I think, its the number one question in every top executive's mind. No business or company can be run by an individual or family members. There is a need to expand the business to make things really big and efficient. Business is not done in isolation and everybody has to work with people. So, more a manager understands people's mind, He increases chances of success.
So what motivates people : Money? People who are really motivated by money, choose crime or politics as career. People who want to do something good for the society and their families join business. Yes I am making a case for good people in business and excluding the exceptions.
I was watching Dan Pink's video and he clearly points out that there are three things that motivates people :
- Autonomy
- Mastery
- Purpose
People must have a purpose. They must know for what they are working for. Does purpose of a project or program motivates the team members? If people's purpose is not aligned with project's mission, project is destined to fail.
There are skills that need to be possessed to do a particular task. If team members are not skilled enough to do a task, they will soon get demotivated due to inability. Their motivation will reach to zero if there is no way they can contribute. Managers must figure out ways to help employees to acquire new skills.
Autonomy is very important for employees. The agency theory came and agency problem is blown out of proportion. Employees are seen as enemies. Employees are not enemy of an organization. They must be given enough freedom to do a task. Too much monitoring really hurts the thinking ability of employees and they become robots.
To understand things more see the following video :
