The Power of Intrinsic Motivation in the Workplace

Introduction

An intrinsically motivated team has an internal drive that pushes everyone to be more productive at work. Employee motivation is an excellent way to grow a productive, efficient, and thriving workforce. It keeps team members engaged while encouraging everyone to deliver exceptional results. In addition to job fulfillment and satisfaction, taking conscious steps to nurture motivation consistently boosts performance.

The nature of the workplace is dynamic so, there’s no one-size-fits-all way to motivate your workforce. Let’s explore the external and internal factors that boost motivation as we discuss how to cultivate this vital aspect at work.

What is Intrinsic Motivation?

Intrinsic motivation is the willingness to finish tasks because you find them enjoyable or interesting without expecting any reward. The driving force behind this form of motivation can be the joy of acquiring a skill, curiosity, or personal satisfaction instead of external aspects like recognition, ratings, or money.

Intrinsic motivators are often psychological as they come from within an individual. These motivators have deep ties to a sense of personal fulfillment, which is immensely beneficial for team members to tap into. When integrated with personal growth objectives, intrinsic motivation often leads to effective performance management. It may come from various sources, such as a desire to further your company vision and mission or build a particular skill.

The Psychology Behind Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation involves the desire to take on a task because of the satisfaction it brings, not because you expect a reward. For instance, when you eat your favorite food, the motivation comes from the joy or pleasure you get.

According to the Self-Determination Theory, external incentives may not be the best way to boost performance. Research shows that personal feelings and thoughts are often more motivating than rewards, with some people even reporting that external motivation can reduce their interest in engaging in certain tasks.

Key Pillars of Intrinsic Motivation

Internal motivation relies on three key pillars; purpose, mastery, and autonomy.

Purpose

A sense of purpose makes team members feel they contribute towards a meaningful vision or goal. For instance, an employee in a fashion and design company may be motivated to perform due to a desire to make a difference in the industry.

Integrating the overall company objectives with individual goals instills a sense of purpose in your employees.

Mastery

Competence or mastery is the drive to achieve your full potential or better your skills. At the workplace, this drive motivates employees to go the extra mile to gain the satisfaction of a job well done.

For instance, an employee can undertake a challenging project to improve their professional skills. Enhancing mastery often boosts confidence and self-esteem.

Autonomy

Autonomy refers to the need to have control over your environment and life. At the workplace, this control involves how much influence employees have over when and how to work.

For example, team members will likely have more intrinsic motivation to achieve a certain target if they set it themselves. You can ensure autonomy by allowing your team to have flexible schedules or hybrid work.

Intrinsic Motivation vs. Extrinsic Motivation

The extrinsic motivation definition shows that the willingness to work comes from external factors. Extrinsically motivated employees perform tasks to get recognition for outstanding work, bonuses, or other financial incentives. They may also perform to prevent a negative outcome.

Extrinsic motivation:

• Can potentially promote better productivity
• Gives better results in short-term motivation
• Can be controlled, where the threat of punishment pressures employees to work harder, or autonomous, where employees just decide to complete tasks
• Driven by secondary needs, like status, approval, or sense of belonging, or psychological needs like job safety.

If your goal is to boost your team’s performance, you may opt to invest in external rewards as they’re easy to implement. However, extrinsically motivated employees perform better up to the point where they know there’s a reward.

Great employees should have equally great working conditions but their drive shouldn’t come from the expectation of rewards or praise.

Looking at intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation, internal motivation comes from within. Your team feels motivated because they value the work, enjoy feeling accomplished, or find the work exciting and interesting.

Internal motivation:

• Has a higher potential to increase employee satisfaction, persistence, and performance
• Involves internal motivation, like nurturing meaningful relationships with peers who share common values

Although internal motivation can lead to higher productivity and satisfaction, balancing extrinsic and intrinsic motivators delivers the best results. Some employees respond better to intrinsic motivation while others prefer extrinsic rewards.

Integrating intrinsic and extrinsic motivation empowers you to create a diverse and effective workforce with varying personal goals and objectives.

Factors That Drive Intrinsic Motivation

As you seek actionable ways to keep your team inspired and motivated, understanding the factors that drive internal motivation will help you curate an effective strategy.
Autonomy and Control

Most employees feel intrinsically motivated when they have more control over their priorities, schedule, and time. Giving your team the freedom to choose how to finish work allows them to make smarter individual decisions as they use their best judgment. It gives them a sense of ownership, purpose, and pride in their work.

An excellent example is implementing flexible work schedules, where team members choose how to work. However, you’re still responsible for setting boundaries and limits to develop a practical work plan that aligns with your business goals.

Mentorship and Open Communication

Motivated employees are constantly looking for opportunities to grow and gain more knowledge. Introducing your team to highly productive mentors can help everyone refine and improve their skills. Identifying the strengths of the mentors can guide your team and encourage them to be more independent.

Open communication between your leaders and employees is also vital for intrinsic motivation. Motivated employees are more confident and driven to share insights with fellow team members, ultimately improving team performance.

Challenge

Employees shy away from challenges when motivation is not enough. Intrinsically motivated individuals look at challenges in a positive light. Extrinsic rewards offer motivation, but not enough to encourage your team to take on more responsibilities.

Instead of adding different roles to some team members, it’s best to offer extra tasks that individuals have an interest in.

Prioritize talent management to allow your workforce to leverage their talents at work, which fosters internal motivation.

Assessment

When nurturing intrinsic motivation at work, it helps to review your progress and iterate accordingly. It’s easier for team members to understand their current position if you periodically look at achievements and targets.

Ensure you track the work quality and performance to enable you to share constructive feedback for consistent improvement.

The Benefits of Encouraging Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is an effective, sustainable, and robust tool that helps you increase performance while instilling positive behavior. Some undeniable positive impacts of this form of motivation include:

• Increased Creativity

  When you engage in an activity due to enjoyment and personal interest, chances are high that you’ll employ greater creativity. Eliminating the pressure of extrinsic rewards allows your team to embrace risks while exploring new ideas. In addition to boosting productivity, the entire business or company will experience positive effects.

• Resilience

  An intrinsically motivated workforce is more resilient when faced with difficulties and challenges. Since the motivation is grounded in personal satisfaction and interest, your team becomes more empowered to overcome setbacks and maintain consistent effort.

• Self-determination

  Intrinsic motivation, self-determination, and autonomy work together. Your employees will feel more independent and in control if you allow them to choose to take part in a task because they want to.

  Individuals are more likely to perform better and uplift team members who lag behind.

• Positive Workplace Relationships

  Participating in intrinsically motivated tasks often results in positive work relationships and interactions. These relationships become grounded in shared interests and passions, encouraging deeper connections and a sense of community within your workforce.

• More Satisfaction and Fulfilment

  Internal motivation makes tasks fulfilling and fun. It helps your team gain more pleasure from their work and experience a deep feeling of accomplishment, without the need for external rewards.

• Better Mental Health and Well-being

  Having the internal drive to engage in activities ensures your team has better mental health and well-being. It enhances overall satisfaction and the feeling of accomplishment while lowering stress levels in your workforce.

• More Learning Opportunities

  Intrinsically motivated employees are more likely to explore various topics deeper and pursue a better understanding of work processes. Having genuine interest increases the likelihood of retaining more information for longer periods. It opens up more opportunities to upskill your workforce, which positively affects your business or company.

• Sustainable Effort

  One of the greatest benefits of internal motivation is self-sustainability. Extrinsic motivators require regular reinforcement because the effects reduce over time. In contrast, intrinsic motivators are always present as long as the tasks remain meaningful and engaging to your workforce.

  Furthermore, your team will likely put in more effort, creativity, persistence, and concentration if they find the tasks motivating.

The Role of Leaders in Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation

As Andrew Carnegie, philanthropist, and industrialist, advises, teamwork is the fuel that helps common people deliver uncommon results. Without external motivators, the best way to unlock your team’s full potential is to use the power of intrinsic motivation.

Adopting the strategies below will help you build this invaluable form of motivation.

1. Empower Your Workforce

Autonomy is a key pillar of internal motivation. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to ensure your team is confident enough to resolve challenges and organize individual workloads. Consider intrinsic motivation examples, such as:

• Promoting psychological safety

  Create an environment where your team feels free and comfortable to learn from setbacks, share ideas and thoughts, make smart decisions, and embrace risks.

• Recognizing initiative

  Encourage all leaders to appreciate and reward personal responsibility and improvement when they notice it to maintain the motivation to go the extra mile.

• Giving open and frequent feedback

  Ensure all team members understand that everyone’s opinions are equally valued to encourage open feedback. Having an open-door policy in your workplace may also help to create a sense of equality.

• Clearly outlining the desired results.

  It’s essential to make sure all employees understand your expectations and desired output when it comes to work activities. Allow them to discuss the different ways to attain those results to instill a sense of ownership.

2. Create a Positive Work Environment

Feeling uncomfortable, overworked, or stressed can prevent your team from feel motivated. Ensuring wellness effectively motivates a team, so you can try:

• Re-evaluating work schedules and supporting more flexibility to provide a healthy work-life balance
• Making sure remote workers have a good work environment, physically and psychologically
• Creating a relaxing and comfortable office space, with different ways for employees to decompress

3. Be a Leader Instead of a Manager

Being a manager is no longer enough to promote internal motivation within your team. You need to become a leader, helping your team understand how their values impact the business or company.

Empower everyone to see the connection between their efforts and particular business goals to give them a sense of purpose. It’s also essential to encourage leaders to take ownership of the team’s achievements and goals to gain more confidence in their leadership skills.

To be a leader to your team, empower them to see the intention behind their specific goals, so they can gain a sense of autonomy and purpose. Leaders help their teams to embrace their leadership abilities, step up, and take ownership of the team’s goals and achievements.

4. Adopt New Technology

When used correctly, technology can open up excellent ways to motivate your workforce. For instance, incorporating gamification in work activities introduces the aspect of achievement and healthy competition, boosting extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

You can leverage innovative and intuitive platforms to create extrinsic motivation through a rewards system and intrinsic reward through recognition of exceptional performance.

Conclusion

Intrinsic motivation is a powerful tool that enhances productivity while elevating engagement and satisfaction. However, you must recognize the need for extrinsic and intrinsic motivators to create an efficient workforce. Everyone is different so some employees find extrinsic rewards more fulfilling while others work best with intrinsic motivation.

The key to effective motivation lies in understanding the unique drivers of each team member. By leveraging advanced technology, you can personalize and diversify your motivational strategies to cater to individual needs and preferences.