10 Intrinsic Motivators

Intrinsic motivation (the wish to carry out an activity for the sake of the activity itself, and not in the hope of obtaining external rewards) addresses innate human desires, and promotes creativity and innovation in an organization, which can lead to sustainable prosperity of the business.

By taking care of 10 innate human desires (the phrases and words highlighted in bold), managers can provide their employees (or team members) with the following intrinsic motivators:

1. Make them feel competent (give them work that’s challenging but still within their grasp);

2. Let them feel accepted (compliment on their achievements);

3. Address their curiosity (provide something new for them to investigate);

4. Satisfy their honor (allow teams to make their own rules);

5. Infuse the business with idealism (provide a higher purpose beyond profit);

6. Foster their independence (give them proper level of autonomy);

7. Maintain some level of order (provide minimum company rules and policies);

8. Make sure they have some power or influence over what is happening;

9. Help social contacts to emerge(nurture relatedness among employees);