Content about Motivation

Robert Vetere, author of “From Wags to Riches,” explores the human-animal bond and looks at moving from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation for both dogs and people. In the business world, he says, intrinsic motivation is widely believed to be the key to employee engagement and one way to ensure people get the highest degree of satisfaction from their work.

Applying game sciences to recognition and performance improvement programs is much more than just creating a game. It’s essentially a way of creating a series of interlocking and customizable experiences that enrich a relationship with a brand or company. Gamification is about finding new ways to appeal to the basic human drives that motivate us every day.

Leaders must be able to help their employees see the possibility and promise of what is to come, while making peace with the past. A company can’t succeed unless its employees are invested in its success, and they need to get into the right mindset. Here’s what leaders need to do to rally their troops and get them excited about the future.

VThere is a lot of talk about gamification today and how we can use it in business—with consumers, as well as with our employees. But what about learning? Bill and Melinda Gates think gamification can make a difference in how children can learn. They recently opened their foundation purse strings and invested $20 million partially toward developing innovative digital and game-based learning tools for children in the U.S.

Faced with an unmotivated employee or student, our first instinct is to dangle a carrot (an incentive). If that doesn’t work, we threaten him. In either case, we’re missing the point. Tackling a lack of volition or faculty with blunt instruments such as rewards and punishments simply ignores the fact that the activities and experiences causing these symptoms aren’t any fun. That’s where games come in.

Achieving goals and producing results is possible through incentives, and it doesn’t have to hurt. In fact, it’s a proven remedy. Companies that invest in an effective incentive program use it as a business tool to achieve uncommon goals—good preventive medicine.

Instead of guessing what motivates individual employees, managers should start out by asking them. On an individual basis, explore what is important to each contributor. What are their goals? Which tasks and responsibilities would they prefer? What could the manager do to make their jobs more fulfilling?

Whether they are customers, sales partners, or employees, all are looking for relationships with organizations they can trust, organizations that care, organizations that align with their values. Too often, the real story is that businesses view people as a means to their profit end rather than as stakeholders in creating shared value, according to Mary Beth McEuen, author of “The Game Has Changed: A New Paradigm for Stakeholder Engagement” white paper.  A new framework for stakeholder engagement is needed—a framework anchored in the latest research relative to human drives and behavior.

Once employees know what they should do to improve their career and understand how to influence change through engaging all six sources of influence, they are 10 times more successful. The truth is training managers  can help employees get their careers on track simply by understanding how behavior works and helping employees create a multifaceted improvement plan.

Pre-paid corporate incentive cards provide creative and valuable employee rewards, plus build loyalty at affordable cost.