Motivate employees – without money? Discover their Motivational Theme

This blog was originally on LinkedIn

In the media – what the experts are saying…

I recently read an article on 9 ways to motivate people without money by Ilya Pozin on the Inc. website.

There’s also the excellent book Drive, by Daniel Pink that suggests providing employees with a sense of Purpose, Mastery, and Autonomy to drive motivation and results.

My personal experience

I’ve found a simple way to determine what motivates people beyond the paycheck – just ask them.

• Set up a meeting outside of the work environment – breakfast, lunch, or the irresistible “drink after work”.
• Tell them the purpose of the meeting, to discuss THEM.
• Let them know this is about their goals and aspirations, and reduce any anxiety and allow them to be relaxed in the conversation.
• Ask them to talk about what is important to them.
• Tie this into their motivational theme.

Motivational Theme

The motivational theme is not an inspirational quote, or a placard at the gym encouraging that there is “no gain without pain”. Instead, it is something personally relevant – it can be family related, a dream home or vacation, a sports car, their kid’s college fund – or the ability to be creative at work.

Atlassian Software is cited by Pink for their “FedEx Days” (now called ShipIt Days – thanks for noticing, FedEx) where employees have 24 hours to solve any problem they desire.

Google has a similar approach for engineers, where they spend 20% of their time solving company-related problems they are passionate about. This has resulted in the development of such products as Google News and Gmail.

The motivational theme is something that is personally inspiring, and, when connected to their goals at work, lets your employees know that with each accomplishment, they are getting closer to their personal goal. And that can be an incredibly powerful motivator that drives results.

Ray Beharry is a Marketing & Sales Leader based out of the Greater New York City area. He can be reached via LinkedIn, email – [email protected], and is also on Twitter @RayBeharry.