Motivating the Troops

According to Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, employee motivation often boils down to creating intrinsic rewards that play to the inherent satisfaction of the work activity itself … engaging and empowering employees in what they do, emphasizing inspiration more than just perspiration.

Instead of using a traditional carrot-and-stick motivational approach (rewarding good work with pay / benefits / promotions; penalizing bad performance) – which has “seven deadly flaws” (listed below) – Pink argues that the main motivators of productive employee behavior are a) the freedom to do what you want, b) the opportunity to take on a challenge and c) achieving a sense of fulfillment when the task is completed.

Merely Rewarding Good Work, Penalizing Bad Behavior … Why It Doesn’t Work

1) Extinguishes motivation
2) Diminishes performance
3) Crushes creativity
4) Crowds out good behavior
5) Encourages cheating, shortcuts and unethical behavior
6) Becomes addictive
7) Fosters short-term thinking

Read more here and here.