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Juliana SchroederAyelet Fishbach
January 08, 2016
How do you know if you are selecting the right motivational strategies to
convince your employees, peers, and even yourself to work smarter and harder?
Behavioral scientists have been researching the different ways people motivate
themselves and others for decades. Their experiments have shown, for instance,
that people work harder when they get feedback, set ambitious goals, and are
given incentivizes.
But after recently conducting a review of more than 150 scientific articles on
motivation, we found that each of these motivational tools can also
unexpectedly backfire. For example, positive feedback can lead recipients to
relax their effort, overly ambitious goals can cause employees to give up, and
incentives can undermine intrinsic interest.
Chances are that you (at least sometimes) are using the wrong tools under the
wrong circumstances. We propose a set of guidelines for when and how to use
different types of motivational tactics, so that you can better understand how
to effectively motivate yourself and others.
Feedback
There are two primary forms of feedback: positive and negative. Neither one is
better than the other. In some circumstances, positive feedback can be more
effective for motivation because it increases people s commitment and
confidence. In others, negative feedback can be more effective because it
signals that more effort is needed.
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Because positive feedback enhances personal commitment, it works best when
recipients are questioning their commitment to a task. That s why novices or
people who are disengaged are best served by positive feedback. A new employee
is likely to thrive under positive feedback, but wilt under negative feedback.
In contrast, negative feedback is ideal for people who are already committed to
achieving their goals, but just need a push to reach them. Feedback that
emphasizes their lack of progress increases their motivation. So people with
expertise in a particular domain, such as professional speakers, not only
respond better to negative feedback, they also seek more negative feedback.
Goal Setting
To increase performance, it is often useful to set challenging and proximal
deadlines (e.g., finish reading a professional magazine in the next 30 minutes
). People even animals tend to work harder and faster when approaching a
finish line.
Typically, a shorter distance between you and your goal is more motivating than
a longer one. It feels within reach, and it s easier to feel that you re making
progress. This means people should set closer targets or sub-goals. So instead
of telling yourself or your employees to finish a project in the next month,
focus on achieving certain milestones by the end of each week.
Research also shows that when beginning to pursue a goal, people should focus
on the progress they ve made rather than on the progress they still have to
make. Only when they re closer to the finish line should people focus on the
remaining distance between them and their goal. Focusing on the least amount of
distance either from the start or from the end of your project is more
motivating.
For example, consider loyalty programs that use buy 10, get one free cards.
These can focus consumers on either accumulated progress (by stamping the card
for each purchase) or remaining progress (by punching a hole in the card). A
study showed that those who are farther from the reward are more motivated when
they receive stamps, because the card highlights how much progress they have
already made. Conversely, those who are close to the reward are more likely to
keep buying when holes are punched in the card, because that method highlights
what is still between them and their reward.
People are also particularly conscientious of their work when they are just
beginning to pursue a goal and when they ve nearly reached it. Research has
found that people are more likely to slack off or behave unethically around the
middle of a project. Since people will produce their highest quality work as
they re getting started or about to wrap up, it might be useful to re-frame
their goal pursuit by setting smaller goals, for example so that people don t
feel stuck in the middle.
Another common mistake with goal setting is choosing the wrong means or
approach for achieving your objectives. Research has shown that it s more
effective to tailor your approach based on one specific goal you re trying to
reach than to apply a one-size-fits-all approach that could work for any goal.
For example, if you want to have more productive staff meetings, it may help to
choose an office space that is only used for important group meetings, rather
than one that people also associate with one-on-ones or lunch breaks.
Incentives
Incentives can be categorized into three types: immediate (vs. delayed),
certain (vs. uncertain), and extrinsic (vs. intrinsic).
Immediate incentives are psychologically more appealing than delayed
incentives. People will work harder for incentives they can get sooner even if
they are smaller than those they would get after waiting longer. The lesson
here is simple: To motivate people, use immediate incentives.
People similarly prefer incentives of a certain value over those of an
uncertain value. For example, compared to a promotion that offers shoppers an
uncertain reward (e.g., $30 or $50 off if you spend over $200 ), one with a
certain reward (e.g., $40 off if you spend over $200 ) would more likely fare
better.
However, there are times when uncertain incentives can be more motivating. If
they offer a higher potential value, for instance, people may be optimistic and
more motivated to pursue them. They can also be exciting, leading some to work
harder. In one experiment participants evaluated a series of print
advertisements in return for a prize of either a certain amount or an uncertain
amount. In the certain conditions, participants expected a bonus of 50% of
their base pay. In the uncertain condition, the bonus could either be 20% or
50% of their base pay (to be determined by a lottery). People who expected a
bonus of 50% of their base pay worked less hard than those who weren t sure
what their bonus would ultimately be, which suggests that mystery rewards
(i.e., of uncertain value) can be exciting and push some to work harder.
Incentives can also be extrinsic (e.g., money, perks, etc.) or intrinsic (e.g.,
satisfying work). Some activities offer both: a paying job can also be
satisfying. However, adding extrinsic incentives often leads people to see less
intrinsic benefit. In one study, children were less willing to consume food
when it was framed as healthy (extrinsic benefit), because they then perceived
the food as being less tasty (lower intrinsic benefit).
People also seem to value intrinsic incentives more when they are in the middle
of pursuing a goal than when they have not yet started. This is why when people
are selecting a job, they often put relatively less emphasis on things such as
interest in the task and employee morale, compared with extrinsic benefits like
salary. But when going to the job each day, people care relatively more about
these intrinsic incentives. Thus, tangible incentives should be emphasized in
advance, while more intrinsic ones should be used to motivate employees already
working toward something.
Just as people fail to recognize the value of intrinsic incentives for
themselves, they also underestimate its importance for others. People tend to
believe interesting work tasks and morale are more important to them than to
their colleagues. As a result, when motivating others, people may choose to use
fewer intrinsic incentives than they would for themselves.
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How to Motivate Yourself or Someone Else
Use Two Types of Feedback
Solicit positive feedback when you are getting started on your goals; solicit
negative feedback once you are nearing the finish line
Learn the Art of Goal Setting
Set reachable and close goals
Focus on what you ve done near the beginning; focus on how much more you have
to do near the end
Choose a method for achieving your goal that is unique to that goal
Understand How Incentives Work
Immediate rewards (like a bonus as soon as a target is met) are more
motivating
Focus on certain and clear incentives when getting started on a goal; employ
uncertain or mystery rewards once you re pursuing it
Use extrinsic incentives to motivate yourself at the beginning; focus on
intrinsic incentives to help yourself persist
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All of this behavioral research can provide guidance on how to better motivate
yourself and others. There are three key conclusions to keep in mind. First,
apply positive feedback to enhance commitment and negative feedback to
highlight slow progress. Second, set near-term goal targets; people work faster
and better at the beginning and end than in the middle. Finally, do not
underestimate the value of immediate, certain, and intrinsic incentives but
also recognize when they might fail. Selecting the best motivational tool is
not just an art it s a science.
Juliana Schroeder is an assistant professor in the Haas Management of
Organizations Group at the University of California, Berkeley.
Ayelet Fishbach is the Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral
Science and Marketing at The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.