Understanding Employees' Motivations - Indispensable for Leaders & Organizations

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Again, things would have gone much more smoothly if they had sent a true leader, someone capable of connecting to his employees’ motivators. My claim is assertive but I have experienced situations where I have myself been in an uncomfortable “Brodsky position” where I felt truly demotivated. However, unlike Brodsky, in such situations, great leaders have managed to connect me back to my motivators.

For instance, four years ago, as my friends were moving to Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Boston, and other exciting cities to start their studies, I moved to… St. Gallen, a small town in Switzerland where strange people speaking an even stranger language live remote from the rest of the world. For some mysterious reason, this town also has a renowned university, hence my decision to move there. Anyways, I soon felt that there was a sort of mismatch between me, the university, and the town. During the second semester, I gradually stopped going to class, with the clear intent of dropping out despite my good results. That was until I spoke with my grandfather, a man who quit school at 14 to co-found an ice cream company where he later lead thousands of employees. I therefore thought that, better than anyone else, he would understand my decision. However, he did not agree, nor disagree, with me, but instead highlighted what my parents (despite several attempts) had failed to make me realize: namely that, in his opinion, since I loved challenges, valued reputation, and was always eager to learn, the small issues I experienced were totally outweighed by all the sources of motivations that studying at St. Gallen offered me. It was not easy to admit at first, but he was right, I had absolutely no excuse to drop out. After this one discussion, my motivation levels skyrocketed, I went back to school, studied hard, finished my undergraduate studies a semester before my peers, and most importantly spent three great years. Since he knew me better than anyone else, the outstanding leader that my grandfather was had managed to reconnect me to my motivators, which in turn enabled me to shift things around.

At the level of an organization, if Keller had tried to understand what Brodsky’s motivators were, he certainly would have managed to change his behavior as well. Thus, both him and Brodsky would have been much more motivated to leverage on their respective strengths, and the organizational disaster that occurred would have been avoided.

In short, great organizations require motivated employees, but employees often need their leaders’ help to stay motivated, or even to find their motivators. It is hence indispensable for leaders to empathetically connect with their peers, understand what drives them, and then act accordingly. This is, in my opinion, the only way to maximize an organization’s performance.

Bibliography:

Thomas, K.W. (2009) Intrinsic Motivation at Work: What Really Drives Employee Engagement. San Fransisco: Berret-Koehler Publishers.

Herzberg, F. (1959) The Motivation to Work (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley

McClelland, D.C. (1961) The achieving society. Princeton, N.J: Van Nostrand

Kotter, J.P. (2013) Management Is (Still) Not Leadership. Harvard Business Review.

Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2013/01/management-is-still-not-leadership