Profound Knowledge Part 4: Humans

Do managers spend enough time—and the right kind of effort—on employee motivation?

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is the internal drive to do something simply because it’s interesting, challenging, or personally rewarding.Key traits include:

• Internal rewards – satisfaction, enjoyment, or pride from the work itself.

• No external pressure – no carrots or sticks driving the behavior.

• Focus on the process – the value comes from doing, not just finishing.

Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, comes from external factors—doing something to earn a reward or avoid a consequence.Examples include:

• Tangible rewards like money, gifts, or promotions.

• Intangible rewards like praise, recognition, or awards.

• Avoiding punishment—anything from a stern talking-to to job loss.

Extrinsic motivation can be powerful for urgent or short-term goals, but it’s less effective for sustained engagement. Rely on it too heavily and you risk employees doing just enough to get by—a kind of internal disengagement.

Finding the Balance

It’s unrealistic to think an organization could run on intrinsic motivation alone. Sometimes urgent situations require direct orders. But it’s equally ineffective to rely only on extrinsic motivation—especially fear-based tactics.

The key is balance. As Dr. W. Edwards Deming emphasized, people bring their own motivations with them to work. Management’s job isn’t to “light a fire under them,” but to remove the barriers that put the fire out.

Management’s Real Role

Deming put it simply:

• Clear the path and make success possible.

• Provide the right tools—and make sure they work.

• Give clear instructions and define what success looks like.

• Be available, responsive, and actively engaged in problem-solving.

In other words—get out of the way of people’s ability to do great work.

About Learning

Another essential part of human psychology is that we all learn—and engage with the world—in different ways. We bring unique preferences, habits, and even barriers that influence how we absorb information and apply it. Personality plays a key role here. It’s a complex subject, but for a leader or coach, having even a basic understanding of “what makes people tick” can be incredibly valuable.

Deming recognized this. He believed quality comes from the people within the system—not just from machines, policies, or procedures. ISO 9001 echoes this in its definition of quality, focusing on the inherent characteristics of the organization, which includes its people and how they work together.

The reality is most managers receive little to no training in how different people learn or adapt. Schools don’t teach it. Universities don’t teach it. Businesses rarely teach it. And so, leaders often default to a “one-size-fits-all” approach—treating everyone the same, labeling the “rock stars” and the “strugglers,” and managing each group according to those assumptions. The result? Missed opportunities to help people grow, and in many cases, unfair treatment based on misunderstanding.

If we think of people’s learning styles and personalities as just another form of variation within the system, then the solution becomes clearer:

• Understand the variation.

• Remove barriers that prevent people from learning effectively.

• Adapt leadership and coaching styles to the individual, not just the process.

When leaders understand how their people learn—and create an environment where that learning can flourish—they unlock potential, build trust, and ultimately improve the system itself.

Why This Matters Now

We’re in an era of rapid automation and AI. Some believe that as machines take on more work, people will become less relevant. The truth? We don’t yet fully know how humans will fit into the future workplace—but they will. And understanding human motivation and learning will be more important than ever to make that transition work.

This article is part of a four-part series on Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge.More on Deming’s work can be found here: The Deming Institute.