The surprising truth about what motivates us

Professionally and personally, the secret to high performance and satisfaction is a sense of control, creativity and contribution. For leaders, the lesson is clear: facilitate these key criteria in your brokerage and you’ll foster a motivated and loyal team.

Professionally and personally, the secret to high performance and satisfaction is a sense of control, creativity and contribution. For leaders, the lesson is clear: facilitate these key criteria in your brokerage and you’ll foster a motivated and loyal team.

The working world is changing and now more than ever, people want their career to fit in with their lives. As a result, organizations need to find ways to engage and retain their high-value brokers – or risk losing them to someone who will.

 This can be achieved by seeking to address people’s key desires in life, according to Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

“The secret to high performance and satisfaction – at work, at school and at home – is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world,” he says.

 Pink says the three elements which bring about true motivation are autonomy, mastery and purpose.

 1. Autonomy

Empowering your team with the ability to direct their own life is a concept that will always pay dividends. This will help build a level of mutual trust, says Irene Kotov, founder of Arielle Careers.

Trust should be fostered through positive reinforcement, rather than negativity.

Don’t micromanage your team. Empowering them means making them feel passionate about the brokerage without undermining them.
 
2. Mastery

“Another thing that is important in this domain to employee satisfaction is mastery, or the process of getting better at something,” Kotov says.

There is always something to learn in mortgage broking. The industry is constantly being updated and staying on top of education is crucial. Opportunities for training and growth should always be encouraged.

3. Purpose

Most employees are yearning to be of service to something greater than themselves.

Brokers should be aware of all the benefits that their contribution brings. This goes beyond just getting a commission. Their service has much wider ramifications for the customer, the team, the company and, of course, the broker. They are part of something big and they should know this.

 “They want to contribute to ultimate satisfaction and I believe, off the back of that, it creates more motivation and inspires loyalty,” she adds.

Kotov says: “We need to ask ourselves: ‘How can I create a workplace where employees are able to fulfil these three criterions? What processes and systems need to change to facilitate this shift?’ I believe this wholeheartedly.”