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mong the workers in an organization, we know for sure there is a certain percentage who produces optimally. According to the famous Pareto principle, 20 percent of the worker population equates to 80 percent performance. We sometimes question how these productive employees maintain their motivation, spirit and energy on the job while others do not.

Personnel managers design attractive packages to attract valuable talents. But do compensation and benefits always lead to motivation ? A survey by McKinsey compared the effectiveness and use of the three nonfinancial incentives – praise and commendation from immediate managers, attention from leaders, opportunities to lead projects or task forces – with three financial incentives of performance-based cash bonuses, increase in base pay, stock or stock options. It yielded very interesting results: the effectiveness of the above nonfinancial incentives were all higher than the financial incentives.

Yet it’s still the case that managers rely on financial rather than nonfinancial incentives in motivating their subordinates and talents. This preference may be due to two reasons: challenging an established norm is quite risky, and because nonfinancial approaches will need more time and commitment from the leaders personally than a financial one dispensed by the organization instead.

In 1981, as a reaction to McGregor”s X and Y theory of motivation, William Ouchi developed theory Z from his study of Japanese companies that produce high employee commitment, motivation and productivity. He found many Japanese workers are guaranteed a position for life, increasing their loyalty to the company. Careful evaluation occurs over a period of time, and the responsibility for success or failure is shared among employees and management.

Japanese companies are often concerned about all aspects of their employees’ lives, on and off the job. They are engaged, and a sense of empathy develops between company and employee. The resulting service attitude is not drilled or coached, but comes from within.

Connectivity among people creates a feeling of warmth and a sense of belonging with each other. An office will be like a home and team members like family. This might be the reason we see people working more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, who never seem to be tired but always ready to serve. If this feeling is lacking, there will be coldness and demotivation.

The more you are connected with people, the more money and all materialistic values do not count. A nanny can buy candies for the child she cares for from her own pocket. Managers care about their subordinates’ family life. Connectivity among team members, between a leader and subordinate, sincerely, will create a mutual spirit of caring and loyalty that is irreplaceable.

You will not let your boss down, and you will boldly defend your mate, colleague, sobordinate or superior. In the military, such bonding skills are learned from the beginning of soldiers’ education, through the careful distribution of food by seniors to juniors. The rule is that, regardless of their portion, each must finish the food together. The bonding remains in times of crisis.

Besides connectivity, clarity is also a very powerful tool to motivate people. In many cases, subordinates complain they need to revise their tasks over and over again because their superiors are never satisfied. A skillful leader who can give a crystal-clear explanation about what he is thinking and feeling, define the standard of excellence and what his plan of action is in a pleasant and humble way, will motivate others because they understand what is expected from them.

Failing to give this clarity leaves people feeling incompetent, anxious and, ultimately, creates an environment with a low level of trust. Distrust is tiring, and nobody feels motivated in such a situation.

Committing ourselves to others takes a lot of courage and involves risk, because in a commitment we give part of our freedom to others and they have the right to demand the fulfillment of the commitment. But as we realize that every relationships need commitment, the same rule applies to the relationship between leaders and their team.

In commitment, leaders are challenged not only in understanding what they’ve been talking about, what they demand from the team but also whether they can really implement the task by themselves; like the old quote says, listen first if you want to be heard.

Keeping, developing and maintaining connectivity, clarity and committment helps an individual to survive his/her motivations. He will be surrounded by many people who need him, and give him help, while he always know what he must do next because he is committed to whatever he faces.

It’s actually simple life tricks that can be done by anybody to bring extraordinary results. As US President Barack Obama said, “A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things”.

The writer is a consultant at EXPERD Human Capital.