What really motivates people?

“De-motivated” is not the opposite to “motivated”

Psychologist Frederick Herzberg’s 1968 article, "One More Time, How Do You Motivate Employees?" still holds records amongst the most reprinted and most requested management articles of all time. 

But why? 

In essence, because Herzberg was the first researcher to cut through all the mumbo-jumbo about motivation and present something that had real science behind it.   

Herzberg and his team interviewed large numbers of accountants and engineers in the highly industrialised area around the City of Pittsburgh.  His findings were surprising. 

He concluded that the things that motivate and the things that de-motivate are not related to one another.

He described the de-motivators, or “hygiene factors” as he called them, as those things that do not give positive satisfaction, but will lead to dissatisfaction if they are absent. They’re not part of the actual work, but the things that surround it, such as: 

• Fair and reasonable organisational policies, 
• Good leadership and management,
• Reasonable pay and a fair pay structure.  

The motivators are those things that actual increase satisfaction and motivate us to work harder and smarter.  The most important of these are: 

• Challenging work,
• Recognition,
• Responsibility,
• Matching the right person to the right job. 

(Herzberg's point is well illustrated in this little video that was my “Link of the Week” a few weeks back.)

In the local corps setting the implications of this may surprise you (then again, perhaps not if you think about it for a moment).

Hygiene Factors

We don’t have to worry about the fact that as an NGO we pay less than the commercial world.  Paying a reasonable salary under a fair structure is essential, but once this is achieved if we think that by offering more money we will increase motivation we would be wrong.  

(By the way, under this model the fair and reasonable salary structure for volunteers is zero.  Volunteers are not in it for the money, and many would be affronted if they thought that we thought that money would made a difference to their commitment and service!)

However, we do have to make sure that our Army and our local corps provides a framework of fair and reasonable policies (such things as Orders and Regulations, Official Minutes, and local practices).  And, in a people-based, frontline-oriented organisation such as The Salvation Army, if we think that some of these policies are unfair or unreasonable it is our duty to advocate for change.

But the area we have most influence over is our own management/leadership style.  Fairness and reasonableness have to be hallmarks of everything we do as a leader; otherwise it will lead to dissatisfaction amongst the members of our team. 

(If you’re not convinced about this, spend a few minutes thinking back to a leader or boss under whom you were dissatisfied or de-motivated.  Did he/she manage you with fairness and reasonableness?  Probably not!)

Motivators

On the other hand (and this is the really exciting part), Herzberg has given us a simple plan to motivate our team. Once we have put them in the right job, we go to the next step by giving them responsibility, challenge and recognition. 

Essentially, people respond positively to being given more responsibility, and being given greater challenges.  (I know this is counter-intuitive for many leaders, so see “Why tasks don’t stay delegated” to learn how to effectively give people more responsibility and challenges in a way that works.)

And recognition for their work; a note of thanks, a gift, a certificate, a public recognition ceremony or even a simple “thank you” goes a long way to increasing motivation.