A safety leader told me I have a safety committee, but they need to be more motivated. They sit around and say nothing; how can I motivate my safety committee?” I asked him, “What form of motivation are you using, intrinsic or extrinsic?” He replied, “What is the difference?”
When building any great team, you must understand them and what motivates them. Therefore, let us look into the terms intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Some say intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation, but let us first look into what motivation is.
What is motivation?
In the psychological framework, motivation is a desire, an impulse, or a drive to do something or not do something. The essence of motivation is energized and persistent goal-directed behavior. When we are motivated, we move and act. It manifests as a drive towards or away from some goal or objective. An essential role for any leader is to motivate their team members to do their best work. Many different things motivate human beings. Other motivators will be effective for different people in different contexts and circumstances and at different times. Money, pride, recognition, and team support are just a few examples (Clayton, 2023).
Leadership and Motivation
One of a leader's significant skills should be identifying what will best motivate each team member. At each point in time, by selecting the proper motivator, they can get the best out of each team member, and by shifting the way they use motivation, they can shift to accommodate the different needs of team members as the committee meetings progress.
Motivation in adversity
Of course, it is worth noting that motivation is more complex in times of adversity, times when the team is, for example, exhausted or frustrated, angry, stressed, fearful, or bored. Thomas Paine once wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls.” Paine reminds us that hard times must often be confronted but that "the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph" (Malloy, 2021). It is best to view adversity as an old friend returning to visit unexpectedly. Motivating a team through adversity, change, and even failure is expected and not feared.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation is a desire to do something outside oneself, meaning that the effects that drive us are not part of us. Positive extrinsic motivators include things like praise and recognition. Extrinsic motivation is a motivation that is driven by external rewards (Koblin, 2023). These can be tangible, such as money or scores, or intangible, such as praise or fame, i.e., safety employee of the month. Unlike intrinsic motivation, which arises within the individual, extrinsic motivation focuses purely on outside rewards.
Extrinsically motivated people will continue to perform a task even though it might not be rewarding in and of itself. For example, they will do something at their job that they do not find enjoyable in order to earn a wage.
You are helping others because you hope for praise.
Volunteering because it looks good on a resume.
You are going to the same store because you benefit from loyalty programs.
Negative extrinsic motivators include reprimands, write-ups, fines, or demotion.
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is doing an activity because you find it exciting and enjoyable. It is the prototype of willingness and choice, the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for any obvious external rewards. These things drive us to view ourselves better in a positive manner. It also helps us continuously grow and go from “good to great." Positive intrinsic motivators include things like pride, satisfaction, and pleasure. Negative intrinsic motivators include fear, anxiety, hostility, dislike, envy, contempt, aggression, and guilt. Often, we think about intrinsic motivators as doing things for their own sake without some reward. However, that is not quite right. With intrinsic motivators, there is a reward; it is just emotional or a payoff for feeling good. The difference, of course, is that this reward has no material value but to us.
Is Intrinsic Motivation better than Extrinsic Motivation?
Intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation, and it undoubtedly is in many instances. Experiments show that if you offer too much extrinsic motivation for an inherently rewarding activity, then it feels like that activity is now being done for the reward and diminishes the overall motivation. This is why financial rewards for work done, such as being on the safety committee, disincentivize team members. However, each form of motivation has huge value in the right context. We need to avoid substantial extrinsic motivation where people are already intrinsically motivated. This turns a pleasurable experience into the feeling that we are working for a reward (Ryan & Deci, 2022).
Where people resist change, extrinsic motivators can push them to get to the next level. Extrinsic motivators can also be used as rewards that send signals of approval. This positive feedback reinforces desirable behavior (Koblin, 2023).
Rewards and Recognition:
Most experts agree that recognition is the #1 driver of employee engagement. So, why does employee recognition matter?
44% - report that being valued for their contributions is the biggest driver of belonging at work (Byrd, 2022)
79% of employees leaving an organization have not been recognized in the past six months (Masionis, 2023)
65% of employees say feeling recognized would reduce their desire to job hunt (Nobes, 2023)
What are the best Extrinsic Motivators?
The best extrinsic motivators, like praise and recognition, also trigger internal motivation systems. These are extrinsic motivators because they come from outside us, but their real value is how they make us feel, which is an intrinsic motivator. According to self-determination theory, “all humans have three basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness/connectedness —that underlie growth and development” (Ntoumanis et al., 2021).
Ask people for blood donations, and you might find many volunteers. Tell the same people they will get paid for it, and many will decline to help. Why might that be? Self-determination theory argues that we do what we do because we are motivated by three basic psychological needs that drive our behavior more than anything else.
First comes autonomy. We desire freedom to choose and not be forced to do something we do not want.
The second is competence. We want to have the skills required to do the work ourselves and not be confronted with tasks we do not understand.
The third is connection. We want to experience a sense of belonging, of being needed, and not feel useless or like an outsider.
Self-determination spectrum
American psychologists Edward Deci said: "Sure, money motivates, but that is not the point. The point is that while money is motivating people, it is also undermining their intrinsic motivation." (Ryan & Deci, 2022)
We can think of motivation ranging from “non-self-determined to self-determined" (Koblin, 2023). In terms of quality, they range from lower forms to higher forms. Along this spectrum is, according to self-determination theory, six distinct motivation types (Ackerman, 2023) and the autonomy, competence, and connection identified for each type:
Regardless of where your team members are along the spectrum, they all have complex human minds with changing interests and conflicting desires. Doing one thing, we may feel entirely motivated — autonomous, competent, and connected. However, the next day, life gets in the way and robs us of our three basic needs — we feel nothing but amotivation (Koblin, 2023). The answer is to meet each member where they are and understand their motivations, challenges, and agendas. Most of all, lead, provide a clear direction and purpose, listen, and provide feedback.
References
Ackerman, C. E. (2023, September 20). Self-determination theory and how it explains motivation. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/self-determination-theory/
Byrd, M. Y. (2022). Creating a culture of inclusion and belongingness sustains meaningful work in remote work environments. Human Resource Development International, 25(2), 145–162. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2022.2047252
Clayton, M. (2023, May 11). What are intrinsic and extrinsic motivations? YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AQR5Z8HFpg&list=PPSV
Koblin, J. (2023, June 1). Self-determination theory: 3 basic needs that drive our behavior. Sprouts Learning Videos Social Sciences. https://sproutsschools.com/self-determination-theory-3-basic-needs-that-drive-our-behavior/
Maloy, M. (2021, August 24). “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Emerging Revolutionary War Era. https://emergingrevolutionarywar.org/2021/08/24/these-are-the-times-that-try-mens-souls/
Masionis, A. (2023a, September 13). Your complete guide to employee recognition. Achievers. https://www.achievers.com/blog/employee-recognition-guide/
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2022). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and Wellness. Guilford Press.
Nobes, C. (2023, September 22). 2022 Engagement and Retention Report. Achievers. https://www.achievers.com/resources/white-papers/workforce-institute-2022-engagement-and-retention-report/
Ntoumanis N, Ng JYY, Prestwich A, Quested E, Hancox JE, Thøgersen-Ntoumani C, Deci EL, Ryan RM, Lonsdale C, Williams GC (2021). A meta-analysis of self-determination theory-informed intervention studies in the health domain: effects on motivation, health behavior, physical, and psychological health. Health Psychol Rev. 2021 Jun;15(2):214–244. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2020.1718529. Epub 2020 February 3. PMID: 31983293.