4 Drives A Simple Story About Motivating Employees

about

the 4-Drive

Model

of Employee Motivation

A Simple

Story

Kurt Nelson

©2009 The Lantern Group

Meet our protagonist…

We’ll call him “The Manager”

Meet our protagonist…

Hi!

We’ll call him “The Manager”

The Manager works for a Company

The Manager works for a Company

We

make

stuff!

But there is a problem…

The workers aren’t motivated…


Breaks

over!


#%$#*!

The Manager needs to figure out how to

increase employee motivation

But how?

The Manager needs to figure out how to

increase employee motivation

He tried to get the workers excited!


Let’s go!


Get

motivated!

He put motivational quotes up around

the office

He tried to instill fear!

He tried to instill fear!

Get moving or

your fired!

He even tried to “entice” them

He even tried to “entice” them

Big Bucks!

I got the

Big Bucks!

These “fixes” all worked for a while…

But none of them seemed to work for long

Ho Hum…

But none of them seemed to work for long

Then one day The Manager read a book

Called Driven, by Lawrence and Nohria

And it helped him figure out…what he

needed to do

And it helped him figure out…what he

needed to do

Eureeka!

He realized there are four main drives

that impact employee motivation

Acquire, B

ond, Chall

enge and

Defend

He realized there are four main drives

that impact employee motivation

And that he needed to work on all four of

these drives with his employees

As Lawrence

and Nohria say,

“every job must

provide an

opportunity to

fulfill…all four

drives.”

And that he needed to work on all four of

these drives with his employees

The drive to Acquire is about an

employees need to acquire “stuff”

The drive to Acquire is about an

employees need to acquire “stuff”

[ like

money, things, awards,

prestige ]

$$

They are motivated to Acquire this “stuff”

$$

And they’ll work hard to get it

And they’ll work hard to get it…

And they’ll work hard to get it…and keep it

And they’ll work hard to get it…and keep it

Grrr!!!!

So now The Manager knows the way to

structure pay and rewards to leverage the

drive to Acquire (not just as base pay)

So now The Manager knows the way to

structure pay and rewards to leverage the

drive to Acquire (not just as base pay)

Utilize incentives to

drive performance

and create a culture

of recognition and

reward

The Manager also knows that the Acquire

drive is relative

Employees

will always

compare

themselves to

others… the

drive is never

fully satisfied

The Manager also knows that the Acquire

drive is relative

And you need to know what your

employees think

Find out who your

employees compare

themselves too

(this is not always

obvious) and make

sure that your pay

and perks are

comparable

And you need to know what your

employees think

And The Manager knows that the drive to

Acquire is about more than just money



The drive to

Acquire is also

about prestige

and status



Make sure you

give credit and

promote your

employees

achievements!

But employees also have a drive to Bond

But employees also have a drive to Bond

[ form positive social

relationships with co-

workers ]

Bonding is an innate drive that helps

employees feel part of a group

They will go out of their way to help

people in their group

They will go out of their way to help

people in their group

Do you

need any

help?

These bonds will help to instill loyalty and

engender positive emotions about the

company

These bonds will help to instill loyalty and

engender positive emotions about the

company

What a great

place to work!

So The Manager now knows that he has to

foster bonding and create opportunities

for social interaction

Which leads to the employees identifying

themselves as a team


themselves as a team…


themselves as a team…with more

motivation

The Manager knows that teambuilding

sessions are about more than fun…



Teambuilding

should provide

opportunities

for greater

bonding and

trust building



And should

create a shared

experience that

helps build a

unique and

positive culture

And that celebrations actually have a

business impact

And that celebrations actually have a

business impact

Happy

Birthday!

Of course there is the drive to be Challenged

Of course there is the drive to be Challenged

[ be inspired to learn

and grow – face and

overcome challenges ]

Where regular employees can become…

Where regular employees can become…

SUPER HEROES!

And by creating variety, stretch goals, new

experiences, and opportunities to learn…

Companies create teams of super heroes!

Who come to work motivated and engaged!

The Manager knows that he has to ensure

that his employees are constantly

challenged and learning new things

The Manager knows that he has to ensure

that his employees are constantly

challenged and learning new things

We are

going

for that

And structure the jobs and the processes so

they don’t become routine and rote

And structure the jobs and the processes so

they don’t become routine and rote

I’m

bored

But instead they challenge the individual

But instead they challenge the individual

Set stretch

goals, assign

different types of

projects, job

sharing, have

contests, expand

duties…

And provide new learning opportunities

Training classes,

job shadowing,

mentorships,

strategic

planning

The last element is the drive to Defend

The last element is the drive to Defend

[ defend the company

and the ideals it stands

for ]

Where employees feel such pride and

attachment to the company that they are

motivated to defend it against all attacks

Where employees feel such pride and

attachment to the company that they are

motivated to defend it against all attacks

You

talkin’ to

me?

Competitive action

The Economy

Rumors and negative talk

Negative

information

and rumors

The Manager knows that to activate the

drive to Defend, employees must feel a

connection to the company

And feel pride about what the company does

and how it acts

This means that The Manager has to do and

act the right way as well



I need to be

honest and

courteous – being

transparent about

how and what the

company is doing



I need to

highlight the

good that we do

and constantly

focus on the big

picture!



And I need to stick

up for my team

and walk the

walk…

So The Manager implemented these changes

and low and behold….

So The Manager implemented these changes

and low and behold….motivation improved

The Company prospered…

And The Manager got promoted!

And The Manager got promoted!

Yeah!

To find out more about

the 4-Drive Model

www.lanterngroup.com

612-396-6392

©2009 The Lantern Group – use permitted with acknowledgement

Read this…Or contact us…

http://www.amazon.com/Driven-Nature-Shapes-Choices-ebook/dp/B001CD1PG2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245088230&sr=8-1

4 Drives A Simple Story About Motivating Employees

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Transcript of 4 Drives A Simple Story About Motivating Employees