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If money did not exist, would you still get up every morning to make a living?

If money did not exist, would you still get up every morning to make a living?

Money, rewards, and punishments are not the only reason to keep people moving forward and innovate new solutions

“You can buy a man’s time, you can buy a man’s physical presence at a certain place, you can even buy a measured number of skilled muscular motions per hour or day. But you cannot buy enthusiasm, you cannot buy initiative, you cannot buy loyalty; you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. You have to earn these things.”

― Clarence Francis (Chairman, General Foods)

Money has always been a good source of motivation and inspiration in any workforce since forever, but this is not the only mythical motivation that gets you out of your bed every morning and hustle. Money can be a sole motivation, if your values are dependent upon it or if having a particular sum of money is the only priority you hold. In current new age of creative startups and disrupting ventures, asserting money solely as a motivator could be completely ineffectual.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivational beliefs have been a great shepherd for many companies to instil motivation and drive in their workforce, and yet there is still a strong urge for managers to stick to Theory X, believing the fact that people must be persuaded into performing better through rewards and punishments.

Also read: 20 Harry Potter characters you should hire for your startup

This belief is still valid and succinct for motivating people to perform extraordinary, repetitive day-to-day routine tasks, but as you move up in organisational hierarchies, intrinsic motivations is what matters the most in order to perform better.

Same goes with modern-day creative startups. We perform much better and operate beyond our best potential under complete autonomy. Scientifically, it is been proven that we are intrinsically driven by our need to live our lives under our own terms and conditions. One can figure out the same observing simple acts of children.

Children are active and think different ways to solve a problem without a systematic approach. This is only through the trainings, rewards and punishment systems that an adult’s brain is damaged and becomes passive and inert. For example: What would an adult do with a ruler? He/She might use it to draw a line, hit someone or stir something.

But what if I give that ruler to a child? They can be completely curious about this wooden object and explore new sensations dimensionally. They might taste it; they could use it push a door or might think of it as a sword. Or they even can use it as a spoon to eat with it. They will showcase energetic behaviour though imagination and creativity power to reflect fun setting. This is the heart of what psychologists perceive as Self Determination Theory.

Money, rewards and punishments are not the only reason to keep people moving forward and innovate new solutions. There are lot of other elements such as: intrinsic motivation, good colleagues and bosses, work-commute time, feeling that your work is useful, and somehow the complete autonomy. These things are necessary to peoples’ happiness in their career and development.

Also read: I learned time management working at a fast growing startup; You might find these lessons useful, too

Money is an undeniably a basic need for living that could cultivate employees’ motivation to work but certainly not the most sought-after stipend for everyone. Evidently, it is not enough to buy loyalty and enthusiasm, let alone to make people think differently and innovate new solutions to old problems.

Wake up.

Wish it.

Dream it.

Do it!

—-

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.

The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

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