As a broker, agent motivation has been a major concern for me since my company opened. I constantly encounter two problems: 1. Some agents appear to be unmotivated and do not take a proactive approach to selling property. 2. Agents are extremely motivated by only MONEY to sell property (which causes ethics problems and hurts company morale). The majority of the issues I face on a daily basis revolve around these two problems. After much research and self reflection, I have concluded that the motivation issues are caused by my leadership. My brokerage was structured similar to most brokerages in the country in that we compensate and motivate our agents with tangible rewards (mostly money). If you sell property, you are rewarded, if you don't sell property, you are not rewarded and often punished (fired). This is motivation using extrinsic motivation. Over the last 40 years, increasing amounts of research have shown that extrinsic motivation is not the most affective way to achieve results from employees who must use brain power (not assembly line workers). Study after study have shown that extrinsic motivation often times reduces productivity, which is contrary to its intent.
I have begun to subscribe to a new form of leadership to motivate my agents - intrinsic motivation. This is the motivation that comes from within. The type of motivation that fills our human urge to do things well and create self fulfillment. The same motivation that draws us to the challenge of putting together a puzzle or solving a crossword. As humans, we receive no tangible reward for completing these puzzles, but receive a sense of accomplishment when we complete them.
I have begun to incorporate intrinsic motivation as a part of our company culture and I am amazed! I do not use only intrinsicmotivation (I still have tangible rewards), but we have a real focus on the inner motivation. The positive results are numerous. Company morale is way up. Agents have a healthy level of competition, but there is a real sense of "team" in the office. Productivity is up. Agents have more fun, think more creatively, and collaborate more often.
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