Accelerating Performance
Are you in the midst of performance evaluations? This is the magical time of year when managers get to assess their people, put them on the bell curve and determine the annual raise.
What is the purpose of evaluating performance? Ideally performance evaluations would be used to provide corrective, encouraging feedback and accelerate performance. Acceleration results when people are motivated.
Motivation is a force that inspires action. It is critical to achieving goals and outcomes. Motivation is either external or internal. External motivation can be in the form of rewards or consequences. Internal motivation is unique to each individual and is far more challenging to identify and apply. You can motivate others externally or internally but lasting change requires internal motivation.
To motivate others you must understand what matters to them. An MIT study shows that rewards (or more money) are NOT a driving force behind productivity in the workplace. Autonomy, mastery and purpose were discovered to be the most critical factors to motivate people.
- Autonomy – individual control or the ability to direct our own lives
- Mastery – getting better and better at something that matters
- Purpose – doing what we do as a part of something greater than ourselves
We encourage you to apply these principles of motivation to your performance evaluations. When you meet with your team members, give them more control, help them improve at something or share the greater purpose (the why) behind what they are doing. You will increase motivation and accelerate performance.
