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Psychological needs

Drive our motivation • 3 min


Lori Baranek, a researcher in Grand Valley State University, found that incentives and rewards have a negative impact on a student’s long-term motivation. This finding echoes other research in this field - the more we are rewarded for a task, the more we resist it, and the worse we perform.

 

Introduction

Companies often use the “carrot and stick” approach to motivate individuals when performance is lacking or targets are not being met. But research shows that this is ineffective and that there's a better way to understand and solve these problems.


Today we’ll look at three universal psychological needs that help drive our motivation.


Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

When we think of motivation, self-determination is the ideal scenario. However, we are human after all and we can’t help but be motivated by some of those juicy external rewards.


Both intrinsic and extrinsic motives drive our behaviour, and both push us to meet our three basic needs.


Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan developed a model of the key components that drive intrinsic motivation, called the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). There are three innate needs that are covered in the SDT.


1. Autonomy

We want control and choice, and need to feel that we are the masters of our own destiny.


2. Competence

We want to get better at what we do, and need to develop our mastery over tasks that are important to us.


3. Relatedness

We want purpose and meaning, and need a sense of belonging and connection with others.


The good news is that when these three basic needs are met in the workplace, we experience higher levels of motivation and passion for our work.


The question is, how can we use this research to boost our own intrinsic motivation?


Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in Practice

1. Autonomy

Whether we have performance targets or not, we can gain autonomy by setting our own goals.


This will give us the choice and control we desire and in turn, will increase our intrinsic motivation when performing our regular tasks.


2. Competence

Once we have our performance or career goals defined, we then need to review the core competencies that are required to achieve them.


We may need to develop a specific capability but once it’s important to us, we can then pursue mastery over that capability.


3. Relatedness

We need to care about what we do and to be cared for by others. If we understand our company’s “why” - i.e. their purpose for being in business, it will help us to better understand the connection between our work and the company’s purpose.

 

Key takeaways

  1. Our chances of achieving goals and maintaining a high performance are strongly influenced by two types of motivation.


  2. Intrinsic motivation is when we are motivated to perform a behaviour because it’s internally rewarding.


  3. External motivation is when we are motivated to perform a behaviour because we want to either earn a reward or avoid punishment (“carrot and stick”).

 

Think big, act small

When we understand how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation works and when to leverage each, this can help us perform tasks with a greater purpose.


Reflect on your own role and identify which aspects of it are driven by intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

 

Content sources

  • Drive, Daniel Pink


  • Forbes, Better Motivation Leads To Better Results, David Smith


  • Forbes, Here’s What Happens When Leaders Get Employee Motivation Right, Jim Barnett


  • Forbes, Three Ways To Boost Productivity With Autonomous Motivation, Marc Nickell


  • Harvard Business Review, 3 Ways To Motivate Your Team Through An Extended Crisis, Anne Brafford and Richard Ryan


  • Harvard Business Review, What Maslow’s Hierarchy Won’t Tell You About Motivation, Susan Fowler


  • ScholarWorks, The Effect of Rewards and Motivation on Student Achievement, Lori Baranek

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