How Maslow, Herzberg, and Pink can help us to motivate our teams

Motivated employees are engaged employees and engaged employees are happier, harder working, more motivated, more inspired and overall, more productive.

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Since I once again find myself in a leadership role, with a team and as always with employee experience first and foremost in my mind, I have found myself drawn to doing a deeper dive into Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs & Theory of Motivation, Frederick Herzberg's job enrichment and the Motivator-Hygiene theory and of course, Daniel Pink's Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose Framework. There are many theories out there, but these have become the ‘go-to’ theories for companies seeking to keeping employee experience and company culture at the heart of their value proposition.

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So, leveraging the brilliance of these individuals and their theories, how do we as leaders within business get the best out of our people, while at the same time, ensuring the absolute best for our people?

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Maslow’s theory tells us that before we look to increase employee motivation, passion, and engagement, we need to take a step back and ensure that we are meeting their basic needs, which he refers to as ‘hygiene factors’: relationships with colleagues, workplace conditions and company values and practices.

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The pyramid of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs even has the employee's more basic needs as the foundation and only then moves up to the next level of key motivators, further driving the narrative that our employees ‘hygiene factors’ must always be core to their experience with their employer.

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Herzberg has a Two-Factor Theory of Motivation-Hygiene which contradicts the traditional view of job satisfaction, that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are interdependent. Herzberg explored fourteen different factors relating to job satisfaction and theorised that that there are separate sets of mutually exclusive factors in the workplace that either cause job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Both factors encouraging job satisfaction and relating to an employee’s self-growth and self-actualization.

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Herzberg and two collaborators, Mausner and Snyderman, developed the motivation-hygiene theory in their book Motivation to Work, influenced largely by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Together they conducted a series of studies determining which factors in work environments cause satisfaction or dissatisfaction. It should be noted that the research was done across several vastly different job roles and research candidates were asked to describe, in detail, situations where they felt exceptionally good or bad about their jobs.

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When describing specific work situations where they felt good about their jobs, candidates cited factors intrinsic to their work, and those detailing situations where they felt bad about their jobs cited extrinsic factors.

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According to this research, motivation factors are necessary to improve job satisfaction and these motivators are intrinsic to the job and lead to job satisfaction because they satisfy the needs for growth and self-actualization. Advancement, the work itself, opportunities for growth, responsibility, recognition and achievement.

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On the other hand, hygiene factors largely contribute to job dissatisfaction, with Herzberg stating that hygiene factors are extrinsic to the job and function in “the need to avoid unpleasantness.” – Interpersonal relationships (think conflict at work or toxic management), salary, company policies and administration, supervision and working conditions.

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According to Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, there are three key generators of intrinsic motivation - Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose – each anchored by key psychological and motivational theories.

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What we can take from this more modern approach (do yourselves a favour and watch his TED Talk, the puzzle of motivation!) is that employees want to be allowed the chance to do things their own way, to be able to follow their instincts and feel like their opinions and input matter. They want to be enabled and empowered with confidence and competence, provided with rapid feedback, ensuring that they understand whether what they are doing is ‘working’ and contributing to the overall success of the organisation.

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IMPACT - the belief that the work they do has a genuine impact, and contributes meaningfully to something bigger, that they are part of something greater, whether for their colleagues, clients, or society in general.

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When all three come together, the depth of any employee’s motivation can inspire them to overcome any challenges, it guides them in navigating times of change and gives them the ability to deal with setbacks with determination and resilience.

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The magic happens when passion meets purpose! Being part of a dynamic and talented team of people who love what they do and have fun doing it in an exciting environment that supports growth, career development and innovative ideas. Encouragement to pursue our passion limitlessly and work with some of the most brilliant minds in our industry.

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Working for an organisation where motivation is abundant, autonomy is assured and supported, mastery is aided and celebrated and impact is enthusiastically embedded into our company culture, motivate me as an employee and allow me to motivate my team accordingly.