Jenna had every reason to feel good about her leadership.
She had mastered the art of focusing on what truly mattered—prioritising deep work, cutting through distractions, and delivering results. (I’ve shared the secrets for this previously in How I Helped Bunnings Senior Leaders 2X Their Productivity Without Stress).
Her team was engaged and collaborative, thriving in a culture of psychological safety where people felt empowered to contribute, innovate, and take ownership. (If you missed it, I’ve also shared how to create this kind of team environment in another Insights article, The Hidden Factor That Makes or Breaks Your Team’s Success).
By all measures, Jenna was high-performing—and so was her team.
But something was missing.
Despite her success, Jenna wasn’t feeling as energised as she would like. The work itself was fulfilling, but some days felt like a grind. And she wasn’t the only one—she could sense a similar flatness creeping into her team. They were doing great work, but the spark wasn’t always there.
The problem? They had the systems for productivity and collaboration—but not the fuel for long-term engagement.
High performance isn’t just about what you do. It’s about why you do it.
The missing piece? Aligning effort with intrinsic motivation.
Why Productivity Alone Isn’t Enough
It’s easy to assume that as long as you’re working on high-value tasks and leading a strong team, motivation will take care of itself.
But even the most productive leaders hit a point where effort alone doesn’t sustain them. The same is true for even the most high functioning team.
Jenna had built the right habits and systems, but she wasn’t consistently connecting her work to what truly mattered to her or her team.
This is where many leaders (and their teams) begin to lose steam. Not because they’re burned out. Not because the team doesn’t feel empowered to share ideas and take risks. But because they’ve lost touch with the deeper meaning behind their work.
The solution? Intrinsic motivation.
The Difference Between Extrinsic And Intrinsic Motivation
In 2003, a team of researchers at the University of Rochester—Edward Deci, Richard Ryan, and Christopher Niemiec—set out to answer a fundamental question:
What makes people truly happy and fulfilled in the long run?
To find out, they surveyed 147 recent university graduates. These young professionals were at the start of their careers, filled with ambition, and ready to take on the world. The researchers asked them about their life aspirations—what they wanted to achieve and why.
As they analysed the responses, they found that people’s goals fell into two distinct categories: extrinsic and intrinsic.
Extrinsic goals are focused on external rewards (like earning more money, climbing the career ladder, or gaining social recognition).
Intrinsic goals are centred around what gives us a sense of meaning (such as personal growth, strong relationships, and making a positive impact).
The researchers then followed up two years later to see how these graduates were doing. And the results were striking.
Those who had pursued extrinsic goals—status, wealth, and external success—had achieved many of the things they wanted. But their happiness was short-lived. The initial excitement of a promotion or salary increase wore off, and they were often left feeling just as stressed or unfulfilled as before.
In contrast, the graduates who had focused on intrinsic goals reported higher levels of well-being and life satisfaction. They were more resilient in the face of challenges, more engaged in their work, and felt a deeper sense of purpose.
The takeaway?
Extrinsic rewards may give us a temporary boost, but intrinsic motivation is what sustains long-term fulfilment.
This applies just as much to leadership as it does to life. Leaders who rely solely on bonuses, KPIs, and promotions to motivate their teams may see short-term results—but over time, disengagement, burnout, and a lack of real connection to the work can creep in.
On the other hand, when leaders help their teams tap into intrinsic motivation—by aligning work with personal values, purpose, and growth—engagement and performance skyrocket.
When The Spark Fades
I see this play out all the time with my coaching clients. They’ve done everything “right.” They’ve climbed the ladder, built high-performing teams, and hit every KPI thrown their way. But at some point, they wake up and think:
“Why am I still feeling flat? Why does work feel like a grind instead of something I genuinely care about?”
Some of them assume the answer is to quit and start over—a total career pivot, a fresh start. And sometimes, that’s the right move. But more often than not, the real issue isn’t the job itself—it’s that they’ve lost touch with what actually lights them up.
When we dig deeper, we usually find that they’ve neglected core intrinsic values.
Here are some common signs:
A leader who used to thrive on creativity has become buried in admin and reporting.
Someone who once loved mentoring now spends all their time firefighting instead of developing their team.
A naturally empathetic, people-first leader has fallen into transactional check-ins, missing out on the deeper, human conversations that once made their work feel meaningful.
Once they identify what’s missing and intentionally carve out time for those values—whether it’s setting aside an hour a week for strategic thinking, mentoring a high-potential team member, or having real (not just work-related) conversations with their staff—they regain their energy and drive.
They don’t need to leave their job. They just need to reconnect with why they’re doing it in the first place.
So What Does This Mean For You As A Leader?
If you can combine external incentives with a deeper sense of purpose, you create an environment where people don’t just work hard—they care deeply about what they do.
And that’s the key to sustaining motivation and engagement over the long haul.
So if you’ve been feeling flat, uninspired, or just going through the motions, ask yourself two questions:
What intrinsic values have I been neglecting?
What’s one small shift I could make this week to realign with them?
Because when you bring purpose back into the picture, work stops feeling like a grind—and starts feeling like something that matters again.
Rediscovering The ‘Why’ Behind The Work
This is exactly what Jenna did in my workshop. She immediately realised that she had been relying on external motivators—delivering results, achieving goals, meeting expectations. But she hadn’t stopped to ask:
“What is it about my work that actually lights me up?”
“How do I create that same energy for my team?”
So we ran an exercise to find out.
In our workshop, I asked Jenna (and the other leaders in the room) a simple but powerful question:
“What are the moments in your work where you feel most engaged, energised, and fulfilled?”
For Jenna, three themes emerged:
Growth: She felt most alive when she was learning something new or developing others.
Connection: Jenna thrived on strong relationships and open conversations.
Impact: She wanted to see the bigger-picture results of her work, not just hit targets.
But when she reflected on her daily routine, she realised these values weren’t showing up enough.
She was spending most of her time solving immediate problems, rather than engaging in long-term learning.
She was rushing through one-on-one meetings, rather than being fully present with her team.
She was focusing on deadlines and deliverables, without always tying them back to the bigger mission.
Her work was productive. It just wasn’t always purposeful.
So we made three practical shifts:
1. Reprioritising time for meaningful tasks: Ensuring she had time scheduled into her calendar for focusing on tasks aligned with her intrinsic values.
2. Deepening team conversations: Deliberately taking time to connect with team members in non-transactional ways. Getting to know them as people wasn’t just an effective leadership strategy—it increased Jenna’s sense of meaning and purpose, too.
3. Connecting work to impact: Finally, I encouraged her to help her individual team members see the bigger picture behind their tasks. They were often so focused on putting together their section of the jigsaw puzzle that they had no idea what the larger image they were contributing to looked like.
The difference was immediate.
First of all, Jenna started to feel more engaged. As she gave time and attention to things that were aligned with her deeper sense of purpose, she regained her sense of enthusiasm for her role.
She started tapping into what’s called “eudaimonic” happiness (which is based on meaning and purpose, and tends to be stable over time and resilient in the face of setbacks and challenges).
This is very different to the “hedonic” happiness that is motivated by extrinsic values (and is more like going up and down on a roller-coaster—feeling great when things went well but then having this happiness inevitably fade over time).
What’s more, it wasn’t just Jenna who felt more engaged—her entire team started to transform. Instead of just working towards targets, they were working towards something meaningful.
As well as helping them see the bigger picture, Jenna proactively had conversations with each team member about their intrinsic values. The aspects of their role that they would do for free (not that they admitted this to Jenna!)
Jenna then encouraged them to schedule time in their calendars to focus on these intrinsically motivating tasks. Some scheduled in creative time. Others booked lunch breaks with colleagues they wanted to deepen their relationship with.
And pretty soon both Jenna and her team started feeling more enlivened and engaged at work. Their productivity increased. And I know from working with other teams like Jenna’s over the years that ultimately they will stick around longer, reducing retention headaches for HR.
How To Align Your Work With Intrinsic Motivation
If you’ve lost the spark you once felt in your role—or you want to make sure you and your team stay engaged for the long haul—ask yourself these 3 questions:
“When do I feel most energised at work?”
“Are those moments happening often enough?”
“What small shift could I make this week to bring more of that into my daily work?”
And then take one simple action:
If you thrive on coaching and mentoring, carve out more time for development conversations.
If you value creativity, build space in your week for strategic thinking.
If you feel most engaged when you solve tough problems, create uninterrupted focus time.
When you align your work with your intrinsic values, you don’t just perform better.
You lead with energy, impact, and purpose. 🚀
Want to make this shift in your own leadership? Let’s talk. I help leaders create sustainable motivation—without burnout. Shoot me an email, and let’s explore how you can bring more purpose to your leadership.
