Today is February 11 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “What factors motivate you to work to the best of your capacity?”
In his 1967 publication The Motivation to Work, Frederick Herzberg identified two different categories of factors affecting the motivation to work: hygiene and motivation.
Hygiene factors include extrinsic factors like technical supervision, interpersonal relations, physical working conditions, salary, company policies and administrative practices, benefits and job security.
In comparison, motivation factors include intrinsic factors such as achievement, recognition and status, responsibility, challenging work and advancement in the organization. Herzberg's theory postulates that only motivation factors have the potential of increasing job satisfaction.
“The results indicate that the association between salary and job satisfaction is very weak. When employees are focused on external rewards, the effects of intrinsic motives on engagement are significantly diminished.
This means that employees who are intrinsically motivated are three times more engaged than employees who are extrinsically motivated (such as by money). Quite simply, you're more likely to like your job if you focus on the work itself, and less likely to enjoy it if you're focused on money.”
Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us makes the same observation. While many people believe that the best way to motivate others is with external rewards like money, the reality is that high performance and satisfaction is rooted in the three elements of true motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
When you are considering potential employment opportunities do you focus solely on salary or do you consider the myriad of other factors that go into job satisfaction?
As legendary basketball coach Pat Riley said "A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning."
As you go about your day, consider asking yourself "what motivates you? Are you solely motivated by money or do autonomy, mastery, and purpose play a role?"