Employee Motivation: Intrinsic Approach Works Best!

James Grinnell’s blog article (Unleashing Intrinsic Motivation Through Servant Leadership) uses Daniel Pink’s book entitled “Drive” to make the point about the old carrot and stick approach to employee motivation is not effective.  He argues using three key factors that are proven to motivate and drive the ambitions of workers inspired from inner or innate desires and needs.  Grinnell uses the phrase "servant leadership" in his characterization of this intrinsic motivation model for engaging employees.

“Pink offers a three-pronged model of intrinsic motivation in which individuals are driven by the need for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. .. A truly autonomous work setting shifts the focus from a task-oriented to a results-oriented mindset.”

“The second leg of Pink’s model mastery relates to the innate desire to become ever better at a task, role, or assignment that one values. .. Unfortunately, surveys suggest that nearly half of all American workers are not engaged in their jobs….  The power of mastery is aptly captured by the Confucian proverb “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Grinnell tops off his thesis about employee motivation with: “Human beings perform at their best when they believe that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves, something enduring.”

Read more

From:  http://www.pmhut.com/unleashing-intrinsic-motivation-through-servant-leadership

Daniel Pink:  http://www.danpink.com/drive

It’s never too late to be who you might have been. -- George Elliot

Many of the best and most inspiring giants of our time have been those who were self-educated.   Creative and successful citizens such as Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, and many others.  These are people that didn't necessarily have a formal education, or follow the typical path of graduating high school, going to college, and then relying on someone to hire them.  These are people that were self taught and learned by designing their own experiences.   They employed research and learning methods just as powerful and as research evident as courses taught at Harvard or Yale, or any one of the best universities on the planet.  Read more about designing  your own life by applying the same principles that great and historically memorable people have utilized.

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How Self-Motivated Are You? Taking Charge of Your Goals and Achievements By Mindtools.com

WikiHow – How To Be Self-Motivated