You Can't Motivate Others But You Can Do This Instead

Note from an unmotivated employee

"You cannot motivate others."

My graduate school professor repeated this mantra over and over in our HR Management class. I didn’t think much about it until I got into my HR career and was faced with this question while advising managers: 

"If you can’t motivate others, then what’s the point of managing or leading?"

While my experience would confirm my professor’s warning time and time again; I also discovered this along the way: What you can do is create the conditions for others to more easily access their inner motivation. In fact, creating these conditions is an essential part of your job as a leader.

So how do you clear this pathway to inner motivation? I like to point to Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, for an actionable roadmap.

Pink distinguishes two types of motivators: extrinsic and intrinsic. 

Extrinsic motivators – think carrot and stick – can be helpful when it comes to straightforward task-based work. A bonus for assembling “x” number of widgets on a manufacturing line will likely boost production.  

When it comes to work that requires creativity and innovation – which is inherent in much of the work we do today  – well, it turns out, extrinsic motivators have a negative effect on motivation. That same bonus for developing an effective marketing campaign or writing code that solves a thorny problem has been shown to impede results. 

This is where intrinsic motivation comes in.

According to Pink, there are three components to intrinsic motivation: Autonomy, mastery and purpose. 

Autonomy is the urge to direct our own lives. 

Mastery is the desire to get better and better at something that matters

Purpose is the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

So, how do you create the conditions for your team to access these intrinsic motivators? 

When it comes to autonomy, the low hanging fruit is remote work. During the pandemic, with the overnight shift to working from home, workers experienced a level of autonomy over their lives that had never been experienced before. They could attend appointments when needed, take and pick up their kids from school, live wherever they wanted (and even wear sweatpants). The result? Multiple studies have cited increased productivity levels and higher retention among remote and hybrid workers. Autonomy as a motivator also reminds us micromanaging does not work.

Leaders who promote autonomy bring a reasonable and flexible approach to how, where and when employees do their work. They set clear expectations and end goals and then get out of the way so their employees can accomplish them. 

Mastery is all about growing and getting better at the work you do. It’s about developing your craft and your professional skills.

Leaders can support mastery by offering training and development opportunities to their employees instead of expecting them to go it alone. They help their employees set stretch goals, they give regular feedback and they recognize and celebrate growth. 

Purpose. A bit esoteric yet equally important. Pink offers the idea of big “P” and little “p” to help us ground this one in action. The big “P” is a grand reason for being – it’s why the company exists. For example, Southwest Airlines’ purpose is: Connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable and low-cost air travel. 

Effective leaders are able to communicate purpose in a way that inspires others to join along. But it doesn’t stop there. A gap still needs to be bridged between the individual employee and the larger purpose. That’s where little “p” comes in. The best leaders help their employees tap into their individual purpose, or little “p,” and connect that to the bigger cause. They help them see how the work they do each day contributes to a higher vision. The little "p" for an accountant at Southwest Airlines might be to deliver accurate and timely financial reports to leadership so they can make informed decisions that help them fulfill their purpose.

At first it may be discouraging to realize that you really can’t motivate others directly; but when you see your role as creating an environment where others can find their inner motivation, you unlock a higher level of impact you can make as a leader and you open up a whole new world of possibility for your team.