Why do we do the things we do? What motivates a person? What drives a team? What’s holding a team back? Mgt 3.0 has defined ten intrinsic motivators (desires) – in the “moving motivators” exercise. You can discover and reflect upon what motivates you and your team.
More about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, ten intrinsic motivators, and moving motivators game.
Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
Let’s recap and define what we mean by extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation.
The primary difference between the two types of motivation is that extrinsic motivation arises from outside the individual, while intrinsic motivation arises from within.
Extrinsic motivation occurs when we are motivated to perform a behavior or engage in an activity to earn a reward or avoid punishment.
Examples of behaviors that are the result of extrinsic motivation include:
- Studying because you want to get a good grade
- Cleaning your room to avoid being reprimanded by your parents
- Participating in a sport to win awards
- Competing in a contest to win a scholarship
In each of these examples, the behavior is motivated by a desire to gain a reward or avoid an adverse outcome.
Intrinsic motivation involves engaging in a behavior because it is personally rewarding; essentially, performing an activity for its own sake rather than the desire for some external reward.
Examples of actions that are the result of intrinsic motivation include:
- Participating in a sport because you find the activity enjoyable
- Solving a word puzzle because you see the challenge as fun and exciting
- Playing a game because you find it exciting
In each of these instances, the person’s behavior is motivated by an internal desire to participate in an activity for its own sake.
The overjustification effect is a phenomenon in which being rewarded for doing something diminishes intrinsic motivation to perform that action. The overjustification effect occurs when an external incentive decreases inherent motivation to act or participate in an activity.
Ten intrinsic motivators
Mgt 3.0 has defined ten intrinsic motivators (desires): you can memorize them as CHAMPFROGS.
- Curiosity: I have plenty of things to investigate and to think about.
- Honor: I feel proud that my values are reflected in my work.
- Acceptance: The people around me approve of what I do and who I am.
- Mastery: My work challenges my competence but is still within my abilities.
- Power: There’s enough room for me to influence what happens around me.
- Freedom: I am independent of others with my work and my responsibilities.
- Relatedness: I have good social contact with the people in my work.
- Order: There are enough rules and policies for a stable environment.
- Goal: My purpose in life is reflected in the work that I do.
- Status: My position is good and recognized by the people who work with me.
Moving motivators
You can play the game as follows:
Introduce the different intrinsic motivators with some background explanation and an example
Step 1 of the exercise:
- Let each person individually order (rank) the motivators by importance from left to right (in the Western world): with the left, the least important motivators, and right, the most important motivators.
- Let people (could be in pairs) explain a bit by answering the questions: what motivates you the most? And what motivates you the least?
Step 2 of the activity:
- Let each person individually indicate how daily work (or a particular change in daily work) influences the motivators. Do your daily activities influence your motivators in a positive (move them upward) or negative way (move them downward)?
- Let people (could be in pairs) explain a bit about the change. Why is that shift happening?
Optionally you can count the ranking of each motivator card and create a graphical overview: a “team motivating radar”. Repeat this exercise at a later point in time and compare to see if there’s any evolution.
Keep the following in mind:
- There is no right or wrong in this exercise. Each human being has different motivators, and this exercise aims to expose those differences. The goal is to learn more about your peers’ motivation and better collaborate in the future.
- As a team, focus on those top motivators that are different from your peers. From this, you can create a better shared understanding of why people are doing certain things.
- As an individual, focus on those motivators that are negatively impacted: what’s the underlying cause? How can I proceed in the future to improve on this?
- Invite people to share their thoughts and underlying needs to learn about their motivators. Trigger responses by asking open questions.
- Use the output of this exercise as an information radiator for the team
- Use the exercise for 1 on 1 coaching or use the exercise for coaching in a group (e.g., during or after a retrospective)
Some resources: