Bob was a software developer and a quiet family man.
Every day Bob would enter the company building, go to his desk and do his work.
At 4:30 PM each day, Bob would email management and
tell them what he had done during the day and then go home at 5 PM.
Bob was very productive and earned praise for management.
But something did not seem right, at least according to Andrew Valentine
on the Verizon Risk Team, who noticed that someone from XinXiang, China,
was logging into their computer network every day.
The breach was traced to Bob's VPN network.
As it turns out, Bob hired a third party contractor from XinXiang,
China at $50,000 a year, while Bob made hundreds of thousand of dollars.
While the Chinese contractor was doing Bob's project work from nine to five,
Bob would surf Reddit and watch cat videos, then eat lunch,
then surf Ebay for about an hour before migrating to Facebook.
That took up his whole work day.
And this had been going on for years.
We're gonna talk about motivation.
When it comes to job motivation it certainly appears that Bob was lacking.
Work constitutes about one-third of our waking life.
And most of us change jobs ten times even by the time we're forty-two years old.
Satisfaction with work accounts for
much of our satisfaction with life and affects our health and stress.
So there are a lot of benefits of being engaged and in love with our work.
Chip Heath of Stanford University surveyed attorneys and
asked them why they chose to be an attorney.
Most of them responded by saying they had felt a calling and
wanted to make the world a better place.
Chip Heath asked these same attorneys why their colleagues, other attorneys,
chose to become lawyers.
Most conjectured that their peers were in it for the money.
What's interesting about Heath's survey is that it reveals a classic double standard.
Namely, people believe that they are intrinsically motivated but
regard others to be exclusively extrinsically motivated.
Whereas this disconnect may see harmless,
when we believe that others are extrinsically motivated,
we use carrots and sticks to change their behavior.
Over time this can undermine intrinsic interest.
Let's consider how this could happen.
Suppose you were paid to do something that's enjoyable,
such as drawing a picture or doing a puzzle.
Do you think you will come to love that activity?
In several studies, children and adults were either paid to do something like
drawing, painting, or sculpting, or they were praised.
Some time later, all the kids were given an opportunity to draw, paint,
or sculpt during free time.
Can you guess which kids chose to draw during the free time period?
The candy kids or the praise kids?
The kids who received praise were more likely to
want to draw than the candy kids.
Why?
The candy kids reasoned that the only thing that motivated
them to draw is candy.
Conversely, the kids who received praise internalized their love of drawing.
Now wait just one minute.
If this is a thinly veiled attempt to not pay employees so
as not to undermine their intrinsic interest, count me out.
Look, that's not what we're advising leaders to do.
Rather, we're advising leaders to affirm intrinsic motivation in themselves and
others.
Let's be clear.
Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation and
desire that is driven by internal rewards which can be
a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment, or making the world a better place.
Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation and desire that is driven by the promise
of external rewards including money, resources, or material gain.
How might leaders use intrinsic goals to motivate employees?
As a case in point, consider how Maarten Vansteenkiste and
colleagues examine the impact of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.
Two groups of people were given very different motivations for
changing their behavior concerning recycling.
Some people were told that by engaging in recycling they could improve their lives,
health, and contribute to the community.
Intrinsic goal.
Others were told they could save money or gain a good public image.
Extrinsic goal.
Sometime later the behavior of the two groups was examined.
Those who had been motivated with the intrinsic goal learned more and
recycled more.
Let's sum up.
First, there are two fundamental types of motivations, intrinsic and extrinsic.
Second, most leaders falsely believe
others are exclusively motivated by extrinsic reasons but
that they themselves are uniquely by motivated by intrinsic reasons.
Third, failing to affirm intrinsic interest can undermine motivation.
Finally, affirming intrinsic motivation can lead to greater insight and
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