Motivation: this is what it means for employer and employee

Motivation: this is what it means for employer and employee

What is motivation? What does it do for your employee? And what are actually the pros and cons of (un)motivated employees? In our latest Anders Denken Podcast, Rudo Vissers, founder of paraDIGMA groep, answers

Let's start at the beginning, because what exactly is motivation? According to Rudo, motivation is best described in three verbs. "What drives you in life? Describe that in three verbs. Indeed, in three WORK words, because that shows that you have to do something for it. Many people mistakenly think that motivation comes about through reward or luck, but that is not true. Motivation comes first and foremost with meaning."

• Curious about Rudo Vissers' three personal verbs? Listen to the Anders Denken Podcast!

Not a chief happiness officer, but a chief sense of purpose

According to Rudo, that sense of purpose is indispensable for good health. "People who experience meaning are sick less often, recover faster and feel happier. That is why it is important to gain insight into the drives and talents of your employees: what do they want and can they excel in? Give your employees the space to do so, because if you give your people the space to discover what really suits them, you will get a huge amount of motivation in return."

According to Rudo, when you get people doing something they are proud of, they are more likely to stay with the organization. "You don't make your employees happier with an hour, instead of a half-hour break. After all, that doesn't change their intrinsic motivation. You make people happier by giving them the feeling that they can mean something to someone else. So don't appoint a 'Chief Happiness officer,' appoint a 'Chief sense of purpose'!"

Safety, trust and responsibility

Sounds good, but how do you ensure that your people find that meaning? "By giving your people security, trust and responsibility," Rudo says. "Every person is motivated by something. It's about letting someone follow their own path in that. Imagine: your daughter wants to be an artist, but you think it would be better for her to take that law course anyway. Don't be surprised if she doesn't feel motivated for the rest of her life. After all, motivation only arises when you let someone follow his or her own path. Therefore, steer your employees a little less towards instructions and a little more towards the end result. And stop talking about mistakes. Mistakes do not exist, as long as you are willing to learn from the experiences you gain."

Do you send your unmotivated employees to the company doctor?

Rudo concludes with an interesting case: "If I ask you the following question: which organization has the most absenteeism? The company where fifty percent are unmotivated? Or the company where ten percent are unmotivated? Then you know the answer. But if I then ask you if you send your unmotivated employees to the company doctor, your answer is probably no. And that's where it goes wrong. Because from the lack of motivation, your employees drop out. They live from weekend to weekend, then from vacation to vacation and finally from absence to absence. And no one dares to ask the question whether they are actually motivated to perform the role."

• Want to learn more about motivation? Listen to the Different Thinking Podcast!