What is the Most Powerful Workplace Motivator

Is this a rhetorical question? Is there really a definitive answer to the most powerful motivator for workers?  Thousands of employee satisfaction surveys have been conducted partly to uncover the answer.  Some lists derived from these surveys rank what employees want, but none have been definitive.

A while back, Ian Larkin, Assistant Professor UCLA Anderson School of Management, said that most powerful workplace motivator is our natural tendency to measure our own performance against the performance of others.  He does seem to have some credibility in this belief based on the work of David Rock and his book “Your Brain at Work”

In which he explains that the balance of how we feel amongst others is actually dictated by our perception of status.  Your brain maintains and continuously updates complex maps of the "Pecking Order" of the people around you.

Any parent can tell you that a surefire way to start a fight among siblings is to major fight is to offer one child a treat and offer another child an even bigger one.  Suddenly, a special treat turns into a great injustice.

In the workplace it is an employee’s natural tendency to measure their performance against the performance of others.  Traditional economics has held the very

rational view that simply having financial incentives causes people to work harder. 

But Larkin’s research suggests that in deciding how hard we work and how well we think we're performing, social comparisons matter just as much.

The sales incentive industry has known for years the value of peer recognition. Salespeople often forego the opportunity of large future commissions to achieve the status as member of a special sales club. At some point, incremental commissions are outweighed by the desire to be the best.  Research also showed that salespeople who are right on the margin of club induction are actually willing to pay to get over the margin and into the club.  In these instances the status of club membership is a very powerful motivator.

So, what is the best motivator in the workplace?  We don’t think the work by these behavioral completely answer the question, but they certainly give us room for thought when we plan our next incentive or recognition program. 

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