What gets you out of bed in the morning?

If you are already a CEO, or pretty close to being one, by this stage of your career you probably have a good idea of what motivates you. But what about other people in your organisation? What do you think gets them out of bed in the morning, and in particular to work happily for you and your company?

People are of course motivated in the workplace by all sorts of factors including the remuneration on offer. Money aside, here are eight energising factors of motivation which many people use, consciously or unconsciously, when deciding on what job and workplace suits them best:

1. Autonomy – according to self-determination theory (SDT), a leading evidence-based approach to motivation, autonomy is one of three fundamental psychological needs or nutriments essential for optimal functioning and personal wellbeing. Autonomy is having control over whatever it is we are doing, whether in the workplace or outside it. It is supported by the awareness that we are valued. So, the more autonomy you can give your team members, the happier they generally will be.
2. Mastery – the second of SDT’s factors is competence, and ideally mastery. In their workplaces, most people want to excel and be recognised for their expertise. This need is best satisfied within well-structured environments that afford optimal challenges and opportunities for growth including appropriate training, coaching and mentoring. How does your organisation measure up?
3. Relationships – the final SDT motivational factor is labelled ‘relatedness’, which is a sense of belonging and connection, and the experience of satisfying and supportive relationships. Aided by mutual respect, it’s about caring for others and having them care about us. Impressed as I am by SDT, to me it doesn’t explain enough about what drives behaviour in the workplace. Here are the rest of my eight energising factors of motivation.
4. Purpose – increasingly, employees are ‘purpose-driven’. They want to work for organisations which have a clearly stated mission which resonates with their own sense of purpose. Does your organisation have a clear, simple purpose statement? That is, your raison d’être for being in business? As the CEO, do you articulate your purpose to the people in your organisation?
5. Status – this designates our relative importance to other people in any given setting including workplaces. What is our level of seniority and where are we in the pecking order? The higher our sense of status in an organisation, the safer we feel in our job and the less likely we are to leave.
6. Certainty – is our ability to predict the future. Human brains crave certainty and are pattern-recognition machines that are constantly trying to make predictions. The business world is teeming with uncertainty, but best practice is to shield employees, as far as possible, from excessive worry about the future and their job safety. What level of certainty are your staff members currently experiencing?
7. Fairness – is our perception of fair exchanges between people. At the extreme (probably not in most workplaces), people are prepared to die to right injustice. Throughout history, fairness is deeply ingrained in people of all cultures. Does your organisation treat team members fairly and without bias based on gender, race, age or any other criteria?
8. Feedback – is implicit in some of the preceding factors, but in practice it is so important it is worth a specific mention. Feedback comes in all shapes and sizes. When done well, with timely, specific recognition, praise or carefully crafted constructive encouragement, feedback can be a huge motivator. On the other hand, a lack of feedback, or feedback that is poorly delivered, can be highly demotivating. Think about your own organisation. Do you have a culture which encourages regular and constructive feedback to employees?

The fundamental reason why most people have jobs is because they need a regular paycheque to sustain their desired lifestyle. However, smart businesses realise that beyond money there are other factors in play that determine the desirability of one job in comparison to another. The eight energising factors of motivation go a long way to explaining how people make choices when deciding where to work and when it is time to move on. If you are a CEO, or you are in your organisation’s C-Suite, how attractive do you think your workplace is, when viewed from the perspective of current employees, or potential recruits, who are using these factors when deciding where they wish to work after they get out of bed every morning?

Written by Tony Frost.
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