Part 1

Watch this video from the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) on what motivates us in the workplace. 

RSA Animate-Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us from The RSA on Vimeo.

Consider the three key factors outlined in the video clip which have been shown to motivate people in challenging, sophisticated work such as healthcare:

• Autonomy – the desire to be self-directed.

• Mastery – the urge to get better at what we do.

• Purpose Motive – the belief that our work matters for reasons other than money.

Part 2

Use the online template provided, or your own preferred method, and work with your team to do an honest appraisal of how motivating work is for your teams. (Follow this link to download the template)

How much do you as a leader promote autonomy, mastery and purpose?

• List examples from your workplace of how things typically happen which promote or impede autonomy, mastery and purpose motive among your colleagues
• Use the 3rd column of the template to highlight those that you could do something to improve
• What can you do to address some of these things to improve the overall motivation within your team?
• How will you test whether your actions have made a difference?

Part 3

Choose one thing that you can change in the way you lead which would enhance autonomy, mastery or purpose motive for your team or service area.

Undertake a mini-experiment with this over the next two to three weeks to see what happens when you make this change. What, if anything, do you observe that may be linked to the change you have made?

Share your observations with the same colleagues you did the appraisal with. Record what you have learnt in your learning journal.