Back in the days when most of the world made its living by growing its own food under an agricultural model, hunger drove our motivation. If a field lay uncared for, people would starve and communities would collapse. Therefore, farmers needed little motivation to get up each morning and work from dawn to dusk to provide food for their families. As society progressed and resources were organised more effectively by the industrial model, motivation did not evolve in a corresponding fashion. While the responsibilities of workers became more complex and varied, their motivation stayed fixed in their bellies. A miner's or mechanic's motivation to work remained unchanged from that of their agricultural predecessors. If they fell short of their employer's production expectations, they would be fired. Without a job and its requisite pay, industrial workers faced the same circumstance of starvation as the farmers of the past faced when harvests failed.

Today, physical resources are so well organised that few of us want for things as basic as food, warmth, and shelter. In addition to this, workers no longer expect to stay in the same position for their entire careers. Loyalty to a firm is now a personal choice rather than a directive based on the threat of poverty. As they are no longer tied to a farm or a factory and are no longer anxious about the necessities of life, employees now require much more meaningful motivation. Key to this motivation is communication. Getting our employees to respond passionately and urgently to our demands now requires a fundamental understanding of human motivation.

Intrinsic Motivation

If you have an idea or strategy without obvious external incentives, such as financial rewards, then intrinsic motivation can be a fantastic tool to help inspire or instruct your audience. While it is easy to spur our colleagues with cash incentives or promises of promotion, we rarely possess the option to provide such rewards through our daily communication. However, the inclusion of intrinsic value in this communication may actually provide more inspiration than simple material gain.

Most of your team will take great pride in their job and skills - after all they were attracted to their positions by choice, not necessity as in earlier economic periods. By focusing action plans in a way that appeals to their sense of pride and offers them an opportunity to showcase and improve their abilities, employees will be eager to take up arms and apply themselves with no need for tangible remuneration. Emphasising the necessity and rarity of an employee's skill-set will often reap even greater contributions from them than originality requested.

Another way to employ intrinsic motivation is to appeal to your employees' sense of teamwork. Focus on motivating your employees by showing them their common goal. Most people like to think of themselves as generous or giving, and believe their contributions to their organization to be significant and substantial. The key to this process is the way you communicate this to employees. By describing the value of their contribution you will boost both their self-esteem and motivation, and ensure they are committed to the future of your organisation.

Extrinsic Motivation

Conversely, extrinsic motivation employs external and often tangible incentives to motivate action, acceptance, and understanding. Given the limited amount bonuses, promotions, and perks we can realistically deliver, creating extrinsic motivation requires some creativity. However, by exercising insight into the needs and desires of our audience it is simple to discern and deliver exciting, meaningful rewards.

Much of what we - and our colleagues - do everyday at our respective organisations is based around routine. In many ways such structured operations should be viewed as a blessing, as it creates an environment to sharpen skills and develop relationships. Yet it also serves as a disincentive as such regular activity can become boring. You can use this to your advantage. When proposing new ideas and initiatives that may require significant changes to the roles of your employees, using the novelty of the new situation could work to nullify fear of change. Similarly, the opportunity to develop new skills and relationships should outweigh any resistance to change that may linger in entrenched employees.

Perhaps improving efficiency stands as the strongest extrinsic motivation we can use in communication. While some employees may be suspicious of change, if you can promise streamlined operations and less time mired in dull administrative details, you will be able to overcome any lingering doubts or stubbornness. If you can communicate this clearly and effectively it will prove easy enough o accept. Ultimately, the ability to illustrate the benefits in terms of less time wasted doing boring paperwork should prove the most inspiring of all forms of extrinsic motivation.

Although the science and study of motivation remains a relatively new discipline, numerous academics and business professionals have based their careers on its theory and practical application. By infusing their research into our daily communication, we can achieve faster and more dedicated responses to our calls for action regardless of our position in the corporate structure. By employing a few simple approaches to motivating those we work with, we will make our organization more effective, efficient, and cohesive.