Money Only Goes So Far: How to Intrinsically Motivate Your Team

According to a 2014 study of 300 companies, 94 percent of millennials want to use their skills to do good in the world. More than 50 percent say they would take a pay cut to find work that matches their values. This revelation is one that applies to all people.

While it’s true, money is a great motivator and can be used to jump-start a person's drive, it falls short in regards to longevity, in regards to motivation. To keep a person's passion burning, a leader must learn to move past tangible motivation such as bonuses and plaques to hang on the wall and get on a more personal level. A leader should invest his time into discovering the “why” behind an employee’s drive. Once you find a balance between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, your business is sure to soar.

If you take a look at any prosperous business you will find a team that is highly motivated, united and content. You'll also find at the very center of the said team, a manager not only handing out rewards but words of encouragement and praises for a job well done too.

Money only goes so far: below, we discuss how to intrinsically motivate your team.

What Does an Intrinsically Motivated Team Look Like?

An intrinsically motivated team should exemplify a united front working together with the same goal in mind: success. At first glance, this team should exude confidence as well as clear and honest communication. They should uphold a strong work ethic, take constructive criticism well and constantly strive toward growth. Most importantly, their happiness should be blatantly obvious.

In order for a team to display such qualities, its leader needs to possess noble qualities himself. He needs to trust his team and avoid the need to micromanage and overly criticize. As the leader, he should be the team’s biggest cheerleader. He should aid in the buildup of the team’s confidence in both, their skills and abilities. He should want to serve his team in any way he can, as well as lead by example. A team’s success is on an organization level, a company should focus on more than extrinsic rewards, sales quota, deadlines, etc. The company should keep an open line of communication with its employees and be sure to celebrate the successes of an individual and company as a whole. When an employee is aware their efforts were not done in vain, yet were a contributing factor in the company's success, it will propel them forward and drive them to continue to work hard.

People want to feel like, what they do, matter! To do that, a company would be wise to tap into “the four pillars of intrinsic motivation”; purpose, principle, people, and autonomy.

1. Purpose

Represents the significance, meaning, impact, service, and self-transcendence of a company’s people.

It is vital for the prevention of personal burn out for a person to feel they have a purpose and are a significant part of the team.

In doing so, an employee will be motivated to complete jobs in the time allotted and not let the team down.

They will strive to produce exemplary, error-proof work.

While part of a team, it is easy to feel irrelevant. But an organization can help deter those feelings by acknowledging an employee's efforts, rewarding them for a job well done and informing them of the role their work played in the success of the company.

2. Principle

Represented by the integrity, ethics, morality, goodness, truth, and dignity within a company.

The principles a company is founded upon and operates under are of high importance. Being one that is ethically and morally sound aids in the facilitation of a positive and productive work environment.

Upholding good principles keeps people honest, holds them accountable and brings stress and dysfunction to a minimal. This negates high rates of confusion, mistakes and employee turnover.

It breeds a healthy, welcoming, and positive environment. One where its employees won’t feel the sacrifice of time spent away from their family each day is done in vain.

People will enter the workplace with dignity. The same dignity will be used when representing their company.

3. People

Represented by having a sense of belonging, connection, community, recognition, respect and praise.

The people which make up an organization need to feel secure and appreciated. They need to feel connected to the community they spend a great deal of their time.

A company’s recognition, respect, and praise of its people will allow them to feel a sense of belonging and aid in their desire to learn, grow and obtain wisdom for the betterment of the company.

How the people treat the company will mirror how the company treats its people.

Without people, a company becomes stagnant, so the treatment of its people is detrimental to the ongoing success of a company.  

4. Autonomy

Represented by the freedom, creativity, achievements, learning, and self-mastery of a company’s people.

Personal growth is required for the success of an individual as well as a company. An environment which cultivates a person’s creativity and freedom to be their own individual results in a person's feelings of appreciation. Their “why” becomes significant to more than just them. This impacts their passion and provides fuel to their drive to get things done.

An employee’s continued learning and self-mastery results in more personal and company-wide achievements. It prohibits the growth of a stale and volatile work environment.

We’ve all repeated the saying, “Money can’t buy happiness” more times than we care to admit. The sentiment behind this saying remains true when applied to keeping employees motivated in the workplace. While bonuses and a raise in pay may be well received, to keep a person motivated for the long haul, a balance needs to be found between both, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. A focus on the four pillars of intrinsic motivation is a step in the right direction, to achieve just that.