Employee Engagement Strategy: Match Job Rewards to Employee Motivators, Here’s How…

This employee engagement strategy makes so much sense that you will always use it once you understand it. Here it is: match what the job rewards to an employee's top motivators.

Before I show you how to do this - in a simple two-step process - let's review what happens when you have a job reward/employee motivator mismatch:  In January 2001, I was teaching and facilitating classes on a contract basis for an international consulting company. I was good at it, and I loved it!

One day a Company Executive pulled me aside and asked, "Hey, we'd like to talk to you about a full-time sales position."  My initial reaction, in my gut, to this suggestion was adverse – I was not interested.  But what did I say that day in response?  Faking my interest, I said, "Oh, really?" 

I felt honored that they were approaching me, so I interviewed for the position. During the interview, I learned about the excellent salary and possible commissions. I told them everything they wanted to hear and what I had convinced myself to believe. Even though I loved facilitating, I got caught up in 'winning' the interview and the job.

And guess what? I won. I got the job. One year into this full-time sales role, the newness had worn off even after closing several good-sized deals and receiving feedback that I was doing a good job. I wanted to love my career in sales, so I was disciplined about my work.  But my energy was low, and I was going through the motions pretty soon. I wondered, “What’s wrong with me?”

Motivation Problems & Employee Engagement Strategy Answers

Today I know what the problem was. I often see it when debriefing assessment results for someone struggling in the job, and it's part of the Hiring Process I teach in my book and workshops.

The problem, my top motivators and interests did NOT match what the job rewarded.

While I had the background, experience, and communication style to do the job of consulting sales, the job best rewarded those whose number one motivator/driver was Utilitarian/Economic (as measured in the Superior Performance Hiring Assessment Process). The Utilitarian/Economic motivator is a drive and passion for business results. Studies show that 72% of all top salespeople have this motivator as their number one motivator.

My number one motivator, however, is Theoretical/Knowledge. This is a drive and motivation for continuous learning and sharing of knowledge. In addition, I score far above the population mean in this area - which indicates that spending time every day teaching, facilitating, and learning are work activities that are VERY important to my long-term energy and motivation on the job. (No wonder I was so happy BEFORE I took the full-time sales position! My instincts were right. A full-time sales position was not a good fit, but my competitive nature got in the way.)

Your top motivators represent what you are most interested in, motivated by and what you feel compelled to do.  It's what you naturally want to do five days a week.

Get Two Steps and Five Interview Questions for Determining
Job Reward and Employee Motivator Match,
Go to Employee Engagement Strategy Article, Page 2, Now