I recently attended a fascinating talk by Harvard Business School Professor, Teresa Amabile, about her team’s research on what affects workers' performances at their jobs. 

Her research shows that for every employee there are two spheres of work: the actual work, whether physical, virtual or hybrid space, and the inner work life. The inner work life includes one’s perception about work, their pleasant or unpleasant emotions towards their work life and their intrinsic motivations for their job. Intrinsic motivation is one of the most important factors driving creativity, enhancing performance, strengthening connection and productivity. 

What affects this intrinsic motivation of workers?

Dr. Amabile’s research team found that the biggest indicator of intrinsic motivation is making progress in meaningful work. 

We often think that the biggest intrinsic motivator for a job is money. Of course, having an income and being able to provide for oneself and one’s family are important, but what is often forgotten is that for most human beings having meaning is one of the most crucial points of life, let alone work life. As Fredrick Nietzsche wrote: “If you know the why, you can live any how.”

When there are meaningful missions that employees understand, when those missions and values are spoken about frequently and practiced, they become not only part of the vernacular of the workplace but also part of the inner work life of an employee. A survey of 700 managers in various fields showed that the majority of managers ranked recognition, followed by setting clear goals and creating incentives as the top factors affecting job performances of employees. Yet contrary to what the managers believed, ‘progress at work’ is ranked as the highest employee motivator by employees themselves. 

Dr. Amabile’s advice to leaders: In order to help your employees’ performance, make sure you show them how their work is meaningful, what bigger things they are contributing to, and celebrate the progress that the employees make. Above all, connect individual work to the meaningful mission of your company.