The recent pandemic brought many challenges regarding recruiting, training, and retaining employees, creating pressure on employers to use a variety of incentives to get and keep employees, usually some form of money, (sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, sales goals, etc.).
This was done intuitively, as a common sense approach to dealing with dynamics outside of the experience of most employers. Employers needed to motivate people to come to work during trying times, and incentives were a way to entice them to do so. Let’s examine why this doesn’t really work, using sign-on bonuses as an example.
Incentives escalate costs, a very real business concern. If I offer $1,000 in sign-on incentives, my competitor escalates to $1,500. Now, I must put up $2,000, and my current employees now wonder: “If they are paying these bonuses to get new employees, why not us too? We have been loyal to the company!” This gets expensive fast, jeopardizing the business.
Incentives are a form of manipulation, and people do not like to be manipulated. The promise of a $1,000 sign-on bonus feels pretty good until you find out that you must pay taxes, and it is really $700 in take-home pay. Oh, after you took the incentive, locking you into the agreement, you discovered that a competitor was offering $1,500. Now you are angry that you didn’t get more! The carrot contains the stick, and this just creates distrust.
Incentives create a transactional culture. “If I do this, then you will do that.” Professionals do the work because it is the important work they have been trained for (the intrinsic reward). Now they are working for the incentive (extrinsic reward). If you want anything more, you will have to ante up with more, or as a negotiation, any time things change.
The flaw in all of this is straightforward, within our assumptions about human motivation. Listen to these common statements:
- “It is a leader’s job to motivate their staff.”
- “We need to put the right incentives in place, to get people to align with our goals.”
These statements reveal manipulation, not motivation. When did we decide that motivation is something that leaders should do to someone else? Perhaps there is a better way.
Professionals must be compensated appropriately, and respectfully. Be competitive in the marketplace for talent if you want the best. This means finding out what others are paying their staff, and making sure that you are not lagging the market.
Recognize that people are already motivated. Do you want proof? Just mention quietly that there is free pizza in the breakroom and watch what happens. People will know what to do.
There are common motivation patterns in our human journey. These patterns contain an enormous diversity among us, diversity that makes any predictive model ineffective at best. I might want a luxury car, you a sporty model. Motivation is more complicated than “hit this button and you will get this response.”
Recognize that the leader brings the natural motivation of others into alignment with the needs of the business. This is an area where leaders make a lot of mistakes. Lectures, logic, and information seldom cause someone who is unmotivated to become motivated.
Here are some examples of some wrong approaches to motivate people:
Fred Finance Guy: “You get paid, don’t you?” Fred expects the employer-employee relationship to be a transaction, not realizing that work has an emotional component. If work is a transaction, we will have transactional employees, not engaged professionals.
Larry Cheerleader: “Come on, guys, we can do it!” Cheerleading is ridiculous and often results in cynicism. Professionals know this, and that it does nothing to make the job easier or more effective.
Edward Entrepreneur: “I want you to act like you own the business.” Really? Have you given them stock ownership? Can they make significant decisions without permission? Probably not. Do not pretend otherwise.
Ernie Equalizer: “I am treating you all the same . . . all for one and one for all.” We are not all the same. Different people have differing needs, wants, skills, and talents.
Engagement is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. These approaches are not only not motivating but devalue, and marginalize the professional. Consider these principles:
Engagement and motivation are emotional decisions, that do not follow logical pathways, and require the leader’s attention along the way. Leaders must pay attention to how people feel.
People need to know what to expect in their work, including compensation, and how the employer will help them meet their needs. Have this conversation often.
We are responsible for our own motivation. I choose what I want and what I am willing to do to get what I want. This is true for everyone.
True engagement in work cannot be manipulated with incentives but emerges over time with leaders who are as loyal to professionals as they expect professionals to be toward them.
Extraordinary leaders anchor loyalty to promises: “I will help you grow and achieve great things. I will work to keep you challenged and safe, and we can always share our experiences and learn from one another. I will have your back when things go wrong.”
Fostering true motivation requires a mix of freedom of choice, and work that is meaningful to the person doing it. Professionals want to know that their work makes a difference.
Research tells us that we know what people want from their work. Through working and living with others, people find purpose and the courage to face challenges and obstacles in their path. The leader’s job is to find ways to bring people together, renewing passion and purpose for life and finding meaning in work. Nurturing individual motivation pays immense rewards long term, with people willing to go well beyond job descriptions, rules, and management-set goals to ensure business success because they want to. None of these things require incentives, just leaders who care enough to listen, and respond to what people need.
This is excerpted from Lead With Purpose by Roger A. Gerard and reprinted with permission.