The Motivation Paradox

“Some people want it to happen, Some people wish it to happen, Some people make it happen”

-?????????Michael Jordan

How much we love the ones who make it happen, there is an innate bias towards the team members who just turn up and get things done. We so wish as leaders that our teams were filled of these stars. And rightly so, its just a wish, seldom have we seen a team filled with stars all through. And there in lies the challenge as well as the opportunity. As leaders should we expect a ready to deploy A Team or should we build that skill in us to make an A Team (there is also a movie dedicated to the phrase). It is upon us to analyse, nurture and develop individuals who can deliver consistently and can be counted upon to take up complex projects fraught with risks and challenges. And at the very base of this lies the premise of this article, what will get the individuals deliver high quality results? What will be their motivation each time?

What does motivation mean any ways? As per dictionary.com: a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way. So necessarily we are trying to understand what is going to get the individuals in my team to perform well consistently. In the following piece I will delve upon of the misconceptions, fallacies and potential road ahead. Lets start with one that has captured every People Practitioner’s imagination over the decades, the silver bullet of a solution – Maslow’s pyramid

Did Maslow make the Pyramid?

Any conversation around motivation cannot conclude without mention of Maslow’s theory of Hierarchy of Needs. And this instantly triggers a visual of the pyramid. Did Maslow really propose that humans will only elevate in their aspirations in a strict hierarchical order? Or is this a lazy interpretation of the theory. Lets take for example the individuals in the armed forces who choose to serve their country sacrificing the very basic needs that of security and yet wear that responsibility with pride. Or for that matter mountaineers who demonstrate unflinching determination in the face of some of the most physically discomforting environs. I am sure Maslow too was aware of these and wouldn’t have oversimplified the needs. We humans are too complex to fit into such a simplistic framework. Its time to revisit some of the presumptions around motivation.

It’s the Emotions, you fool

Our behaviours are driven by the motives and the motives at its basic level are nothing but emotions. Motives do not seek rewards. We humans in our hurry to find a solution to the people motivation challenges have made a simple carrot – stick phenomenon so popular that it seems like the humans operate in only two states, Lure or Fear. Tangible Rewards like salary hikes, promotions, foreign posting etc. are one of the many outcomes our behaviours seek to satisfy our motives. There are more powerful emotions like Respect, Belonging, Security, Feeling Cared / Accepted etc. that are at play which when ignored can render these tangible rewards quite futile.

The Fallacy of Quick Fixes

Motivation is most effective when there is an element of uncertainty about reaching the goal post. We often hear leaders ask ‘what does he/she want, let’s find out and give it’. The unfortunate part here is that most leaders think that by making rewards gettable and going wider you will be able to cast a wider net to hold on to the talent. Thus, budgets on annual offsites, foreign junkets, promotions, salary increases etc. become par-course. Don’t get me wrong, this can be effective in the short term as these things do have a hangover effect. In the long run however, employees get disenchanted and the exit interview become the eureka moment. The anticipation is that such doles will make people stretch their limits and push for higher order. Well, in fact it will do exactly the opposite. When the thresholds are so low, employees don’t feel quite motivated to push themselves as they believe that everybody will get the rewards and recognition even with middling performance and grow indifferent to the process. As leaders we need to create a process of rewarding for excellence and recognising for contribution.

Vroom Vroom – Design the Motivation Strategy

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory was proposed by Canadian psychologist Victor. H. Vroom, who believed that people are motivated to perform activities to achieve some goal to the extent they expect that certain actions on their part would help them to achieve the goal. The 3 elements of his theory are Expectancy – Instrumentality – Valence also represented as M = E + I + V

·????????Expectancy: Expectancy is the idea that increasing the amount of effort will increase performance (if I work harder then I will perform better).

This is affected by:

–????????Having the right resources available (e.g. raw materials, time)

–????????Having the right skills to do the job

–????????Having the necessary support to get the job done (e.g. supervisor support, or correct information on the job)

·????????Instrumentality: Instrumentality is the idea that if you perform better, then the outcome will be achieved (If I perform well, I will achieve the desired outcome).

This is affected by:

–????????A clear understanding of the relationship between performance and outcomes – e.g. the rules of the reward 'game'

–????????Trust in the people who will take the decisions on who gets what outcome

–????????Transparency of the process that decides who gets what outcome

·????????Valence: Valence is the perceived value the employee puts on the outcome. For the valence to be positive, the person must prefer attaining the outcome than not attaining it. (If someone is mainly motivated by money, he or she might not value offers of additional time off).

2 Points important to consider while designing the Motivation Strategy:

1.??????Equity (perceived as well) is critical for any motivation strategy to be received well. J Stacey Adams’ equity theory says that people want fair compensation for inputs across the working population of which they are members. When this is the case, individuals may remain motivated. When it ceases to be the case, individuals may cease to be motivated.

2.??????Creating an enabling environment: At best the leaders and managers can create an enabling environment for the motive of their team members to be met. Be careful of creating a motivation in employees, this would lead to enticement. Such an adventure will lead to team members cheating to attain the lure dangled. We have seen this in many incentive programs.

Where is the highspeed communication highway

By now you would have understood that motivation strategies and implementation of these strategies are work of nuanced understanding about the individual motives. But who is in the best position to understand the motives? If you ask this to line managers, 8 out of 10 times the answer will be HR. We have been there, but this is improving with increased awareness of a manager’s role (please read Manager as a people management role and not a designation). It is imperative that the managers understand these motives and communicate seamlessly with the HR (People) team to help design accurate motivation strategy that is customised to the individual. Yes, the days of spreading the large net are gone, its time for personalised attention. If we aspire that for customers then why not for the employees. There is a need to create communication highways in the organisation to enable swift movement of information between Managers, HR and Leaders. It’s a coordinated dance after all.

One last point, do not assume that once understood motive will last the foreseeable future, the world is dynamic and people more so.?