Boosting Drive for more Action
Drive is an executive function of the brain. It is a cognitive skill that spurs action. Drive is what makes you work hard, put forth effort and persevere. Drive is what keeps you going long after motivation has evaporated. It’s the stuff that makes you keep doing a good job even when you’re no longer excited to do the work. It makes you stay at a job even after the initial thrill of a new job has worn off. For example, it’s what keeps scientists researching even after they’ve hit brick walls and roadblocks. It is what keeps a business owner, like Elon Musk, working on spaceships that can take people and cargo into space and then return safely to earth. Drive is what pushes us forward to make the impossible possible.
Motivation and drive are different. People can have a lot of motivation (a deep desire or want) but have no drive (the effort to go after a desire or want). People with depression are motivated but not driven. They have big dreams but don’t necessarily follow through. Or people can have a lot of drive but no motivation. They do the work but they aren’t eager or excited about it. They aren’t pumped up. Neither combination is ideal. But if given a choice of one or the other, any smart employer will prefer an employee who is driven over a motivated one. It is easier to boost motivation than drive.
Thankfully, there are things that employers can do to boost both motivation and drive. Here are a few.
1. Recognize great work
70% of employees say their motivation and drive would improve massively with increased recognition from their managers. And studies have proven that this is true. When employees are recognized for their work, consistently and without favoritism, productivity increases. So does employee morale which actually decreases turnover. Both of those things improve the bottom line. But, it’s important to not only recognize great work, but to do so the right way. It should not just be year-end bonus. It should be done in a meaningful way and on a regular basis. While money is a good way to “recognize” great work, it’s not the only—or even the most effective—motivator.
A 2009 book by Daniel Pink on the subject of boosting employee drive — aptly titled Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us — argues that human drive is largely intrinsic (comes from within) and not by external rewards, fear of punishment or money. Based on studies done at MIT and other universities, Pink found that higher pay and bonuses actually resulted in better performance if the task consisted of basic, mechanical skills. It worked for problems with a defined set of steps and a single answer. But if the task involved cognitive skills, decision-making, creativity, or higher-order thinking, higher pay actually resulted in lower performance. Based on this, Pink recommended employers pay employees enough so they aren’t focused on meeting basic needs and feel they’re being paid fairly. The idea is to take the issue of money off the table. But to boost an employee’s overall drive, employers must help employees achieve:
- autonomy — the desire to be self-directed, which increases engagement over compliance;
- mastery — the desire to become better skilled or the best; and/or
- a sense of purpose — the desire to do something meaningful.
Employers would do well to recognize great work by employees in a timely way and explain how that work demonstrated mastery or helped the organization to accomplish something meaningful. It’s crucial to let everyone know exactly how (and how much) each of their contributions moves the organization forward. When praising, be specific. This helps strengthen a person’s internal drive.
2. Set small, measurable goals
Projects that just drag on and on are demoralizing and kill motivation and wear down drive. Setting clear, achievable goals provides a real boost each time one is conquered—and keeps teams on the right track. Part of what makes setting small and measurable goals so important is that it provides plenty of opportunities to celebrate a team’s hard work. (See point 1.)
3. Stay positive
Find ways to inject positive experiences into a team’s interactions. Why? It’s actually a competitive advantage to have happy employees. Happy employees outperform the competition by 20% and generate 37% greater sales. Also, a simple shift toward positivity and happiness can have an immediate impact on work experience and relationships. These are major factors in success, engagement, and productivity. When people are happy and working with people they like, they are more likely to be self-directed, which helps boost drive.
4. Share the big picture
A large part of understanding the purpose behind their work is seeing how it fits into the larger picture. Leaders can help boost employee drive in the workplace by ensuring the team understands how each of their efforts impacts the organization, customers, and the community. While completing a project provides a sense of accomplishment, knowing how that work helped others is the real antidote to disengagement.
5. Be transparent
Like all relationships, work relationships are built on trust. Being consistently transparent about what is happening is one of the best ways to encourage trust amongst team members. When people feel trust, they are less likely to behave in unethical ways or think about leaving. Most people have a strong desire to honor trust by doing a job to the best of their ability and meet deadlines. This motivates, but it also boosts drive long-term.
6. Loosen the reins
As Pink noted, autonomy is an incredibly effective way to boost drive. Giving employees more agency around where, when and how they get their work done can actually improve their efficiency.
What does autonomy look like? Pretty simple. Tell employees what needs to be done by what deadline. Allow them to decide when they will do the actual work. For some, that may mean coming in early; for others that might involve working on the weekend. Some might work at night, when everyone is asleep. As long as it doesn’t affect anyone else’s ability to get their work done, that’s fine.
With the rise of WFH, employers are increasingly becoming open to workplace policies that give employees more self-rule as long as the work gets done on time, on budget and in a way that fits with the rest of the organization’s needs. Those companies are then able to benefit from hiring not just in their local market but anywhere in the country (or even world) with the right systems, processes and management in place.
7. Provide a sense of security
Psychologist Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs indicates that there is a hierarchy of basic needs that people require before they can be driven to reach their full potential. Security falls right beneath physiological needs like food and water. Employees need to understand that they are part of the team and are secure in their job. The greater the feeling of insecurity, the less driven they will feel and less productive and effective they will be.
The lesson here is that if companies allow employees to be self-directed, feel valued, improve their skills and are a part of something important, they are more driven to do a great job. And employees that do a great job ensure a company thrives. This is good news for employers because it is better for the balance sheet to boost drive this way than with money.
Quote of the Week
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” Leonardo da Vinci
© 2022, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.
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