Written by Yesterday, Bryce Strecker wrote that “Team Culture Should Be Founded on Motivation”. It was an extremely informative article the dove deep into how a team’s culture is influenced or led by motivation. Many thought leaders discuss different ways to lead or influence culture within an organization, and I have heard very few ever discuss motivation as a foundational pillar. If you have not read Bryce’s article yet, you must take a few minutes to not only read about organizational culture and motivation, but also how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation both play an essential role within a team or organization.
I am a believer that there is a place for both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in developing an organization’s culture. As coaches, support and front office staff, and even athletes, there must be a healthy balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and also a good balance within each type of motivation. For example, if an athlete is just showing up because they enjoy the sport, the athlete’s intrinsic motivation is most likely not enough to properly motivate them throughout practice, competition, and the whole season. Additionally, the rewards via accomplishments in extrinsic motivation is a poor motivator when an athlete is performing out of fear of being scolded by parents, coaches, fans, and teammates as the athlete will be focused on not making mistakes instead of truly practicing and competing at their highest level.
There must be a healthy medium between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation within each sports organization and team. Each person in a sports organization must help develop this culture and ensure that the motivation involved by all is stable and focused. Like Bryce wrote, “unique combination of the two types of motivation” in each sports organization, team, coach, and athlete for the team and athlete to truly perform at the highest level.
I leave you with this question, what type of motivation do you have within your organization and are the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation within the team balanced enough to enable all athletes and the team to compete at their highest level?