Let us start the new year thinking about how motivation works. What encourages us to action? How can knowledge help us with motivation for the new year’s resolutions?
Simple Views Of Motivation
Dan Ariely has a new book on this topic. And to motivate you to read it I’ll say it is a very short book.
Ariely is keen to emphasize that often we rely on overly simplistic views of human motivation. Satisfaction at work isn’t simply a function of how much we get paid. The need to feel like we are contributing to something, that what we do is noticed, also helps us put the effort in.
Motivation For Academics
Ariely discusses the motivation of university professors and many knowledge workers. One challenge is that the link between effort and achievement isn’t always apparent. Sometimes much effort goes into a project that goes nowhere. On the other hand, sometimes you do very little for great success. This creates challenges with reward structures too. When rewarding academic success you risk rewarding luck as much as ability or effort. My experience of academia suggests that a more nuanced understanding of human nature might help improve the workplace.
In some ways, it is surprising that for-profit businesses sometimes make poor use of non-monetary incentives. Motivating people with non-monetary incentives is a value for money way of running a business. It is good for the workers too. Helping them see the purpose in their work will make them happier and more efficient. With greater efficiency should come more money to share around. Note to be clear motivating people relies upon giving them a level of pay that is decent and that they think is fair. No amount of meaningful work will make up for the fact that a worker can’t afford to feed their children.
Furthermore, it is worth bearing in mind that people respond well to the feeling that they have a long-term commitment to, and from, their jobs. Ariely suggests that we can “invest in employee’s education, provide them with health benefits that clearly communicate a sense of long term commitment” (Ariely, 2016, page 75).
Motivation For The New Year
I think Ariely is right that with an understanding of human motivation that is more behaviorally informed we can hope to create better business outcomes and happier workplaces. A good new years’ resolution, therefore, would be to think of how we can make workplaces more motivating places.
For more on fairness and selfishness see here, here, here, and here.
Read: Dan Ariely (2016) Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations, TED Books, New York, NY