The biggest misunderstanding I run across with coaching clients is that money motivates people to perform.
Jim CastigliaFor finishing an coaching owners and managers, do yourself a favor and reject this common misconception. I’m not saying money isn’t important; it is, but stop thinking it will motivate your people to perform better. You’ll only end up frustrated, and if you pay people a salary, you’ll know what I’m saying is true.
Since this series is about motivation, let’s turn our focus on what actually motivates employees to perform at the top of their capacities.
The last article introduced you to one of the founding fathers of motivation theory, Abraham Maslow, as well as his “Hierarchy of Needs.” You’ll do yourself well if you fully understand Maslow’s hierarchy because you’ll start to see that it isn’t only money that people need to achieve in their work and their lives.
The Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
This article will focus on a lesser known (outside of business academic circles at least) founding father: Fredrick Herzberg, who developed the concept of “The Two-Factor Theory of Motivation.” The two factors were what he called hygienes and motivators.
Let’s review these elements. You’ll begin to figure out why you’ve been frustrated and annoyed by the money/motivation fallacy.
Herzberg hypothesized that if you “enrich” jobs by better design, it can positively motivate better performance.
In the 1950s, he researched 200 engineers and accountants by asking them when and why they felt exceptionally good about their jobs and when and why they felt negative about those same jobs.
Positives Not the Opposite of Negatives
He was struck by the fact that the positives were not the opposite of the negatives. He concluded that there were two factors at work. He said that humans have two sets of needs: lower-order needs as an animal to avoid pain and deprivation and higher-order needs as a human beings to grow psychologically.
He concluded that some factors in the workplace meet the first set of needs but not the second, and vice versa. He called the first set of needs ‘hygiene factors’ and the second set of needs ‘motivators.’
Money belongs to the first set of needs (hygienes) along with supervision, company policies and administration, working relationships and conditions, status, and job security.
These factors do not in themselves promote job satisfaction but do prevent job dissatisfaction. Some factors, once introduced, increasingly come to be regarded as rights to be expected rather than incentives for greater satisfaction and achievement. (Pay is one of these factors.)
What a Person Does at Work
Motivators relate to what a person does at work. They include:
- Achievement
- Challenges
- Recognition
- The work itself
- Responsibility
- Professional and personal growth
- Opportunities for promotion and advancement.
These two sets of factors — hygienes and motivators — are separate and distinct. They are not opposites.
In his influential 1968 article for the Harvard Business Review, ‘One more time: how do you motivate employees?’ Herzberg lumped together all the hygiene factors with the less pleasant aspects of the working experience under the heading KITA (Kick In The Ass).
He explained why managers are unable to motivate employees. Employees are not motivated by being kicked (figuratively speaking), by being given more money or benefits, by a comfortable environment, or by reducing the time they spend at work. What genuinely motivates people are things that are intangible or intrinsic to the work.
He saw it as the continuous function of management to ensure that people were given the opportunity to become more and more responsibly and creatively involved in their jobs.
Herzberg’s greatest accomplishment has been the knowledge that motivation comes mainly from within the individual; it cannot be imposed from the outside by an organization in accordance with some formula.
Action to Take
If you have employees who are dissatisfied or even more neutral about their work, find ways to develop the motivator factors of their jobs. Look at the list of motivators above and brainstorm ideas with yourself and your team if there are improvements that can be made. Can you give me more recognition? Are there challenges that can be tackled? Are there opportunities for promotion and/or advancement? Can more responsibility be added to a job? And what about the work itself? Are there enhancements that can be made?
Jim Castiglia is the founder of Business Street Fighter Consulting and supports entrepreneurial business owners in their desire to grow and maximize the value of their business. He can be reached by email at JimC@BSF.consulting or by phone at 919.263.1256. Visit www.BSF.consulting
