The Science of Moti

Most managers feel that a major part of their job is to motivate people who work for them. The problem that many have is distinguishing the difference between motivation and manipulation. Managers who attempt to motivate through manipulation will actually get worse results than those managers who simply stay out of the way and let people do what comes naturally to them. Let’s start with a definition of motivation: Motivation is the internal psychological force that causes an person to move towards a achieving a goal. Read this definition several times to get the full meaning of it. Note that motivation is internally driven. People must motivate themselves. Managers don’t motivate people. Rather managers create conditions and an environment where people are self motivated. Secondly, without a goal, motivation doesn’t exist. In order for people to be motivated, there must be a sense of purpose and reason for expending the mental and

GetRuralLeaderMag.com | NOVEMBER /DECEMBER 2015 25 physical energy required.

The goal must have meaning to the person. Psychologists have studied human motivation for years. Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between what science knows about human motivation and behavior, and what the business world does. For example, science tells us that extrinsic motivators, fear and reward, are temporary and don’t change underlying attitudes which influence behavior. Yet, many organizations rely mainly or exclusively on extrinsic motivation to stimulate higher levels of performance. In a study done by MIT, and then replicated several times since, researchers studied the impact of rewards on performance. The results in every case showed that if the task involved even a small amount of cognitive ability (thinking, creating, reasoning, problem solving, etc.), the higher the reward the worse the performance. The only time the size of the reward related to performance was for physical tasks where the amount of physical effort expended correlated directly to performance. That is not to say that people are not motivated by money. If people feel that they are not compensated fairly, it will have an impact on their performance. Money is what Frederick Herzberg calls a hygiene factor. According to Herzberg, hygiene factors are sources of demotivation if not addressed, but in themselves do not provide motivation. The science of motivation says that higher performance will only come when people are intrinsically motivated. According to research by Dan Pink, three factors correlated with high levels of intrinsic motivation. The first is autonomy. Autonomy is having the freedom to control and direct one’s own work.

Managers who want to have employees with high levels of intrinsic motivation need to let their people do the job. I have used quote by Bill Oncken many times because I think it is such a good piece of advice for any

manager—”Practice hands off management as much as possible, and hands on management only as necessary.” People learn responsibility only when they are given responsibility. With today’s technology that enables a manager to stay in touch and be available 24/7, I worry that we are creating a generation of workers who won’t make a decision because they can easily find the boss and get him or her to make the decision. The second factor that Pink finds correlates with intrinsic motivation is mastery. Mastery is the natural human urge to grow, learn, and get better. We are all naturally competitive with ourselves and with others. People are more apt to be intrinsically motivated if there is challenge in the job. Measurement and goal setting facilitate mastery. I’ve observed many times that all a manager has to do is give people some way to keep score on the job, and then let the people go. The third factor is purpose. Purpose is the feeling of being able to make a contribution. The more that people find meaning and significance in their work, the more that they will be intrinsically motivated. In one plant that I managed, we had a standard practice of having the management staff take customers and other important visitors on plant tours. Over time we began to let the front line workers do the tours. We found it was a lot more impressive to our customers to have the workers talk about what they did, than a group of us upper level people. The ownership and commitment of the front line workforce increased significantly and they were able to associate what they did on a daily basis with our customers. This increased their intrinsic motivation without costing the company anything.— About the Author Ryan Scholz works with leaders whose success is dependent on getting commitment and high performance from others. He is author of Turning Potential into Action: Eight Principles for Creating a Highly Engaged Work Place. For more information, visit www. lead-strat-assoc.com/

26 RuralLeaderMagazine.com | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 Three Steps to Prepare Your Credit continued from page 22 Using an Extra Principal Payment Calculator tool can also help you calculate the savings that come with paying extra - generating additional motivation to do so. Minimize any outstanding debt and keep existing debt manageable

Paying your statement balances in full instead of letting debt accumulate can improve your credit scores, which may result in better terms being offered from lenders. Lenders often check your credit report when you apply for a loan and measure the amount of debt you’re carrying against the loan amount they’ve requested. Excessive debt is one of the factors that could cause a lender to decline your application. Avoid applying for unnecessary credit

Credit applications can appear as inquiries on credit reports, which may suggest to lenders that an applicant is taking on additional debt. Be aware of advertising or sales promotions that offer purchase discounts if you apply for a credit card. Even these cards could show up as inquiries on your credit report. These inquiries remain on credit reports for two years. Instead of applying for additional credit, use your existing lines of credit to showcase your responsible credit management by paying bills on time and paying off the debt quickly.

“There are a lot of steps you can take to improve your credit, but it’s important to remember that credit scores don’t change overnight,” says Hamilton. “It takes time to increase your credit rating, and while it may feel like a slow-moving effort, it is well worth the wait when you get to open the door to a home of your own for you and your family.”

For more credit tips, you can check out the full Guide to Credit, and find other useful guides for homebuyers on vmfhomeloan.com.—BPT