What if the answer to motivating people is to stop trying to motivate them? The May update of MnDOT’s New Library Materials page features the book Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work...and What Does. This title is available in print, e-book, and e-audiobook from the library and is for sale by major booksellers.
Motivation researcher and leadership consultant Susan Fowler expands on her Spectrum of Motivation model in this updated post-pandemic edition. New chapters tackle motivation science’s role in managing remote and hybrid work; expose overused tactics, such as gamification and tokens; and tell the fascinating backstory behind the great resignation and quiet quitting.
Fowler’s framework builds on Self-Determination Theory, equipping leaders with skills to encourage choice, deepen connection, and build competence. Leaders who mastered this method have achieved higher retention, lower turnover, greater acceptance of DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice) initiatives, and a more vital, creative, and resilient workforce.
Through her experiences working with organizations and leaders around the world, Fowler reminds us that motivation is at the heart of everything people do and everything they don’t do but wish they did. When managers integrate motivation science into their everyday leadership practice, an evolutionary truth emerges: People can be highly productive and flourish simultaneously.
Learn more:
- Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work...and What Does, MnDOT New Library Materials
- Motivation resources, Susan Fowler and Mojo Moments