Unlock your business potential: 3 key elements to motivate talent

Highly skilled talent is essential for any business to thrive, but to truly reach its full potential, a company must also focus on employee engagement. In professional services, where value is created by selling the expertise of people, engagement can be the difference between a thriving force and a stagnant business. 

In general, knowledge workers are often highly motivated to learn and grow, and the level of engagement grows in environments that foster their intrinsic motivation. So how can you foster this amongst your employees?

It all begins with autonomy, mastery and purpose.

1. Autonomy

One of the key elements that build intrinsic motivation for knowledge workers is autonomy. Autonomy refers to the ability to have control over one's work, including the tasks that are performed, the deadlines that are set, and the methods that are used. When knowledge workers have autonomy, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated because they feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for their work.

To promote autonomy, organizations should provide clear goals and objectives, but also give employees the flexibility to achieve those goals in the way that works best for them. This means allowing employees to work on a flexible schedule, providing resources and support for learning and development, and giving employees the freedom to make decisions about how they work and with what projects.

2. Mastery

Autonomy is not enough. Another key element that builds engagement in professional service firms is mastery. Mastery is the desire to continually improve and develop one's skills and knowledge. Knowledge workers are often highly skilled and educated, and they are motivated by the opportunity to learn and grow.

So, how can you provide opportunities for professional development and growth? It is not only official training programs, conferences or mentoring programs that bring about development but learning can take place everyday. By creating a culture that values and rewards learning, improvement and feedback as well as recognition, you create a community that nurtures mastery. Majority of development in fact happens when people work, so another crucial element is to give people that opportunity to work with projects that are interesting, challenging enough and develop the skills people actually want to learn. That’s when people can also find purpose in the work. 

3. Purpose

Purpose fuels intrinsic motivation on a deeper level. Purpose refers to the belief that one's work has meaning and is contributing to something larger than oneself. Often, knowledge workers are motivated by the opportunity to make a positive impact and to contribute to a greater good.

To help talent align to the purpose of their work, organizations can communicate their mission, values and provide opportunities to match individual goals with the broader goals of the organization. However, if there is no link or if words do not match action, the inauthenticity wanes purpose and fast.

Human-centric companies start with intrinsic motivation

Human-centric companies start with intrinsic motivation. By developing environments that foster knowledge workers’ intrinsic motivation, business potential is unleashed as people are more motivated to learn, to grow, and to use their best efforts for the good of the organization.

Companies can leverage technology to create transparency and foster engagement, as demonstrated by Agileday's platform, which helps employees see projects, skills, and align their development in connection with the company's strategy and objectives. To unlock your business potential, focus on autonomy, mastery, and purpose, and build your operations around the needs of your people.

We are happy to discuss with you how. Book your demo today.