The 2 different sides of motivation
To understand what motivation is and what are its key elements we should look at two different definitions: the definition of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Starting from the latter, extrinsic motivation is the motivational drive that pushes us to perform an activity which, in itself, is not particularly pleasant or appreciated (it can even be unpleasant in some cases), but from which we expect a consequence of high value for us, or we expect to avoid a particularly unpleasant result. This definition is not in itself positive or negative, many important activities are incentivized by extrinsic motivation. Let’s take an obvious example: every time we take medicine, we don’t do it for the pleasure of taking medicine that taste bad, but because we know that in that way we will recover.
On the other hand, we talk about intrinsic motivation whenever we undertake an activity for the pure pleasure of the action itself, regardless of purpose, results, or rewards. Let’s consider the example of gaming. We play because the act of playing itself is enjoyable and fun, if it happens that we win that’s even better, but it’s the quality of time that we dedicate to the activity the motivates us. There is no right or wrong kind of motivation in itself, as we have seen in the case of taking medicine. However, the behavior and the type of experience we will have is strongly influenced by the kind of motivation that drives us.
Extrinsic motivation is the motivational drive that pushes us to perform an activity which, in itself, is not particularly pleasant or appreciated. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is whenever we undertake an activity for the pure pleasure of the action itself.
To better understand this concept, let’s try to give an example of the same activity that can be stimulated, in one case by the intrinsic motivation and, in another, by the extrinsic motivation. Think of a university exam that you have taken and of which you have not particularly enjoyed the subject (I’m sure you can find one example). Do you remember how you prepared for it? Now think of an exam which topic has interested and you were passionate about. How was the experience studying for that one instead of the first one? The quality of the experience is strongly affected by the type of motivation that moves us. There is another element of this example that will be useful for the analysis: it is possible that when you check your transcript, you realize that you got the same grade in the two exams. How much of the subject of the first exam do you still remember today? How much of the second? This example makes us understand that a simple analysis of performance in the short term is often not able to represent the quality and richness of the experience lived, nor its long-term consequences. The type of motivation not only automatically generates a kind of behavior, but also represents the perceived quality of the result.
All the examples we have seen are easy, because, in all cases, the driver of motivation was unambiguous. More complex are the cases in which the two motivations are both present, as is the case in a work activity. The real problem of managing motivation at work is the lack of knowledge of the motivational factors and their consequences. There is an unconscious belief that the working environment moves exclusively through the power of extrinsic motivation. As absurd as it may seem, our society, in its implicit assumptions about work, is still the consequence of the industrial revolution and the thought that comes with it. During that time, work was defined as an exchange between time and people’s knowledge on one side, and money on the other.
Work today is completely different. It is an activity that takes up a third of our time and becomes part of our own identity. Until we change the implicit definition we assign to it, and until this hidden and invisible operating system that moves the levers of corporate culture doesn’t disappear, we will never really be able to create an adequate work culture. Above all, if this doesn’t change, we will never be able to create a work environment with the right foundation for intrinsic motivation to flourish.
Article by Christian Zoli, VP of Product and Co-Founder of Beaconforce. He is a behavioral science expert who specializes in its application in change management, organizational behavior, culture, and generational gap. His research focuses on human behavior and decision processes ranging from positive psychology to cognitive sciences, communication, and behavioral economics.
