Page 12 - How to Motivate Every Employee

Contemplate this. When have you been most excited about your
work? For most people that excitement comes from being involved
with projects that were near and dear to us—projects we took person-
ally, or in which we believed we could really make a difference and
accomplish something for ourselves and others. By helping your
employees to identify closely with the job they are doing, you will
begin to reap the rewards of intrinsic motivation at work.
And when was the last time you thought about really trying to
“turn on” your organization? You’re the manager, right? Isn’t that
your job? Yes, but today motivation needs to be everyone’s responsi-
bility. As a manager, it is your job to help build a truly “motivating
organization,” one that inspires employees to do their very best every
day. Understanding that the role you play as a leader and manager
of people is one of extreme importance, here are three key points to
help build that motivating organization:
Know why your employees would want to be motivated by you: When
you can answer this important question, you will be better equipped to
engage workers in their jobs more effectively and influence their behav-
iors to act more enthusiastically to meet company goals.

Recognize that real motivation is an inside job: People talk about
motivation being either intrinsic or extrinsic. But it’s really only
intrinsic, within each of us. What we refer to as extrinsic motivation
is really just external factors, like company perks, bonuses, and pay
raises that ultimately affect our intrinsic motivation.

Turn employees on to what’s important and meaningful: This
requires managers to inspire their followers to be their best, to take
risks, to think like entrepreneurs, and to unleash their limitless and
synergistic potential.

“Men and women want to do a good job, a creative job,
and if they are provided the proper environment, they
will do so.”

—Bill Hewlett, Co-founder, Hewlett-Packard

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