlassian, a software development company. Every few months, management asked employees to devote a day to projects of their choice rather than their regular work tasks. The whole team discussed new ideas. Thanks to this, Atlassian was able to develop top-of-the-line software.
Pink argues that Atlassian found the key to employees' internal motivation by allowing them to make independent decisions, demonstrate mastery, and achieve desired goals.
Thus, the most effective ways to motivate are:
Autonomy is the ability to make independent decisions.
"People need autonomy over task (what they do), time (when they do it), team (who they do it with), and technique (how they do it)." — Daniel H. Pink
2 Mastery is the desire to demonstrate individual professional qualities and to be the best in some field.
"The desire to get better at something that matters is a source of enduring motivation." — Daniel H. Pink
3 A goal is a desired outcome, an opportunity to leave a mark or be involved in something bigger than yourself.
"The most deeply motivated people – not to mention those who are most productive and satisfied – hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves." — Daniel H. Pink
Pink says these factors encourage professional and personal growth, foster creative thinking, and significantly increase productivity. Such motivation works precisely in the long term, as individuals understand that their work allows them to realize their potential.
Techniques for personal life
Emotional competence in management and leadership involves being aware of personal emotions and understanding employees' feelings. Managers should be able to use this information to manage their interactions with employees and create a positive reinforcement environment.
Emotional intelligence refers to recognizing, understanding, managing, and effectively using your emotions and others. Managers with high emotional intelligence can build rapport, navigate interpersonal dynamics, and motivate their team members to perform at their best.
There are several steps you can take to develop your emotional skills, including:
Self-awareness
Be conscious of your emotions and attitude toward yourself and others. Take time regularly for self-reflection and ask yourself what emotions you feel, why they arise, and how they affect your actions and interactions.
"If we want to understand ourselves, we need to be willing to dig deeper, to confront the hidden motives that drive us." — Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson, 'The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life'
Development of social consciousness
Learn to be attentive to others' emotions. Practice active listening and communication skills to understand their needs and feelings better.
Building emotional connections
Emotional connections are a sign of trusting, intimate interpersonal relationships between loved ones (parents and children, husband and wife, and ultimately between family members and friends).
"People driven by a purpose larger than themselves are able to foster connections that are not only deeper but also longer-lasting." — Daniel H. Pink, 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us'
It depends on mutual understanding and empathy. An essential component of such relationships is the ability to listen and be heard, as well as the ability to express emotions openly and honestly. Intellectual proximity includes common interests, discussion of important topics, and exchange of ideas, which contributes to the intellectual enrichment of both parties.
"Leaders who understand that their job is to serve the people they lead, not to seek affirmation, build deeper, more lasting connections." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities'
In a close relationship, there's an opportunity to freely and openly share personal thoughts and feelings and to discuss motivations and plans. The other person's well-being and safety become equally important as a person's desires and safety in this relationship.
Close relationships create a positive emotional background for self-development and self-disclosure and give a sense of security. We feel more relaxed in such a relationship: we're not afraid to show our individuality, experiment, reveal deep feelings, or share our secrets. Emotional closeness gives a person a sense of support, understanding, and acceptance. It contributes to personal development and well-being.
"The truth about our motives is often uncomfortable, but it's essential for truly understanding ourselves and the world around us." — Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson, 'The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives In Everyday Life'
Techniques for education and learning
What to do when there's a lack of motivation to study, read books, or do sports?
"The work of a leader is hard, but it's necessary. The same is true for anyone who seeks to learn and grow." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities'
Sit at the table, take a piece of paper and a pen. Write down why you started the activity you're currently unmotivated to do. The easiest and most effective option is to sit down and begin with ordinary tasks: open a personal office, do homework, or take on a client's task. You can prepare by writing down how to do this work. You likely have noticed how much you want to continue once you've started — you can't quit. The solution is to divide big tasks into smaller ones. Make a quest out of it.
"Setting specific, incremental goals helps sustain motivation because it allows you to experience regular small wins, which provide positive reinforcement and a sense of progress." — Daniel H. Pink, 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us'
In companies, projects are not done in one task: the manager approves the project, the designer draws the prototype and concept, and the designer transfers it to the site. The stages take place in constant coordination with the client and other specialists. It turns out to be not one task but a quest. The result of the pursuit is money and reputation.
"Feedback is not just a tool for leaders; it's essential for anyone who wants to grow and improve." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities'
Sometimes, motivation for study or work is optional. When you see people admire your work or simply say, "Thank you, everything is cool," you sit down and continue doing it. Therefore, we learn to receive adequate criticism, feedback, and praise. For example, find a mentor or join communities and chats. And if there are none, create your own. Besides you, other people need motivation and support. It's more fun together.
Recommended reading
Patrick Lencioni, a well-known business author and expert in leadership, teamwork, and organizational development, shared the story of a burned-out CEO in his book 'The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities.' He told how the manager lost sight of the company's development and became confused about his motivation.
In the book, Lencioni clearly describes different leadership motives and makes recommendations for managers on managing a company and their team.
A true leader creates, inspires, and acts proactively. The leader must be involved in the implementation and not just be an executor.
A manager can talk endlessly about what they should do and how many work meetings they have planned. But if they don't understand "why" they manage the company and don't realize the goal, then all the operational stuff doesn't make sense.
Two motives motivate people to become leaders:
The desire to serve: These leaders focus on their obligations and responsibilities, understanding that leadership involves challenging work and meeting high expectations.
The pursuit of rewards: For these leaders, leadership becomes an incentive for years of hard work and is perceived as a means of gaining fame and money. When leaders are solely motivated by reward, they often avoid difficult or unpleasant tasks that come with the role.
Develop your team
Real leaders must be engaged in developing interpersonal relationships between team members. They must ensure consistency in actions and words, give feedback, and discuss not-so-pleasant topics.
The leader's task is to form mutual understanding in the team and continuously improve relationships. This cannot be delegated to someone else and is no less important than setting goals, developing a company strategy, working with a budget, or marketing.
"Leadership is about accepting the heavy burden of responsibility, and it's not for everyone. But for those who embrace it, the rewards are deeper and more meaningful." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities'
Have difficult and uncomfortable conversations
People management is not formal bureaucratic action (writing instructions, checklists, and rules). It is assistance in determining the general direction of work of subordinates, forming a mutual understanding with them, providing timely information, and eliminating obstacles.
When working with a team, some leaders refrain from conversations in which they need to highlight employees' problems and their lack of competencies or expertise. This is because managers feel uncomfortable and inconvenient in such discussions. Lencioni argues this manifests the leader's egoism.
"The best leaders are those who know how to hold people accountable, even when it's uncomfortable." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilitie
The manager, afraid of experiencing discomfort, makes subordinates experience it during certification, interviews, or when discussing salaries.
Hold interesting team meetings
Meetings are the venue where the most important discussions take place. If managers consider meetings to be a routine process, this leads to making bad decisions. Joint discussions are perceived as ineffective and emotionally difficult; accordingly, the quality of decisions leaves much to be desired. When the CEO conveys to his team that meetings are a "drag," department managers convey a similar feeling to their employees.
Provide clarity and direction for the organization
Communicating corporate issues and essential information to your team regularly is important. The author says that studies prove that employees must hear a manager's message about seven times to believe and implement it. Otherwise, the speech is perceived as an ordinary (standard) message. Bad leaders think repeating the same thing several times is a meaningless and intrusive process of disseminating information.
A leader must communicate frequently and extensively with employees at all levels to ensure they are on board with what is happening and understand people's role in the company's success. Professional and good leaders often try to frame their clear expectations creatively. However, they are more concerned about people needing to be informed than about repeating the same thing repeatedly or in a standard form.
"Vision and clarity are not things you delegate. They are your primary responsibility." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities'
Every day, many people lie to themselves and others. They have learned to say not what they feel but what is socially acceptable to get along with the environment and achieve their own goals. But the less they are aware of their ulterior motives, the better, because they don't even like the idea of being selfish.
This phenomenon is called "the elephant in the brain." People often hate admitting their hidden motivations, making it a taboo subject instead of reflecting on its nature and understanding the reasons for their behavior. However, these unconscious motives guide actions and influence art, education, medicine, politics, and religion.
Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson focus on identifying these hidden motives. By doing so, readers can better understand themselves and others, learning to interact more effectively with each other.
The new world
So why not recognize it? The less people know about their unsavory motives, the easier it is to hide them from others. While few recognize such duplicity, avoiding it carefully prevents a clear understanding of human behavior.
In other words, many human motivations may seem unpleasant or wrong, and people often disguise them under the appearance of being charitable or valuable.
Most people believe the best way to motivate is through reward or punishment, a typical carrot and stick method.
"Autonomy isn't just about the work we do; it's also about how we relate to others." – 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us' — Daniel H. Pink, 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us'
Pink proves that this approach is wrong. He explains that the source of motivation is the third drive—our innate need to manage our own lives (autonomy), improve and create (mastery), and improve the world around us (purpose). Companies that learn to create an environment that nurtures the third drive will have more productive and engaged employees. People who understand the mechanism of work of the third drive will learn to manage internal motivation, be fulfilled, and enjoy work.
"The new world of work is driven by a new way of thinking about motivation. It's not just about high salaries or bonuses, but about the drive to contribute to something larger than ourselves. This is evident in the thousands of open-source projects, volunteer-driven initiatives, and community-driven innovations that span the globe." — Daniel H. Pink, 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us'
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Applying these strategies will enhance your motivation and inspire others to reach their fullest potential. Start today by integrating these principles into your daily routines, and watch as motivation transforms your personal and professional life.
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