“All I do is win, win, win no matter what!” This DJ Khaled anthem is enough to give me a quick jolt of motivation before a client pitch or high stakes board meeting.
But aside from little dopamine1 hits like this, I spend a lot of time thinking and experimenting with how do I activate motivation in myself and in others in a sustained way?
One answer to this question is provided by self-determination theory, a concept developed by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci. This concept was groundbreaking for its time in that it directly challenged the dominant idea in psychology that rewards (money, awards, new titles, etc.) and/or the threat of punishment were the best ways to get people to do tasks.
Their research defined a “continuum” of motivation (see below) and clarified the concepts of extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation.
The continuum captures the complexity of human motivation. While we’d love for every activity that we do to be intrinsically enjoyable and interesting, the reality is that many different motivations are often at play, both external and internal.2
For example, I started writing this newsletter, because I enjoy the reflection process (intrinsic) and it’s interesting to further research topics that pique my curiosity (intrinsic). That said, when I receive positive and constructive feedback from others (extrinsic) and I see the engagement stats (extrinsic), that also compels me to keep writing.
Ryan and Deci’s research also highlights the drawbacks of relying on extrinsic motivation. They found that the “carrot and stick” approach rarely leads to resilient commitment to an activity and can reduce creativity.
In fact, Ryan and Deci’s work showed that humans, across cultures and socio-economic levels, flourish when they satisfy three basic psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness and competence.3 When these needs are met, people have long-lasting motivation and well-being. On the flip side, it is detrimental to our motivation and well-being when these needs are not met.
Wait…what? Money is not on this list? I thought “it was all about the Benjamins!”
I ascribe to the philosophy best articulated by Kanye West4 on this matter: “Having money is not everything, not having it [money] is.” Once people are paid enough to not worry about money, you can get the most out of people by creating an environment that is supportive of them meeting these three needs (autonomy, relatedness and competence).
Over the next three weeks, I’ll dedicate one reflection to each psychological need (autonomy, relatedness and competence) from both a personal and team leadership lens.
Today, the questions I reflected on seek to uncover which activities unlock intrinsic motivation in myself and in my teams. As Ryan and Deci showed, it is the most effective way to ensure resilient commitment and foster creativity…two of the most important ingredients to “win win win no matter what!”
Some questions I reflected on this week:
What are specific examples of activities where I have “come alive” or that I would describe as “quite enjoyable”? At work? Outside of work?
What patterns do I notice about these activities?
For each member of my team(s), what are the moments when they feel at their best at work and outside of work? Write specific examples for each person. (Note: For those that I couldn’t come up with at least three examples, I plan to ask in my next 1-on-1 with them)
What patterns do I notice about each person? What are the common themes for the areas when they feel at their best?
How can I use these insights to sustain motivation on my teams, especially when they appear to be dragging?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, basically a chemical in the brain, that regulates our motivation to act (among other functions).
Dan Pink further popularized these concepts in his book Drive. (He dropped Relatedness and added Purpose). Pink packaged it up a lot better, but Ryan and Desi deserve a lot of the intellectual credit.
Yes, Kanye is problematic. No, I don’t plan to get into all the reasons why here. This line from “Good Life” by Kanye just always stuck with me as the best articulation of what I think about this issue.