This guide belongs to 100 Ways To Be Being Remarkable Series, a special project that brings you business and self-development advice from The Success Manual.

This is a companion guide to our Leadership article.

When asked what makes people tick, the responding participants cited "recognition and respect" as the number-one motivating factor in the workplace. "Achievement and accomplishment" came in second.
- Tyler Cowen

Need is one of the most important factors that motivates us.

Need for achievement or self-actualization concerns the desire to overcome obstacles, to exercise power and to strive to do something difficult, and to the best of one’s ability.

‘Enhancing the population’s need for achievement is essential for a country’s economic prosperity’.
- Clelland’s theory of work motivation

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
Professor Abraham was a famous psychologist. Here are the needs, in ascending order:

1. PHYSIOLOGICAL: breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion
2. SECURITY: security of body, of employment, of resources, of morality, of the family, of health, of property
3. SOCIAL (LOVE/BELONGING): Friendship, family, sexual intimacy affection, belonging & acceptance.
4. ESTEEM: Self- esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others.
5. SELF-ACTUALIZATION: Morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts.

According to Maslow, a person concentrates on the most basic level first. Once these needs have been substantially satisfied, he or she focuses on the next level, and so on.

Maslow said that more than one need can be satisfied by the same action.

Maslow considered Self-actualization to be the pinnacle of human and organizational growth. Once achieved, it makes a person operational at the very top level.

MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS [IN DESCENDING ORDER]
1. Transcendence - helping others to self-actualize
2. Self-actualization - personal growth, self-fulfillment
3. Aesthetic needs - beauty, balance, form, etc.
4. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, self-awareness
5. Esteem needs - achievement, status, responsibility, reputation
6. Belongingness and Love needs - family, affection, relationships, work group, etc.
7. Safety needs - protection, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
8. Biological and Physiological needs - basic life needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

A fully functional person has the following characteristics:
- Perceiving people and events accurately, without undue interference from your own preconceptions.
- Accepting self and others, including imperfections but seek improvement where possible.
- Tending to be spontaneous, especially in your thoughts and feelings.
- Focusing on problems outside self, rather than being insecure and introspective.
- Tending to be autonomous, and remain true to self despite pressure to conform.
- Tending to be detached, so that you are not unduly thrown off course by awkward events.
- Appreciating good and beautiful things, even if they are familiar.
- Having peak experiences of intense positive emotions of a sometimes mystic quality.
- Having close relationships, but only with a few carefully chosen people.
- Respecting others; not making fun of people; and, evaluating them according to their inner qualities rather than social or racial class.
- Having firm moral standards, and a sense of right or wrong, though they may be different from other people.
- Tending to be creative, that is, being open-minded and open to your experience, seeing things in novel ways and can draw novel conclusions from established information.

HOW TO BE A GOOD MOTIVATOR
1. Are you yourself motivated? Motivate yourself before you attempt to inspire another.
2. Observation & Action. Use every interaction as an opportunity to learn more about others. The more you know, the more effective you are likely to be.
3. Customize motivational strategies for each individual. Each person has different experiences, attitudes and values. Discover what motivates each person.
4. Reinforcement and support works wonders. Apply encouragement and support. Provide information and inspiration on a consistent and ongoing basis.

THREE THINGS THAT MOTIVATE PEOPLE
1. Goals: Everyone likes challenges. Also remember, people need to know how they are doing in relation to the goals – give timely, specific, non-judgmental, and usable feedback. Use negative feedback sparingly.

2. Expectations: People want to know

a) If I try doing what you want, will I succeed in doing it?
b) If I do it correctly, will it actually lead to a reward?
c) Is the reward worth having? – To learn the answers to these questions, you must listen carefully to what people want.

3. Rewards: If people want rewards, then there can be two types of rewards –

a) Intrinsic Rewards: They make people feel good inside when they achieve a goal, excel or please you in some way – for example, pleasure, satisfaction, pride, contentment, feeling wanted, and other positive feelings.
b) Extrinsic Rewards: They come from outside the person – for example, pay, bonuses, company perks like company car or health plan, longer holidays, better pensions, trips abroad and promotion.

Good leaders, while relying on extrinsic rewards, never ignore the value of intrinsic rewards.

Notes from PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL: THE HIDDEN FORCES THAT SHAPE OUR DECISIONS by Dan Ariely

1. Social norms such as reciprocity are warm and fuzzy, with no explicit quid pro quo

2. Market norms are explicit and hard--you get what you pay for.

3. "People are willing to work free, and they are willing to work for a reasonable wage, but offer them just a small payment and they will walk away."

Thinking about money puts one in a market frame of mind. Subjects (of an experiment) were:
- More selfish and self-reliant
- Wanted to spend more time alone
- Were more likely to select individual tasks rather than those that required teamwork
- Chose to sit farther away from others

4. "A salary alone will not motivate people to risk their lives. Police officers, firefighters, soldiers--they don't die for their weekly pay. It's the social norms--pride in their profession and a sense of duty--that will motivate them to give up their lives and health."

5. "Money, as it turns out, is very often the most expensive way to motivate people. Social norms are not only cheaper, but often more effective as well."

Summary of Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn

1. You can't motivate people. Al you can do is set up conditions to maximize the chances that they develop a genuine interest in what they're doing.

2. The Three Cs of Motivation:
Collaboration:
People are more enthusiastic when they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community. This is due to the exchange of talent and resources that result from cooperation and the emotional sustenance of social support.

Content:
"If you want people motivated to do a good job, give them a good job to do."

The best jobs offer a chance to engage in meaningful work. This goal can't always be achieved, but is a good guiding principle.

Motivation is highest when a job offers the opportunity to learn new skills, experience some variation in tasks, and to acquire and demonstrate competence. "The manager's job is not to motivate people to get them to achieve; instead, the manager should provide opportunities for people to achieve so they will become motivated."

Let people work at the jobs that they are most likely to find interesting. Give them a chance to sample a variety of jobs until a good fit is found. Allow them to transfer periodically to keep things interesting. "When people are well-matched with their jobs, it is rarely necessary to force, coerce, bribe, or trick them into working hard and trying to perform the job well. Instead, they try to do well because it is rewarding and satisfying to do so."

Within a job, it is possible to enhance responsibility, meaningfulness, and feedback:

Make sure each worker has some knowledge of the results of what she is doing, experiences responsibility for these results, and sees the work as valuable.

For unpleasant jobs, acknowledge frankly that the task may not be fun, offer a meaningful rationale for doing it anyway, and give as much choice as possible about how to perform the task.

A study of garbage collectors showed that they were happy because relationships among the men were highlighted, tasks and routes were varied to avoid monotony, and the company was set up as a cooperative, making each worker feel a pride of ownership.

Choice:
Burnout is not a function of work volume, but rather of feeling controlled and powerless.

The characteristic most likely to kill creativity is not inadequate pay or tight deadlines, but a lack of freedom in deciding what to do or how to accomplish a task, lack of sense of control over one's own work and ideas.

People don't like change policies because they fear change, but because they don't like having it imposed on them.

"People don't resist change. They resist being changed."

Giving employees the chance to make decisions is challenging, but pays off.

Related Must Read Guides
The Zen of Leadership 175+ greatest bits of wisdom for all who want to lead people
How to be Charismatic

If you liked this article, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, friends. Follow us on Twitter. 
We don't recommend any other guide than our very own The Success Manual - Encyclopedia of advice to 130 most important skills.