Employee Motivation vs. Employee Engagement
Motivation: Refers to the internal or external factors that drive an employee to take action or perform. Motivation refers to how willing a person is to invest time and energy into goal achievement.
Engagement: Is connected to the emotional commitment an employee has towards their organization and its goals. When employees are engaged they might have high levels of enthusiasm, organizational participation and organizational loyalty.
How Motivation Correlates to Engagement
According to Gallup, In the first quarter of 2024, 17% of employees were actively disengaged, one point higher than the 16% for the full year of 2023 and equivalent to the percentage actively disengaged in the fourth quarter of 2023. The U.S. now has a ratio of 1.8 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee. This compares to a ratio of 2.1-to-1 in 2023.
Impact on Performance
Both motivation and engagement can impact and drive employee performance. Motivated employees may have higher levels of productivity while engaged employees may give more discretionary effort, contributing to higher overall performance.
Interdependence:
Engaged employees tend to have a higher level of motivation. Increased emotional connection to the content of their work and the organization may directly correlate with being driven to perform.
Motivated employees can become engaged over time if their motivation leads to experiencing success and a deeper sense of belonging in the organization.
Impact of Leadership:
Effective leadership behaviors can drive both motivation and engagement. Leaders who provide clear goals, recognition, and opportunities for growth can boost motivation.
When a leader fosters a positive organizational culture, promotes work-life balance, and builds trust at a 1-1 and team level, this can enhance engagement.
How Cloverleaf Can Help
By increasing self and team awareness
Setting a Coaching Focus
Daily Coaching & Reflections
Insight search
Team Thinking Style Comparisons
Creating a team commitment around Cloverleaf Use
Supporting a leader to drive meaningful development conversations
Reviewing certain categories of coaching tips of an individual that might be low in motivation and engagement
Development tips: What are areas for development and what resources does our organization provide in these areas?
Motivation tips: Am I tapping into their motivation as a leader? Is the context and content of their work motivating them given their motivation coaching tips?
Strengths Assessment review: (on individual dashboard). Are they using their top strengths? What about the content and context of their work incorporates their strengths?
Supporting an individual in self-reflection and asking for support
Development tips: What are areas for development that I need or want to ask for support with? How would this support make a difference?
Motivation tips: Where in my current role am I motivated and what is in contrast to what motivates me? What is missing from the context or content of my work that would increase my motivation?
Strengths Assessment review: (on individual dashboard). What strengths would I like to be using more of the time? What projects or initiatives would I like to be more involved in given my strengths?
Team Exercise
REVERSE Cloverleaf Hot Seat
The purpose of this exercise is to connect individuals with their own motivation and to increase team understanding of each other’s motivation. Depending on the size of the team, this can be conducted in 20-30 minutes.
Scenarios where this exercise can be helpful:
When a team is entirely new
When a team has recently had a big change (new leader, additional team members added
When team morale is low
When a team is experiencing burnout
When a leader is struggling to motivate their team
Ask each person on the team to review their Motivation tips on their individual profile. (You can do this before a meeting/team building session or in the moment).
Ask each team member to select 1 or 2 Motivation tips that they would most like the team to understand about them.
Encourage the team to listen for what might be new or interesting about their team members.
Ask each person to share the tip and then share an example of that motivation tip in action in the workplace or even in a previous organization.
Debrief the conversation by asking powerful questions
What was most surprising to you about what you heard from what motivates your team members?
What did you learn about someone else that sparks an idea or action for you to take after this conversation?
Variations of this exercise can be done by selecting different categories of coaching tips such as work style and communication style