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Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic motivation
There was an old man who looked forward to his daily afternoon nap. But a problem arose.
The neighbourhood children decided that the street in front of his house was the perfect place for their afternoon football game.
They yelled, shrieked, & played noisily. The old man couldn’t get a wink of sleep.
So he decided to convince the children to stop playing football in front of his house. He considered waving a broom to scare the children, but thought better of it. He needed a superlative plan.
The following day, he brought a chair with his newspaper to the curb, to watch the children play.
He watched attentively & cheered the good plays. The children noticed but ignored him.
At the end of the game, the old man handed each child $5. The children were as puzzled as they were happy.
“What’s this for?” they asked.
“I’m retired & bored” replied the old man. “Your football game is something I enjoy. This $5 reward is a way for me to say thank you, & to ensure that you play here every day. Just play great football!”
The children ecstatically yelled “Sure!” & showed up the next afternoon ready to play a great game.
They did, but the old man missed many of the good plays as he was buried in his newspaper. At one point the children scored a spectacular goal which the old man missed because he had seemingly dozed off.
At the end of the game the children gathered around & asked the old man, “How was that?”
The old man responded “Well, that was a good game. Not as great as yesterday though. Here’s $2 each.”
The children protested. “We played a great game! Better than yesterday!”
The old man responded nonchalantly, “I just didn’t see it that way.”
The children took the money, grumbling, & showed up the next day, determined to play a fantastic game.
Initially they played well, but teamwork started to break down, as several of the children were determined to impress the old man by making plays on their own.
As the game progressed, play got worse & worse. The children argued amongst themselves & increasingly focused on individualistic play.
Whenever a good play was made, the old man always seemed to be buried in his newspaper. But he always managed to catch & comment on the poor play.
At the end of the game, the children shuffled over to where the old man was sitting with their heads hung low.
“That was terrible football. If you’re going to play like that in future, play somewhere else!” the old man howled at them. He shoved his hand in his pocket & scattered small change on the street in front of the children & stormed away.
Upset & forlorn, the children vowed never to play football anywhere near that old man again.
And they never did.
______________________
The old man had the difficult goal (pun intended!) of ruining the children’s intrinsic motivation to play football in the street in front of his house.
He introduced a strong extrinsic reward, then unfairly reduced it. At the end, what was left? No intrinsic motivation to play football, & no extrinsic motivation either.
Money is unquestionably a powerful motivator. Pay can encourage certain sought-after employee behaviors.
But beware! Intrinsic motivation employees possess for their work will be replaced by extrinsic motivation in the presence of pay for performance.
Extrinsic rewards are notoriously difficult to mete out, especially when perceived as unfair by employees.
Unfairness comes in many forms. 84% of employees believe they are high performers, so how can companies pay for performance fairly given this prejudiced perception?
Are your employees currently intrinsically motivated? If yes, consider that a precious asset on your balance sheet.
Adding extrinsic motivation to the mix carries great risk. At best you may increase total motivation marginally. At worst, & most likely, you may see a complete loss of motivation, as in the story related here.
The neighbourhood children decided that the street in front of his house was the perfect place for their afternoon football game.
They yelled, shrieked, & played noisily. The old man couldn’t get a wink of sleep.
So he decided to convince the children to stop playing football in front of his house. He considered waving a broom to scare the children, but thought better of it. He needed a superlative plan.
The following day, he brought a chair with his newspaper to the curb, to watch the children play.
He watched attentively & cheered the good plays. The children noticed but ignored him.
At the end of the game, the old man handed each child $5. The children were as puzzled as they were happy.
“What’s this for?” they asked.
“I’m retired & bored” replied the old man. “Your football game is something I enjoy. This $5 reward is a way for me to say thank you, & to ensure that you play here every day. Just play great football!”
The children ecstatically yelled “Sure!” & showed up the next afternoon ready to play a great game.
They did, but the old man missed many of the good plays as he was buried in his newspaper. At one point the children scored a spectacular goal which the old man missed because he had seemingly dozed off.
At the end of the game the children gathered around & asked the old man, “How was that?”
The old man responded “Well, that was a good game. Not as great as yesterday though. Here’s $2 each.”
The children protested. “We played a great game! Better than yesterday!”
The old man responded nonchalantly, “I just didn’t see it that way.”
The children took the money, grumbling, & showed up the next day, determined to play a fantastic game.
Initially they played well, but teamwork started to break down, as several of the children were determined to impress the old man by making plays on their own.
As the game progressed, play got worse & worse. The children argued amongst themselves & increasingly focused on individualistic play.
Whenever a good play was made, the old man always seemed to be buried in his newspaper. But he always managed to catch & comment on the poor play.
At the end of the game, the children shuffled over to where the old man was sitting with their heads hung low.
“That was terrible football. If you’re going to play like that in future, play somewhere else!” the old man howled at them. He shoved his hand in his pocket & scattered small change on the street in front of the children & stormed away.
Upset & forlorn, the children vowed never to play football anywhere near that old man again.
And they never did.
______________________
The old man had the difficult goal (pun intended!) of ruining the children’s intrinsic motivation to play football in the street in front of his house.
He introduced a strong extrinsic reward, then unfairly reduced it. At the end, what was left? No intrinsic motivation to play football, & no extrinsic motivation either.
Money is unquestionably a powerful motivator. Pay can encourage certain sought-after employee behaviors.
But beware! Intrinsic motivation employees possess for their work will be replaced by extrinsic motivation in the presence of pay for performance.
Extrinsic rewards are notoriously difficult to mete out, especially when perceived as unfair by employees.
Unfairness comes in many forms. 84% of employees believe they are high performers, so how can companies pay for performance fairly given this prejudiced perception?
Are your employees currently intrinsically motivated? If yes, consider that a precious asset on your balance sheet.
Adding extrinsic motivation to the mix carries great risk. At best you may increase total motivation marginally. At worst, & most likely, you may see a complete loss of motivation, as in the story related here.
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