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"Why did I make that decision?"

30-50 years ago, with tall hierarchies, management styles tended to depend more on what are called extrinsic rewards; things such as salaries, bonuses, perks, benefits, and awards. With the significant reduction in management hierarchies in the business world today, extrinsic rewards have been pushed to the background. It's not that companies or employees have stopped caring about salaries, bonuses, perks, etc. It is that employees are now operating in significantly more independent roles than they did 30-50 years ago, and extrinsic rewards are not enough.

Thanks to the significant reduction in number of levels of management in organization's today, close supervision and detailed rules for worker behavior are no longer possible. Workers are significantly more self-managed. This emphasis on being self-managed requires more initiative and commitment from employees than were required 30-50 years ago. In turn, this puts more pressure on leaders to utilize intrinsic rewards to get the most out of their employees. Intrinsic rewards are more about getting energized by the work you do, and the feeling you have about both the work you do and the work environment you are in.

Intrinsic rewards come from a sense of choice about what you do, a sense of competence in what you do, a sense of meaningfulness in what you do, and a sense of progress in what you do. These four emotional charges are the intrinsic rewards of self management.

How does a leader apply these intrinsic reward mechanisms to improve the level of initiative and commitment from those who report to them? It starts with empowering their direct reports to make more decisions on their own. This requires that the leader clearly communicate both the direction of the organization, and the guiding principles of the organization to their people. This builds the framework for direct reports to make decisions that are consistent with the goals and values of the organization. From there, the leader needs to help their direct reports understand the thought process behind the decisions the leader currently makes for them.

As a leader, this starts by asking yourself the question "Why did I make that decision?" The emphasis here is on the "I" (the leader). Ask yourself did you really need to make that decision, or do you just want to be informed of the decision being made. If the decision does not need to be made by you, then help your direct reports understand the thought process behind your decision making, so that they can start making those decisions on their own.

The result from this is that 1) decisions will be made faster because your direct reports will not have to find you to make the decision for them, 2) you will be more productive because you are spending less of your time making decisions for your direct reports, and ,most importantly, 3) your direct reports sense of choice, competence, meaningfulness, and progress will increase significantly. And with this, your employees level of intrinsic rewards increases significantly.