Understanding the Impact of Intrinsic Motivation

In the intricate world of business, one concept stands tall as a cornerstone of productivity and employee satisfaction: intrinsic motivation. It's a term often thrown around in discussions about employee engagement and performance, but what exactly does it entail?

In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the depths of intrinsic motivation, exploring its meaning, examples, benefits, and how it can revolutionise your approach to motivating your workforce.

• What is intrinsic motivation?
• Intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation
• The benefits of intrinsic motivation
• Intrinsic motivation examples
• Engaging employees with intrinsic motivators
• The five intrinsic motivators and their impact on employee engagement at work
• Our approach to intrinsic motivation

What is intrinsic motivation?

When you're intrinsically motivated to accomplish something, you have an internal desire to achieve it; you'll initiate the activity for its own sake because it's interesting and satisfying in itself. Intrinsic motivation stands in direct contrast to extrinsic motivation, which happens when some external force (like a boss), influences, motivates or requires you to do something.

Intrinsic motivation is driven by internal factors such as personal enjoyment, a sense of accomplishment, or the fulfilment of one's values and beliefs.

Intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation

Because of the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, we can, generally speaking, separate activities into two different buckets: tasks that we want to do and tasks that we have to do. Have you ever wondered why it's so much easier to get something done when we want to do it? (Or conversely, why it's so difficult to accomplish something even though we know we "have to?").

It all boils down to motivation — and more specifically, the dichotomy between intrinsic motivators and extrinsic motivators.

As we mentioned above, extrinsic motivation relies on external rewards or punishments to drive behaviour, whereas intrinsic motivation taps into an individual's innate desires, passions, and interests. While both forms of motivation can influence behaviour, research suggests that intrinsic motivation leads to more sustainable and fulfilling outcomes in the long run, fostering greater creativity, resilience, and engagement among employees.

The benefits of intrinsic motivation

Embracing intrinsic motivation within your organisation can yield a myriad of benefits, including:

Enhanced job satisfaction

When employees are driven by intrinsic factors such as autonomy, mastery, and purpose, they experience higher levels of satisfaction and fulfilment in their roles.

Increased engagement

Intrinsic motivation fosters a deep sense of engagement and commitment, leading employees to invest their time and energy wholeheartedly in their work.

Greater creativity and innovation

By tapping into individuals' innate passions and interests, intrinsic motivation unleashes creativity and innovation, driving continuous improvement and growth.

Improved performance

Research consistently shows that intrinsically motivated individuals outperform their extrinsically motivated counterparts, demonstrating higher levels of productivity, resilience, and overall performance.

Intrinsic motivation examples

Understanding the theory of intrinsic motivation is crucial, but seeing it in real-world scenarios truly highlights its power. Here are some workplace examples that illustrate intrinsic motivation in action:

Engaging in creative problem-solving: Employees enjoy brainstorming and problem-solving because they relish the challenge and the chance to flex their creativity.

Participating in cross-functional teams: Employees volunteer for cross-functional teams because they find collaboration stimulating and rewarding, fostering a sense of teamwork.

Taking initiative on projects: Team members lead or contribute to projects not out of obligation, but because they're passionate about the subject or see it as a chance for personal growth.

Providing peer support and mentorship: Individuals willingly offer support and mentorship-driven by a genuine desire to help others succeed, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose.

Pursuing continuous learning and development: Team members actively seek learning opportunities not just to meet requirements, but because they're eager to grow personally and professionally.

In each case, motivation arises from internal desires rather than external pressures. Employees are fueled by genuine passion, a thirst for growth, and a sense of fulfilment from meaningful contributions. This intrinsic drive leads to higher-quality work and long-term happiness.

Engaging employees with intrinsic motivators

How can you engage employees sustainably and positively? First off, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. And yes, that includes gamification programmes. When based on a sound strategy, gamification provides impressive results. But too often, it’s approached as a “stunt” or “quick fix” – and applying meaningless game mechanics to a program is not going to fool anyone. You can’t trick people into being motivated by simply adding a trophy.

You need to begin understanding the distinct intrinsic motivators of your employees – and how those motivators link to your business success. And this starts with understanding a few fundamentals of human motivation.

Employees become focused when they’re presented with:

1. A clearly defined goal
2. A system of measurable progress toward that goal
3. A notion of increased status when the goal is reached and
4. Meaningful rewards for achieving the goal

These four factors provide the right balance of reinforcement to spark interest and promote participation. This path to clear goals and outcomes lays the foundation for a successful programme. While the steps leverage extrinsic tactics, they tap into intrinsic motivation – the internal, emotional fuel that drives humans to engage in an activity because it is personally rewarding.

The five intrinsic motivators and their impact on employee engagement at work

There are five specific intrinsic motivators that have the most impact on performance.

1- Autonomy - "I control.”

It is important for people to feel like they control and have a choice regarding their participation. Autonomy in the workplace exists on a continuum – from jobs where employees have none and are told exactly what to do, to jobs where employees have all the autonomy they want, whenever they want it, as long as the work gets done – and everywhere in between.

2- Mastery - “I improve.”

Getting better at things is satisfying on a number of fronts. For some employees, it means the job gets easier. For others, it brings the psyche emotional and possibly financial rewards that come from doing something that a) couldn’t be done before and b) not everyone else can do.

3- Purpose - “I make a difference.”

Every employee must feel like they’re making a difference and that their efforts and accomplishments have meaning.

4- Progress - “I achieve.”

People respond well when they see that they are making progress on a goal - something they care about - whether in the workplace or life.

5- Social Interaction - “I connect with others.”

Humans are innately social creatures and we want to connect, interact, affiliate, care and share. We also want to be recognised and appreciated.

Now, what would happen if these intrinsic motivators were somehow integrated into the workplace? Could you tap into the intrinsic motivators of your employees, customers and partners and turn "have to" tasks into "want to" tasks?

Absolutely! In fact, that's one of the fundamentals of our philosophy at BI WORLDWIDE. We've seen repeatedly that when employees understand why they're doing what they're doing, how they can improve, see their progress toward a meaningful goal and how their efforts relate to others, they become eager and willing to contribute and grow. As a result, business performance improves, measurably and fast.

Our approach to intrinsic motivation

At BI WORLDWIDE, we understand that the essence of motivation lies in tapping into individuals' innate passions, interests, and values. Sales incentive games can serve as a great cultivator of intrinsic motivation, seamlessly blending the elements of competition, collaboration, and personal growth. These dynamic games aren't merely about achieving targets; they're about igniting a sense of purpose and fulfilment within each team member. By integrating innovative incentives into our strategy, we aim to inspire employees to take meaningful actions that align with both personal and organisational goals.

Through gamification techniques, we create opportunities for employees to challenge themselves, hone their skills, and celebrate their achievements—all while fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared success.

Our sales incentive methodology, GoalQuest®, transforms sales performance management with behavioural science-led tactics that drive productivity and engagement. By enabling self-selected targets, audience segmentation, and all-or-nothing achievement, GoalQuest® empowers individuals to align goals with intrinsic drivers. This tailored approach motivates top performers and supports lower-level ones, fostering team morale. With self-selected goals, GoalQuest® enhances accountability and ownership, nurturing a proactive sales culture.

Rewards from our Global Reward Marketplace reinforce achievement, driving sustained success. With GoalQuest®, we prioritise unlocking team potential through intrinsic motivation, ensuring lasting performance improvements and organisational growth.