It's Not The Money, Stupid

Since we are entering the season of land mines, otherwise known as the focal process, this recent HBR article, which summarizes much of the science around the relationship between money and motivation and engagement seems worth sharing.  In short, the science overwhelmingly indicates that above a basic level, money does not motivate nor engage.  In fact, the surprising finding is that it may do just the opposite in many situations.

What to do?

"Employees' personalities are much better predictors of engagement than their salaries. The most compelling study in this area is a large meta-analytic review of 25,000 participants, where personality determined 40% of the variability in ratings of job satisfaction. The more emotionally stable, extraverted, agreeable or conscientious people are, the more they tend to like their jobs (irrespective of their salaries).

But the personality of employees' is not the most important determinant of their engagement levels.

In fact, the biggest organizational cause of disengagement is incompetent leadership. Thus, as a manager, it's your personality that will have a significant impact on whether your employees are engaged at work, or not."

The good news is that, unlike focal budgets, the factors that foster engagement are largely within your control.  The "bad news" is that fostering engagement and motivation is much harder than entering a large number on a spreadsheet once a year.  It's something each manager has to work on with their teams every day of the year.

(Referenced article:  http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/does_money_really_affect_motiv.html)