MOTIVATION

Motivation (from the Latin word meaning “to move”) is what prompts us to act. It is not a feeling, emotion or what makes a person happy. A person’s motivation comes from a combination of what is within them (intrinsic) and their environment (extrinsic). Thus, to have an organization of contribution-motivated people, we address both factors.

We start by selecting contribution-motivated employees who define success as making a positive difference for others and have a strong desire to do so (intrinsic). We then strive to select supervisors who will create an environment (extrinsic) that motivates employees to maximize their contributions to Koch’s long-term success. (See Alignment of Incentives.) We reward results rather than activity; otherwise, we unintentionally motivate employees to do work that is wasteful.

We also recognize that for individuals to act, they not only need to be dissatisfied with the status quo, they need to have a vision of a better state and a belief it can be achieved. (See Requirements for Human Action.) Just as profit and loss can help satisfy these three conditions for entrepreneurs, roles, feedback and rewards can help satisfy these conditions for employees.

Rather than using rigid, formulaic pay structures that fail to consider what an individual has contributed (whether positive or negative), we attempt to reward employees according to the long-term value they create. This includes contributions to culture, current results and building capabilities that we believe will generate results. When employees understand how they earned and can increase their compensation, they become more fully motivated to increase their contributions.

Effective supervisors are motivated to help their employees self-actualize, rather than control and stifle them. They prioritize building trusted relationships and learning how to motivate each employee based on what is important to them, given their subjective value – such as pay, doing meaningful work they are good at and care about, having some control over their activities, and the opportunity to be creative and develop. (See Life of Meaning and Synergy.)

Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, believed that we all need “the striving and struggling for some worthy goal…the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled.  . . . That the more one forgets himself – by giving himself to a cause to serve, or another person to love – the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.”

While imprisoned, he learned that even when experiencing great difficulty, we have the power to choose our response. He gave the example of “men who walked through [the concentration camp] comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.” Those who did so had a better chance of surviving, because it gave them a reason to live. Frankl also taught that when people have no meaning in their lives, they default to the destructive paths of power or pleasure. 

Psychologist Abraham Maslow believed that this pursuit of meaning is a deeply personal journey because everyone differs in their aptitudes, interests, goals, experiences and circumstances. We increasingly self-actualize as we learn about ourselves – what we care about as well as what we are and are not good at.  This better enables us to contribute and succeed, and help others do the same.

In Maslow’s view, we most fully self-actualize when we can achieve what he called synergy by resolving the “dichotomy between selfishness and unselfishness…when by pursuing [our] own self-interest, [we] automatically benefit everyone else, whether [we] mean to or not.” He believed it was possible for societies and organizations to create these conditions. (See Alignment of Incentives.)

Maslow and Frankl found that people prefer meaningful work to meaningless work. Studies have found some janitors to be among the most self-actualized hospital employees. Those in hospitals that enable them to understand how they contribute to the well-being of patients and the smooth functioning of the hospital can experience deep satisfaction and meaning in their work. Similarly, Maslow explained that "washing the dishes can be the most meaningless chore or it can be a symbolic act of love for one’s family.” Thus, what’s important is not the nature of the work itself but our understanding of its purpose and who it is helping.  

As employees, we find greater meaning in our work when we understand how it contributes to improving other people’s lives and the overall success of the company.  Feedback, recognition and rewards help us understand what is valued by others, thereby enabling ourselves and others to experience greater synergy, and our organization and society to experience greater success. (See Motivation.)