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Motivation is the energy that catalyzes behavior.

A manager’s role is to enable their employees to work as productively as possible. It is fairly easy to identify when someone is appropriately challenged and engaged in their work, or when they are showing signs of frustration or complacency.

Your job as a manager is to keep your team in the Challenge Zone – where your employees are neither too comfortable with their work leading to complacency and boredom, nor too frustrated with their work that they feel overwhelmed, angry, or withdrawn.

Can you plot where your team members fall given a particular task?

KEY INDICATORS

Creating a motivating environment is essential in all management situations. However, it is important to identify when motivation, or a lack thereof, is the root cause of a performance challenge.

Some key indicators that a motivation intervention is needed are noted below. These are all signs that a person is out of the Challenge Zone and in either the Frustration Zone or the Comfort Zone.

When an employee does not believe she is capable of completing a task – either stemming from an inability (she doesn’t have the knowledge or skills) to perform the task or incapacity (the necessary resources or time) to perform the task. She might complain, “I don’t know how to do that…” or “The Company does not give me the resources to do that…” or “I feel overwhelmed…”
When the employee does not believe that he has a choice in performing the task. He might complain, “I don’t have a say in how this should be done…” or “I have no choice. I have to do this…” or “Why is this important?” or “Why are we doing this?”
When an employee does not feel like she belongs to either the company or her specific team. She might complain, “I don’t belong here…” or “No one likes me…” or “I just don’t fit in…”
When an employee sees no end in sight and believes that nothing he does matters. He might complain, “What’s the point, nothing I say or do matters to management...” or “No one ever listens to me, why do I even bother?”
When an employee does not receive any kind of feedback about her performance. She might complain, “I haven’t received a performance evaluation since starting this job…” or “I don’t know what my manager thinks…”
When an employee is more concerned about compensation and pay. He might complain, “What do we get for doing that?” or “I only do what they pay me to do and nothing more…” or “If you want me to do that, what I get for it? Can I level up?”
When an employee is more concerned about peer approval or managerial approval. She might say, “I’ll do it as long as no one gets mad at me.” Or, she asks for constant approval from the manager.
When an employee appears to lack excitement about work they used to enjoy and now leaves work before other team members. He might say, “I’ve learned how to ace this and I can work more quickly than others.”

THREE MOTIVATIONAL LEVERS

Once an employee is out of the comfort zone, there are three key motivational levers you can use to help him/her engage with you.

Competence is the need to perceive oneself as successful at achieving a task or an activity. To feel competent, a person must believe s/he has the knowledge and skill to perform the task, as well as the resources (time, tools, etc.) to do it.

Autonomy/Control: Autonomy is the perception that one has a choice in performing the task and is not influenced by any other source in making that determination. Control is the reverse of autonomy. Control occurs when the employee senses that s/he does not have a choice in the matter or is influenced by some external source. This undermines the sense of passion or pleasure that arises from performing the task.

Relatedness: Relatedness is the feeling that one is emotionally tied to significant others in life, whether they are family, friends, teammates or members of the same company.

NOTE: These identified psychological needs stem from the work of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, of the University of Rochester. Their research in motivation has produced multiple books and articles over the last several decades.