Junk food satisfies you for a minute...healthy food satisfies you for life!

Last time I wrote about a concept called "Optimal Motivation" and Susan Fowler's book, Why Motivating People Doesn't Work...And What Does.  Fowler writes, "As a leader, you cannot motivate anyone. What you can do is cultivate a workplace where it is more likely for someone to experience optimal motivation."  As Fowler defines it, optimal motivation is the result of satisfying three universal psychologic needs - autonomy, relatedness, and competence.  On a high level:

Autonomy is the motivation that comes from choosing to do something as opposed to the motivation that comes from having to do it.

Relatedness is the motivation that is generated from values, love, joy, or compassion as opposed to the motivation that generated by power, ego, status, or a desire for external awards.

Competence is the motivation that comes from a desire to excel, learn, and grow as opposed to the motivation that comes from seeking to be better than someone else, impress, or gain favors.

I wanted to briefly talk about one more concept that I learned from reading Fowler's book, something that she calls the "Spectrum of Motivation".  I've talked about the principal differences between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation in the past (see "Holes", "Lessons from Gross Anatomy", and "Knights, Knaves, and Pawns").  Extrinsic motivation is the kind of motivation that is driven by external rewards (usually tangible rewards, such as money or grades but also intangible rewards such as praise or status).  Conversely, intrinsic motivation is the kind of motivation that is driven by the inherent satisfaction of performing a job well done.  Most studies suggest that intrinsic motivation is far more effective than extrinsic motivation, and while Susan Fowler agrees, she suggests that its not quite that as simple as intrinsic versus extrinsic.  Rather, there is a spectrum of motivation.  Importantly, this is not necessarily a continuum, as people can jump around from one bubble to the next in the Figure below.

As Fowler explains, there are five main reasons why individuals are motivated to perform a task or demonstrate a certain behavior.  The more an individuals basic psychological needs (ARC above) are met, the more positive their level of motivation.  There are six outlooks below, one of which is basically zero motivation to do something (hence the reference to five reasons why individuals are motivated, not six):

1. Disinterested Motivational Outlook - You do not find the value in it. 

2. External Motivational Outlook - There is an external reason, such as increasing position, power, status or money.

3. Imposed Motivational Outlook - You feel pressure or wish to avoid the feeling of guilt.

4. Aligned Motivational Outlook - You were able to link the task to a significant value.

5. Integrated Motivational Outlook - You were able to link the task to a purpose. 

6. Inherent Motivational Outlook - You simply enjoy performing the task.

Referring again to the Figure, three of these outlooks are labeled as suboptimal (disinterested, external, and imposed).  Fowler calls these three outlooks motivational junk food, in that they reflect low-quality motivation (junk food may satisfy our hunger, but it's not very healthy for us).  There are also three outlooks labeled optimal (aligned, integrated, and inherent).  Fowler calls these three outlooks motivational health food, since they reflect high-quality motivation.  The goal for leaders is to focus on developing optimal motivation!

I like that Fowler chooses not to describe motivation as a single dichotomous variable (extrinsic versus intrinsic), and I believe her model is more realistic.  As the old saying goes, "Junk food satisfies you for a minute.  Healthy food satisfies you for life."