It's Not (Always) About the Money - Employee Motivation

          What if you could pay your employees the same amount for more work?    As a new generation joins our workforce and company resources are scarce, understanding employee motivation has a new urgency.  
          Many businesses use the carrot-and-stick approach to motivate employees.  The carrot is the promise of more money that's dangled in front of the employee to improve performance.  This approach is like using a sledgehammer to hang a picture:  it gets the job done, but it's not pretty.  

Photo courtesy of profitclinic.com

          I recently attended a class taught by Art Pulis, where he listed four employee motivators.  Surprisingly, money is the fourth. 

•  We are first motivated by autonomy.  We want to define our work, and how we do it.  Give us the task and the tools, but leave the how to us.  As an employer, focus on the outcomes or results of our work.  Ask us how you can help us do our job better, and then review only the results.  
• Our second motivator is relevance.  We want to know that what we are doing has meaning.  Show us how our work is part of a big picture and we'll buy in.  Share a written vision and related goals with us.  Share your progress towards the goals and invite us in to solve the problems and celebrate the victories. 
• Thirdly, we are motivated by mastery.  We want to learn and get better at our job.  Teach us so that we can grow, give us the opportunity to take classes or do research, and let us try new approaches to our work.  As we master our jobs, give us new work and new challenges.

          It isn't about the money, it's about feeling successful in the workplace.  When employers use these motivators to get work done, they are giving employees the opportunity to exceed expectations, to do fulfilling work, and to grow.