Originally published July 12, 2011 | Updated July 2026
For decades, leaders have searched for the secret to motivating employees. Organizations spend billions of dollars each year on incentive programs, employee-of-the-month awards, bonuses, contests, and recognition systems designed to increase engagement and performance.
Most of these efforts begin with the same assumption:
Leaders motivate people.
I believe that assumption is fundamentally flawed.
After more than forty years of leading teams, consulting with organizations, and teaching leadership, I’ve come to a different conclusion.
You cannot motivate another person.
What you can do is create an environment where people choose to motivate themselves.
That distinction changes everything.
Why Traditional Motivation Programs Fall Short
Many organizations rely on external rewards to encourage performance. Sales contests, incentive trips, parking spaces for top performers, and employee recognition programs can certainly create short-term excitement.
But over time, external rewards often become expectations rather than motivators. Employees begin asking, “What’s next?” instead of finding satisfaction in meaningful work.
Research over the past several decades has reinforced this idea. Scholars such as Frederick Herzberg, Edward Deci, Richard Ryan, and more recently Daniel Pink have shown that lasting motivation is influenced less by external rewards and more by factors such as autonomy, mastery, purpose, meaningful relationships, and opportunities for growth.
In other words, people are far more complex than any single incentive program can address.
Motivation Is Personal
Every employee arrives at work with a unique combination of experiences, strengths, aspirations, and personal values.
Some seek opportunities to learn.
Others value stability.
Some thrive on collaboration.
Others enjoy solving difficult problems independently.
Effective leaders recognize these differences. Rather than asking, “How do I motivate my employees?” they begin asking, “What motivates this person?”
That shift moves leadership away from controlling behavior and toward understanding people.
What Great Leaders Avoid
If you want to understand motivation, it helps to first understand what consistently diminishes it.
Leaders often reduce motivation when they:
- Micromanage employees.
- Ignore individual strengths and interests.
- Focus only on productivity while neglecting personal development.
- Create unnecessary competition between employees.
- Reward only outcomes while overlooking effort, learning, and collaboration.
- Give people work that lacks meaning or purpose.
- Make decisions without involving the people closest to the work.
These practices may increase short-term compliance, but they rarely create long-term commitment.
A Better Approach
Great leadership begins long before recognition programs or performance bonuses.
It begins with hiring people whose interests and strengths align with the work they will be doing.
It continues by creating an environment where employees experience:
- Meaningful work
- Trust
- Autonomy
- Continuous learning
- Constructive coaching
- Opportunities to contribute ideas
- Respectful relationships
When people believe they matter, their motivation often follows naturally.
Ironically, organizations that invest deeply in people frequently discover that improved performance and stronger business results follow.
From Motivating to Enabling
One of the most important shifts a leader can make is moving from motivating people to enabling motivation.
Leaders don’t create another person’s passion.
They create the conditions where passion can emerge.
That means asking thoughtful questions instead of providing every answer.
It means coaching rather than controlling.
It means helping people discover solutions instead of solving every problem for them.
The role of a leader is not to become the source of motivation.
The role of a leader is to remove unnecessary barriers so people can do meaningful work that matters.
A Final Thought
Early in my career, I believed my responsibility as a leader was to motivate people.
Experience taught me something very different.
The best leaders I have known focused less on inspiring speeches and incentive programs and more on understanding people.
They listened.
They coached.
They trusted.
They developed others.
Most importantly, they created workplaces where people wanted to bring their best selves every day.
Perhaps the better leadership question isn’t:
“How can I motivate my employees?”
Perhaps it’s:
“How can I create an environment where people choose to do their very best work?”
I believe the answer to that question is where truly human leadership begins.
Authors Note 2026
This article was originally published in 2011 and has been updated to reflect current leadership research and insights gained through continued consulting, teaching, and writing.