1. Motivation@Work
Inspiring Passion in the Workplace
Greg Gifford, Ph.D.
Faculty, Federal Executive Institute

2. Workshop Agenda
 Complete Motivation Self-Assessment
 A Brief History of Motivation
 Overview of Sources of Work Motivation
 Develop a Self Motivation Profile
 Motivation Case Studies

4. Inspiring Passion
What gets you through the door to
work everyday?

5. Inspiring Passion
Leadership is…
1. Purpose Driven
2. Incites Change based on values & vision
3. A process of influence based on mutual respect and
understanding

6. Inspiring Passion
Motivation is…
The general desire of a human being (obtained by internal
and external sources) to engage in an activity or behavior.
Work Motivation: The desire and willingness to engage in
work related activities.

7. Engagement Among Federal Employees
Engaged
Somewhat 35.3%
Engaged
47.2%
Not
Engaged
17.5%
Source: MSPB, 2008

8. Brief History of Motivation
Knowing
Feeling
Willing Volition

9. Motivation:
A Social-Cognitive Process
 Hierarchy of Needs
 5 sets of needs
 Physiological
 Safety
 Love
 Esteem
 Self-Actualization

10. Maslow‘s Hierarchy of Needs

13. But What About the Workplace?
McClelland‘s Trichotomy of Needs
 Motivation can be divided into
3 needs:
 Need for Power
 Need for Achievement
 Need for Affiliation

14. Meta-Theory of Work Motivation
 5 sources from which motivation is derived:
 Intrinsic Process Motivation
 Instrumental Motivation
 Self Concept-External Motivation
 Self Concept-Internal Motivation
 Goal Internalization Motivation
Leonard, Beauvais & Scholl, 1998

15. Chart Your Course
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

16. Work Motivation
 Intrinsic Process Motivation
 Motivated by the enjoyment of the work
being done
 Typical Behaviors
 Talks about likes and dislikes of tasks
 Volunteers for ‗fun‘ activities and tasks
 May become easily bored or distracted
 Usually desires variety

17. Careers for Intrinsic Process
 Actors
 Daycare Workers
 Elementary School Teachers
 Entertainers

18. Inspiring Fun
 Find out which projects or tasks are each of  Organize a ball game
your employee‘s favorites. (softball, baseball, basketball, volleyball, foot
ball).
 Find ways to assign more of the tasks they
enjoy and fewer of the ones they don‘t like to  Organize a golf outing.
do.
 Schedule important meetings off-site at out-
 Many people love to laugh on the job — a of-the-ordinary locations.
happy worker is a good worker — so let there
be laughter in the workplace.  Always start a meeting with something social
or fun before you get down to business.
 Create a quote of the week board for people
who have said the funniest things on the job.  Make sure that every meeting has some
scheduled fun time.
 Create a social calendar or events board so
employees can link up for activities after  Hold events that are intended to let everyone
work. have fun.
 Make laughter a priority when interacting with  Plan an outing to a local community event
your employees.

20. Where Do You Rank?
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Intrinsic Instrumental Self-Concept Self-Concept Goal
Process External Internal Internalization

21. Work Motivation
 Instrumental Motivation
 Motivated by extrinsic tangible outcomes
 pay, promotion, bonus
 Typical Behaviors
 ―What‘s in it for me?‖
 Compensation for extra work
 Discusses how much money one makes/doesn‘t make
 Compares relative wealth and success of others

22. Careers for Instrumental
 Sales
 Stock Broker
 Small Business Owner
 Corporate Executives

23. Inspiring with Rewards
 Create clear work objectives and goals for  Offer extra holiday time for outstanding performers
employees to pursue in order to earn salary (make sure that employees know about the incentive
increments (no performance = no raise). well in advance).
 Remind employees of what they will get for their  Develop perks or prizes for individuals who can
efforts. perform the best in a functional area for a given
week (make sure you give the prize to the worker
who performed best).
 Avoid across-the-board raises (this sends the
message that it doesn‘t matter whether you work
hard or not).  Don‘t pass out rewards evenly to all employees in an
effort to include everyone. This demotivates the
instrumentally motivated person.
 Create incentives attached to predetermined
objectives and tasks.
 Follow through on all of your promises.
 Give special awards to top performers on a regular
basis.  Make sure that employees do not receive perks if
they haven‘t earned them.
 Make clear expectations of what you expect from
your employees and hold them to it when it comes  Remind employees which tasks will be most
time to putting your ―money where your mouth is.‖ important for their performance evaluations.

25. Its Not Just About the Money

26. Where Do You Rank?
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Intrinsic Instrumental Self-Concept Self-Concept Goal
Process External Internal Internalization

27. Work Motivation
 Self Concept-External Motivation
 Motivated by the affirmation of traits, competencies and
values others associate with the person
 Desire to gain acceptance into a group, the obtain status
within that group
 Typical Behaviors
 Frequently asks for feedback
 Strives for praise and recognition
 Talks (brags) about accomplishments

28. Careers for
Self Concept-External
 Elected Officials
 Public Speakers
 Authors
 Journalists
 Professors

29. Inspiring Belongingness
 Give employees lots of feedback about the way they are  Create plaques and awards for top performances.
performing.
 Put up an achievement board to highlight some of the great
 Give praise in front of other people (the more people that things that have happened in the agency and who was
know they did well the better!). responsible!
 Criticize these individuals only in private (never in front of  Put up pictures and biographies of all your employees in a
others). central place.
 Give unsolicited compliments and positive reinforcement to  Include unique pieces of information about each employee
employees for jobs with which you are satisfied. and change these items from week to week (example: favorite
ice cream flavor, worst day ever, thing that I‘m most proud
of, etc.).
 Tell your employees that you appreciate the work they do.
 At company-wide meetings, create and announce serious and
 Start a suggestion box and publish the best suggestion made fun ―superlatives‖ (example: hardest worker, cleanest
each week on the company bulletin board (make sure car, spiffiest dressed, most versatile, cleanest shoes, most
everyone knows that the best suggestions will be published). athletic, most reliable).
 Ask employees if anything interesting happened to them this  The Gallup Organization utilizes a ―Drop in the Bucket‖ peer-
weekend (they love to share their stories). to-peer recognition program. Consider implementing a similar
peer-to-peer recognition effort.
 Give out certificates of appreciation to anyone who does
extraordinarily well for the agency.  Send a weekly email highlighting individual, team and
organizational accomplishments.
 Recognize the outstanding performers in the group at every
staff meeting.

30. Where Do You Rank?
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Intrinsic Instrumental Self-Concept Self-Concept Goal
Process External Internal Internalization

31. Work Motivation
 Self Concept-Internal Motivation
 Motivated by a self-driven desire to achieve and
exceed one‘s personal standards
 Typical Behaviors
 Seeks out difficult tasks/projects
 Utilize specific skill set to complete work
 Seek professional development opportunities
 Work autonomously, with little direction

32. Careers for
Self Concept-Internal
 Analysts
 Historian
 Mid/Senior Level Managers
 Psychologist
 Farmers

33. Inspiring Personal Challenge
 Avoid assigning tasks that have too much structure.  Give them autonomy to structure and perform their job as they
see best.
 Find out what they think is their best skill and encourage them
to use this with the tasks you assign.  Don‘t insult them by asking them to do something that just
about anybody could do (they need to know that they are
uniquely qualified to do it).
 Find out what area this person wants to most improve in and
find ways for them to work on this skill.
 Ask these employees to find training and development
opportunities that will allow them to develop expertise.
 Encourage employees to develop and build on their
strengths, not weaknesses.
 Encourage these employees to take on projects that may fail.
 Avoid assigning (too many) mundane tasks to these
employees.  Remind these employees that they shouldn‘t take ―no‖ for an
answer from anyone.
 Assign projects rather than tasks.
 Ask these employees to come up with several plausible
solutions to a situation, not just one answer.
 Play devil‘s advocate with proposals or solutions presented by
these employees.
 Encourage employees to brainstorm innovative or new ideas.
 Challenge these employees by saying, ―I‘m not sure if you are
up to this challenge, but...‖  Challenge these employees to find and ―be on the cutting
edge‖ of the profession.
 Give them a challenging project with no clear solution, then
get out of their way.

34. Where Do You Rank?
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Intrinsic Instrumental Self-Concept Self-Concept Goal
Process External Internal Internalization

35. Work Motivation
 Goal Internalization
 Motivated by the belief that the work being done is
contributing to a larger cause or collective goals
 Typical Behaviors
 ―Why are we doing this?‖
 Discusses strategic focus of the organization
 Live professional and personal life guided by a strict set of
principles and values

36. Careers for
Goal Internalization
 Government Employees
 Non-profit Workers
 Middle/High School Teachers
 Volunteers

37. Inspiring with the Mission
 Communicate the purpose behind tasks or projects being  Refer to historical events that have impacted the country or
assigned. agency to add context to work being done.
 Involve these employees in developing or redeveloping  Encourage employees to develop a personal leadership
visions, missions and goals. vision.
 Find creative ways to display, depict or represent the vision  Consistently refer to the purpose(s) of government and
and mission in a visible place. government service.
 Refer to the purpose of the organization and ―why we exist‖  Take time to honor or recognize those who have served in
when outlining strategies and goals. government.
 Allow employees to ―interact‖ with the purpose by posting the  Encourage employees to tell stories about their time public
contributions they make or have made to the mission. service and why their time is meaningful.
 Remind employees of who depends on this organization to  Find meaning in every assignment or project given to
succeed (families, communities, industry). employees.
 Make links between their work and the bigger picture.  Ask this employee to coordinate a community relations event
(e.g.--blood drive, the combined campaign, canned food drive
or run/walk for a cause).
 As you assign projects, provide a clear linkage between the
project and the mission of the agency.

41. Where Do You Rank?
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Intrinsic Instrumental Self-Concept Self-Concept Goal
Process External Internal Internalization

42. Your Results
MSI (Motivation Sources Inventory)  Scoring Sheet
Intrinsic Process: 1____, 6____, 11____, 16____, 21____, 26____ (Sum) ___
Instrumental: 2____, 7____, 12____, 17____, 22____, 27____ (Sum) _______
SC External: 3____, 8____, 13____, 18____, 23____, 28____ (Sum) _______
SC Internal: 4____, 9____, 14____, 19____, 24____, 29____ (Sum) _______
Goal Internal: 5____, 10____, 15____, 20____, 25____, 30____ (Sum) _______

43. Your Results
 Dominant Source & Secondary Source
 Important Things to Remember…
 Everyone has some amount of all 5 sources of motivation which
can be in play at any time
 Your sources may fluctuate a bit, but tend to be fairly steady.
 There is not a good or bad motivation.
 Only you know how accurately/honestly you answered the
questions and therefore how accurate your results are.
 This is NOT a developmental tool, but informational.

44. Motivation Matters
 Typical Approach
 Use one‘s own sources of motivation to motivate others
 Inspiring Personal Approach
 Be aware of your sources of motivation
 Understand motivation differences of employees
 Develop personalized motivation approaches

45. Motivating Others Case Study
 Review Case – 10 mins
 Small Group Discussion – 10 mins
 Large Group Report Out & Discussion – 20 mins

46. Case Study
 Part 1:
 What are the dominant & secondary sources of
motivation that are espoused by leaders in the case?
 Part 2:
 If you were leading the organization and wanted to
improve this situation,
 How would you appeal to the dominant source of
motivation?
 How could you appeal to the secondary source of
motivation?

47. Case Study
Report Out
 Give a Brief Overview of the Case
 Part 1:
 What is the dominant source of motivation?
 What is the secondary source of motivation?
 Part 2:
 How would you appeal to the dominant source of motivation?
 How could you appeal to the secondary source of motivation?