The Motivation Iceberg

What Drives Star Performance?

One of the central challenges of managing and leading is to inspire and engage — to motivate — people to optimal performance.

People are paid to do their work, and eventually should lose their jobs if they don’t meet expectations.  But in most roles, in most organizations, star performance requires a higher level of engagement — a commitment that goes beyond the paycheck. This is especially visible in remote-work situations when not one is “standing over your shoulder,” why work? That extra commitment is called “discretionary effort” because it’s at the employee’s discretion.  They give that extra because they want to — because they feel like it. True leaders are able to inspire that feeling.  As FedEx founder Fred Smith said, “Leadership is getting people to work for you when they are not obligated.”

As we consider “motivating employees,” we can divide the work we want to achieve in two basic categories of outcomes:

1: Basic, task-oriented, behavioral work 

Showing up on time.  Filing required reports.  Making the required number of calls.  These tend to be prescribed, tactical, and easily measurable.

2: Knowledge & creative work

This category is more about the quality of the employee’s work.  We want them to care for customers.  To innovate new solution.  To give their all.  To trust and be trustworthy. To show up and do their best in the middle of a pandemic… to do their best even when no one is watching.

Basic work can be done without any particular human spark (and is easily automated); people do it because they need a paycheck. But when we want to influence knowledge/creative work, it’s not just a “behavior” we need, but a quality… heart… passion… something unique… the typical, transactional carrots and sticks actually undermine this kind of motivation.

Managers that rely on the old-school, transactional methods will fail to get full value from people – and in difficult situations, such as remote work, performance will plummet.

Different people, and different situations, require more nuanced and intentional understandings of motivation. Fortunately, these are MEASURABLE, and so even in a context like remote work during a pandemic, managers can learn to engage their own and their people’s deeper drivers.

What Actually Drives Behavior?

An iceberg is a useful metaphor for these two categories.  At the tip of the iceberg are those visible, tangible activities; the first category.  Beneath the surface are the invisible, emotional drivers which shape attitude; the second category.  These emotional drivers make the difference in how activities are done and thereby define the impact employees have on customers and colleagues. Above the surface is what’s visible.  Below is what’s invisible.  Above is BEHAVIOR, below is what DRIVES behavior.

So what kinds of motivators work best for these two parts of the iceberg?

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivators

In addition to different categories of outcomes, there are different kinds of motivators; different “levers” that managers can use to engage performance. There are two basic categories for these levers – “extrinsic” and “intrinsic” – and they tend to be most effective for one type of outcome or the other. Here are examples of each:

While we can categorize two kinds of motivators, it’s more accurate to consider a spectrum.  For example, while salary is extrinsic, many employees are using their salary to support their families, which can be intrinsic.

Not surprisingly, different kinds of motivators drive different kinds of performance.  But one of the most dangerous and common pitfalls in organizations is the use of one type of motivator for all employees and all goals.

Take, for instance, a typical incentive program. Salespeople get a bonus for meeting a certain quota, set by the management. In this case, the salesperson is rewarded for making the sale irrespective of how it’s done.  Many salespeople like it and it’s easy for sales managers to incentivize ‘tip of the iceberg’ behavior. However, the operations people are rarely thrilled with the way salespeople over-promise to customers; they are the ones who have to respond to the nasty customer reviews.  Furthermore, the top salespeople routinely leave to find better-paying opportunities, so the turnover cost is high. And consider this: What happens when the business model changes, and the salespeople find themselves needing to collaborate?

Or, what happens when suddenly the workplace changes and employees are WFH? The reliance on transactional management means employees were “forced to care” because they’d be caught out… and so now they can sit in zoom meetings playing on their phones and the transactional managers have no leverage.

Different Motivators for Different Results

We’re starting to see some of the complexities of motivation, and how different factors motivate people in different situations. One of the keys to this puzzle is to match different types of motivators with different types of needs.

Download the graphic to the right for an up close look at what motivators drive what types of outcomes.

As you can see, the extrinsic (“above the surface”) motivators drive “above the surface” outcomes. And the intrinsic (“below the waterline”) motivators that drive “below the surface” outcomes.

What’s critical to remember is that extrinsic levers (top left) do not effectively motivate the deeper outcomes (bottom right).  In fact, emphasizing these extrinsic influences can undermine this kind of ‘beneath the surface’ commitment.

For example, if you want your employees to be more trustworthy, it probably isn’t a good idea to set up a financial reward system for employees who tell the truth the most. You may be better off thinking about how you can create a sense of belonging for your employees, like informal gatherings or listening more.

This is particularly difficult in remote work where isolation will creep in. It’s why good managers prioritize collaboration, group projects, and relationship-building. Not as an add-on, but as a central part of what makes great work.

This is not to say the extrinsic motivators are irrelevant, but rather to say we need to use the correct motivator for the desired outcome.

The big challenge is that because it is incredibly easy to offer an extrinsic carrot, that method becomes the default. Extrinsic factors are measurable, concrete, and reinforce the power structure in the organization – which makes these quite attractive to organizational systems. Quite satisfying except for one key obstacle:  when it comes to engaging hearts and minds, they don’t work.

1. Develop powerful values.

Most organizations have a list of values but are they real or are they PR? Do people really live by them?

2. Connect with people.

One of, if not THE, most fundamental intrinsic motivator is belonging. Humans are pack animals, wired to connect.