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Dr. Ross Reck

The truth of the matter is that it’s impossible to motivate people at work. The reason is: they’re already motivated. They come to work every day motivated to pursue their self-interest—the satisfaction of needs that are important to them.

The only thing the leadership of a business can do if it wants its employees to perform at a high level is to engage the motivation that’s already there—to create a situation where the harder people work toward pursuing the satisfaction of their own needs, the harder they work toward the goals of the organization. Companies with a high level of employee engagement understand this. Instead of trying to motivate their employees with traditional means like authority, rewards and punishment, they’ve created environments where employees are free to be themselves, have fun and follow their passion (the motivation that’s already there inside them).

This is why the underlying managerial philosophy at business analytics leader SAS is: “Give people the tools they need to do their job and then get out of their way.” At W. L. Gore & Associates, there are no titles, no orders and no bosses. As company founder Bill Gore once said, “We don’t manage people here, they manage themselves.” One more time: you can’t motivate people at work; you can only engage the motivation that’s already there.