I am often asked, by my clients and other leaders, what’s the #1 secret to increase employee motivation?

I wish I had an answer to that question. To be honest, I do have an answer; it’s just not one I think most of you want to hear.

Honestly, I do not believe we can increase employee motivation.  Forget it, it just can’t happen.  That’s a pretty strong statement, I know, and later on I will tell you why I believe this to be true.

There may be situations that  justifiably cause employees to have a negative attitude or lack of motivation.  Those could include  massive layoffs, uncertainty about the future of the company, management spending money on trips or new office furniture while telling employees there is no money for raises as examples.  Even the most motivated and loyal employee can get discouraged under these circumstances, especially if they continue for extended periods of time.  

Clearly, there are situations where one could understand a lack of inertia or motivation on the part of the employee. However, the employees still has a choice as to how they respond to these situations. They can chose to leave, or chose to stay.  And if they chose to stay then even then it’s incumbent on them to setting aside their negative feelings, so they don’t influence others and can be a productive employee.  

Once we remove the type of situations mentioned above, then we get down to the individual employee.

Here is what you need to ask yourself…are they motivated, and if not, how do I as a leader change that?  

At the beginning I said I don’t believe you can increase motivation. Here’s why.

I believe either by nurture or nature people are motivated or not. 

Look around your company. I’m betting you’ll quickly identify those highly motivated employees and just as quickly identify the ones that aren’t.

What’s the difference?

If you believe those highly motivated employees succeed because of the rewards or incentives you offer you need to reconsider your thinking.

They would be doing what they are doing whether you offered incentives, promotions, or anything else. What drives them is internal, not external.  There is something internal in them that has them wired to want to be successful and want to do a good job. They get psychic rewards from knowing they are performing well.  Conversely they are frustrated with themselves when they can’t figure something out or don’t feel they are performing to their own standards.  They are achieving for themselves, not because of incentives or rewards.

Now what about the others, those employees whose motivation you wonder how to increase?   

You think to yourself, I just know if I had the right key I could improve their performance, improve their motivation.  And you search for that key.  

You decide they need training, praise or mentoring.  Or perhaps incentives would help…the carrot of a promotion or salary increase. Or you tried having ‘the conversation’, the one that expresses your concerns about their performance.  Maybe you went as far as to discuss putting them on a PIP.  And low and behold their motivation and behaviors changed, so you think you found the key.  

But the reality is that as soon as you take away the rewards or incentives, or remove the threat of punishment you  find they they return to their previous attitudes.  It’s not a long-term shift.  

Why does this happen?  Because what’s missing is that internal something that drives people.  They are driven by their own needs for success, not external carrots or sticks.

I don’t know why some people have that internal something, and others don’t.  Those who have the internal motivation look at situations, even negative ones as opportunities.  They compete against themselves and their own internal bar of what they want for themselves.  

Those who don’t have this internal motivation look at situations as something that is happening to them, and they are victims of those circumstances.  Their responses to situations is about something being done to them. Regardless of what you provide (incentives, raises, rewards, promotions) they are never satisfied for long.  They are looking for what’s next. It’s why you can’t motivate them.  

As leaders, we have to accept that employees cannot be motivated to improve their performance. It doesn’t mean that you can or should accept poor performance or bad attitudes.  What I’m saying is that someone who says things like “if I had a raise, promotion, more time off, better work/life balance…then I’d be motivated to perform” is always going to be looking for something outside of them to get them going/motivated/successful.  

Satisfaction and motivation comes from inside, not with gifts and rewards, or threats. Knowing this and accepting it gives you power.  Instead of constantly looking for ‘the key’ you recognize that there is no  key. That puts you in the position that allows you the choice as to how to invest your time with those employees who seem to lack motivation.