When someone loses energy at work, the standard response is often to add something: a new target, a recognition scheme, a team event or a bonus. Sometimes that helps. Often it does not, because the visible drop in motivation is not the problem itself. It is a signal that the person’s relationship with the work has changed.

The useful question is not simply, “How motivated is this person?” It is, “What kind of motivation is carrying their effort—and what conditions are strengthening or weakening it?” That distinction gives managers far more to work with than the usual choice between motivated and unmotivated.

Motivation is not a single fuel gauge

Self-determination theory, developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan and applied to work by Marylène Gagné and Deci, describes motivation as varying in quality as well as quantity. At one end, people act with a sense of choice and personal value. At the other, they act mainly because of pressure, guilt, surveillance or reward. Both can produce activity, but they do not create the same experience or the same likelihood of sustained effort.

This explains a familiar workplace puzzle: two people can work equally long hours while only one feels genuinely engaged. One may see the work as meaningful and chosen; the other may be protecting their reputation or avoiding criticism. Their output can look similar for a while, but the managerial response each needs is different.

Three conditions make high-quality motivation more likely

Self-determination theory identifies three basic psychological needs. They are not perks or personality types. They are conditions that influence whether people can bring energy and ownership to what they do.

  1. Autonomy: I have meaningful choice

    Autonomy is not a lack of standards. It is having appropriate discretion over how to reach them, being able to contribute to decisions and understanding the reason behind constraints. A tightly specified outcome can still support autonomy if the route is not unnecessarily controlled.

  2. Competence: I can make progress

    People need the chance to use and extend their capabilities. Clear expectations, useful feedback and work at the right level of challenge help. Constant ambiguity or goals that feel impossible can turn effort into helplessness rather than mastery.

  3. Relatedness: I matter here

    Motivation is social. People are more likely to invest themselves when they feel respected, included and connected to others. This does not require forced intimacy. It requires evidence that contribution and personhood are both noticed.

Why one-size-fits-all management misses the point

The three needs are widely shared, but the events that support or frustrate them differ. One employee experiences autonomy through a blank page; another experiences the same blank page as abandonment. One wants public recognition; another experiences it as exposure. One needs a larger challenge; another first needs a clearer route through the challenge already in front of them.

Personalisation therefore does not mean inventing a different management philosophy for every person. It means learning which conditions are currently most consequential, then adapting the conversation, support and work design without lowering the standard.

  • Replace “What would motivate you?” with “When did work feel easiest to invest in recently—and what was present?”
  • Ask where the person wants more choice, more clarity or more connection.
  • Separate a capability gap from a motivation gap. More encouragement will not solve missing knowledge; more training will not solve chronic lack of agency.
  • Agree one small environmental change and observe what happens before redesigning everything.

A 15-minute motivation conversation

In your next one-to-one, choose one piece of work that has gained or lost energy. Explore it through three lenses: choice, progress and connection. Ask what the person can influence, what evidence of progress they can see, and whose support or context would make the work easier to own.

End by changing one condition, not by asking the person to become more motivated. The experiment might be greater discretion over method, a shorter feedback loop, a clearer definition of good work or a collaboration that removes isolation. Review the effect a week later.

From insight to a repeatable management practice

Good managers already notice some of these patterns intuitively. The difficulty is noticing them consistently across different people, under pressure, and early enough to act. Qide’s personalised programmes help people managers understand individual motivation patterns, practise better conversations and translate insight into changes in everyday work—not generic advice delivered once and forgotten.

Research behind this article

We link to original and peer-reviewed sources so you can examine the evidence directly.