Employee loyalty to intrinsic motivation…the new leadership model For decades companies have focused on building employee loyalty in an effort to increase motivation and performance. As Millennials became the largest workforce segment,1 many organisations realised that things had changed forever and “loyalty” would no longer be the path to motivation and performance2. Over the past few years employee experience has taken the spotlight as the best way to attract and motivate employees 3. While employee experience is important, it is not enough on its own; major shifts in the organisation’s vision, values and structure are also critical. We can build open work environments and provide staff free coffee, and while this may be important for some to create an exciting work environment, it misses key elements necessary for success. Today, people want to work in an organisation with a real purpose (not just a vision); they want real values that dictate organisational behaviours and are not just meaningless words on a break room poster; and they want leaders that personify the organisation’s purpose and values that inspire them to their own greatness and are not just focused on their own power, political infighting or bonuses. These are key elements today for building a path to a new “Performance Generator” powered by Intrinsic Motivation. ‘New’ is a bit of a stretch, intrinsic motivation has always been the number one factor for people performance; however, traditionally it has been dimensioned under a command and control structure with stick & carrot incentives and authoritative leadership. Evolving from command and control and adopting a new structure of management will be the most impactful,.. yet most difficult.. transformation 21st century organisations will make. This is true for a number of reasons4 in addition to generating performance, including reduced turnover, creating an innovative culture and increasing organisational agility.

The “Performance Generator” graphic to the left outlines how leaders can unleash performance across the organisation by building intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is built by enabling people to reach their own leadership potential, creating an environment of collaboration, and aligning people to a meaningful purpose. This is important to all people, but is particularly important to Millennials. There is no doubt that command and control with authoritative leadership has worked in the past, but would we have been better off

adopting a different structure long ago, one that was more collaborative and captured both the hearts and minds of the employee? Perhaps, we would have built higher intrinsic motivation in our organisations and have been more prepared for the speed of change we face today.

However, to make such a shift will take real leadership courage, it will take the ability to set ego aside to lead authentically, and the ability to inspire the greatness in our people, not ourselves. A client tells a story that drives this point home. A 30-year veteran of the company was retiring; the client being the CEO planned a big retirement party and acquired the appropriate gold watch as a parting gift. I know, a bit cliché, but true. After thanking him for all of his hard work over the years, the CEO introduced the retiree to the stage. As the retiree walked to the stage and the CEO walked off, the retiree shook his hand, leaned in and said… “you paid for my brain and body for 30 years and you could have had my heart for free.” This story personifies the impact our old business structures and authoritative leadership created. Moving forward this type of leadership is just not good enough, people want to be inspired by collaborative leaders and they want to contribute to organisations with a meaningful purpose. The shift to Intrinsic Motivation has already happened and your people are just waiting for the organisation to catch up. Organisations need to seriously consider making this shift, not because inspiring the greatness in your people is the right thing to do, but because it is in the organisation’s best economic interest. Companies that can make this shift quickly will create a substantial advantage; the question is… do you have the leadership courage to make this shift? Are you ready to build a new Performance Generator in your organisation fuelled by Intrinsic Motivation? If you would like more information on how you can build intrinsic motivation into your organisation, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We hope this article brought you value. About The Author:

John Dare Careerlink People Solutions

John is a thought leader in Organisational Transformation and Emotional Intelligence and has dedicated his career to working with people and organisations to increase performance in a world of accelerating change.

He has built a number of businesses, and over the past twelve years has provided coaching and consulting

services to executives to transform their businesses and accelerate growth. He is a regular guest speaker at industry associations and Universities on the topics of Leadership, Strategy and Transformation, and is a former board member for the Association for Corporate Growth in San Francisco. John is accredited in Emotional

Intelligence and holds an International MBA with Honours from Saint Mary’s College of California. John Dare

Email: john@careerlink.com.au Sources

1 – Bureau of Labor Statistics; eLance-oDesk; UpWork.com 2 – Millennial Branding & American Express: Gen Y Workplace Expectations Study 3 – Global Human Capital Trends 2016, Deloitte University Press 4 – How Command and Control as a Change Leadership Style Causes Transformational Change Efforts to Fail; Dean Anderson, Linda Ackerman Anderson