5 Ways

To Motivate
Employees To Learn
(without rewards)
www.dashe.com
How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
5 Ways To Engage Employees
Why Does Training Fail?
Do you ever wonder why some training initiatives work while others collect virtual dust? It
isnt by accident. Forward thinking companies take a deliberate approach in developing
their employees. With the increasing rate of change in the world, survival and growth
requires knowing how to cultivate, develop, and inspire employee skill development. When
it comes to employee training, you can bribe and coerce employees or you can inspire
them. While the carrot and stick model of motivation is expensive and short-lived, tapping
the internal motivation within every employee will get you far lasting results from more
energized employees.

The Purpose of This Guide
The purpose of this guide is to provide you with a variety of methods for inspiring and
engaging your employees in the learning process. We believe employees are the greatest
resource behind every company. Yet, unlike most valuable resources, employees at many
organizations are a typically untapped mine of potential. To get the most out of employees,
its up to the organization to promote and inspire employee growth with learning and
development.

This guide will provide you with !ve tactics for building intrinsic motivation in your
employees. The best tactic for your organization depends on a variety of factors, but
regardless of your unique situation, each tactic should inspire you to encourage and
promote employee learning and growth within your organization.
Take away my people but leave my
factories, and soon grass will grow on
factory !oors. Take away my factories
but leave my people, and soon we will
have a new and better factory.
Andrew Carnegie, Nineteenth-Century Industrialist
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Commitment and Consistency
How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
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The Power of Commitment and Consistency
In the mid-1960s, psychologists Jonathan Freedmand and Scott Fraser
conducted an experiment that showed the power of consistency. They sent
researchers canvassing door-to-door in a residential suburb of California,
asking homeowners if they could put a giant billboard that read DRIVE
CAREFULLY in their front lawn. 83% of the homeowners rejected their
request.
With a similar group, they took a di"erent approach. At !rst contact with
the homeowners, the researchers asked them to sign a petition that
favored keeping California beautiful. Two weeks later, a di"erent
researcher asked them if theyd be willing to put the DRIVE CAREFULLY
billboard in their front lawn. About half of these people agreed to the
request despite the earlier request having nothing to do with driving safely.
Signing the earlier petition changed the view the homeowners had of
themselves. Suddenly they saw themselves as the type of people who were
advocates on behalf of causes. To keep a consistent view of themselves,
they agreed to put up the billboard in their lawns when they wouldnt have
before.
Once we have made a choice or taken
a stand, we will encounter personal
and interpersonal pressures to behave
consistently with that commitment.
Those pressures will cause us to
respond in ways that justify our earlier
decision.
- Robert Cialdini, In!uence
A brief overview
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Using Commitment and Consistency with eLearning
1
Begin With Commitment
Send out a small questionnaire before the eLearning module
asking learners to rate a variety of things, for example,
Becoming more skilled at my job is important to me.
2
Show Progress
Enable the learner to see the progress theyre making. Show
how many courses theyve completed, videos theyve watched,
or skills theyve acquired.
3
Get Written Feedback on the eLearning Courses
If feedback on the eLearning course is positive, learners will act
in a way thats consistent with that feedback. If someone writes
that the course is an excellent way to learn the new software,
this commitment to belief is likely to be self-perpetuating.
Theyll be more interested in future courses because its
consistent with their belief that the lesson was helpful. The act
of writing down positive feedback also plays into social proof.
Until one is committed, there is
hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ine!ectiveness. Concerning
all acts of initiative (and creation),
there is one elementary truth the
ignorance of which kills countless
ideas and splendid plans: that the
moment one de"nitely commits
oneself, the providence moves too.
W. H. Murray, mountaineer and writer
How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
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Social Proof
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How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
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The Power of Social Proof
I was recently the rst customer at a co!ee shop when they
opened in the morning. As I was paying for the co!ee, I found it
interesting that the tip jar already had a few dollars in it. Baristas,
like many people, have discovered the power of social proof for
inuencing behavior.
When we arent sure about what to do in a situation, we like to
think that we gather research and make an objective decision
based upon what we nd. The reality is that we often look to those
around us as a guide. If theyre engaging in an act, we assume
that they must have information we dont. Therefore, we often take
the shortcut of replicating their behavior.
The impact of social proof permeates numerous aspects of life,
including behavior at work. Good training and eLearning can
become contagious, although this also means that poorly
designed training and lack of engagement also spreads.
How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
We will use the actions of others to decide on
proper behavior for ourselves,especially when
we view those others as similar to ourselves.
- Robert Cialdini, In#uence
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Using Social Proof With eLearning
1
Highlight Employee Learning
Show off employees (in a newsletter, wiki, or other internal
forum) who have completed the most courses. People are
heavily influenced by what those around them are doing. Utilize
this for good by inspiring learning.
2
Share The Average Course Score
Give employees a score to beat. Providing the average score
generates some healthy competition for each individual
employee to improve their learning results.
3
Show Positive Momentum
Highlight course numbers that show positive momentum in
learner adoption (how many people started taking a course,
how many people completed a course, etc).
Making something more
observable makes it easier to
imitate. Thus a key factor in
driving products to catch on is
public visibility. If something is
built to show, its built to grow.
- Jonah Berger, Contagious
How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
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Scarcity
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The Power of Scarcity
Ever wonder why the McRib at McDonalds is so popular? When it
was !rst introduced nationwide, it was a #op. Eventually
McDonalds retired the mostly porkless pork sandwich. A decade
later, McDonalds gave it another try. The only di"erence is that this
time they limited its availability.
Instead of the McRib being ubiquitous, it was only available in
select markets certain times of the year. No one knew how long it
was going to be around so people felt motivated go out and buy it
before missing the opportunity. Before long, sales skyrocketed and
the McRib became a viral sensation.
While eLearning grants the opportunity to easily provide a virtually
unlimited number of learners with access to a variety of courses,
carefully utilizing scarcity can dramatically increase course interest
and learner engagement.
Opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited.
- Robert Cialdini, In#uence
A brief overview
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Using Scarcity with eLearning
1
Use Time Constraints
Experiment with only allowing access to an eLearning course for
a few weeks at a time. The feeling that something can be lost or
taken away motivates people to make a decision.
2
Limit Course Access
People want to leap before they can walk. Consider limiting
higher level courses to only people who have completed pre-
requisite courses. This also leverages the feeling of momentum
and progress which will stimulate further learning.
3
Reward Early Adopters
Limit course access to the first (insert number or percentage)
people to sign up. By limiting course access people will be more
motivated to sign up instead of risking the feeling of missing out.
The way to love
anything is to realize
that it may be lost.
- GK Chesterton, Philosopher
How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
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Provide a Reason Why
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How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
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The Power of Why
Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer conducted a study to
examine the impact of providing a reason why for triggering a yes
response. For her experiment, she asked people waiting in line to
use the photocopier at a library: Excuse me, I have !ve pages. May I
use the Xerox machine because Im in a rush? The simple request and
reason produced a 94% success rate compared to the 60% success
rate of only asking: Excuse me, I have !ve pages. May I use the Xerox
machine?
Beyond proving that the word because is incredibly powerful, the
study con!rmed a basic tenet of human naturewe like to have
reasons for doing things.
With eLearning and corporate training, its tempting to just hand o"
a knowledge dump of content to learners, which many companies
do with minimal results. The companies that see measurable
improvement in employee performance inspire learners by
providing a speci!c reason why the training is important.
Life is not primarily a quest for
pleasure, as Freud believed, or a
quest for power, as Alfred Adler
taught, but a quest for meaning. The
greatest task for any person is to "nd
meaning in his or her life.
- Viktor Frankl, Mans Search for Meaning
A brief overview
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Using The Power of Why With eLearning
1
Give Employees A Reason Why
If youd like to inspire employees toward more effective learning,
providing a reason why the learning is important is essential to
emotionally engaging employees. The reason why should also
impact the employee directly.
2
Remind Employees Of The Purpose
During long periods of learning anything, its easy to lose track
of the overarching purpose. Keep employees focused and
moving toward the end goal by providing reminders of the
importance of what theyre learning.
3
Connect Learning To Job Function
One way to inspire and motivate employees is to connect the
learning directly with their role, showing them how completing
the course will be beneficial in helping them attain mastery over
their position.
A well-known principle of human
behavior says that when we ask
someone to do us a favor we will
be more successful if we provide
a reason. People simply like to
have reasons for what they do.
- Robert Cialdini, In#uence
How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
Phone: 888-813-2743 |
Make Learning Engaging and Actionable
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How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
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The Power of Actionable Learning
One of the easiest ways to reduce and eliminate wasted training is to narrow the
time between learning and implementing in the context of the employees role.
The mind consumes a massive amount of inputs each day, many being pruned
from memory while we sleep. To remember what we learn, it's bene!cial to form a
stronger impression upon the mind with what we want to remember. This is why it
is important to implement what you learn before your mind has the opportunity
to forget it.

To inspire better learning, the content has to be engaging to the audience. By
engaging, we don't mean that it has to have the production of a Hollywood movie.
The most e"ective way to make training engaging and improve performance is to
make it relevant to the learner and their speci!c role at the organization. If the
training that has been developed relates strongly to the job the employee
currently performs or will perform in the future, then you'll get a much stronger
response from the employee.

Mastery of a role within an organization is a great source of happiness for
employees. Therefore, it should be clear to employees that the training will help
get them further down the path of competence and mastering their role.
All growth depends upon
activity. There is no
development physically or
intellectually without e!ort,
and e!ort means work.
Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States
A brief overview
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Using The Power of Actionable eLearning
1
Narrow The Gap
Minimize the time between learning and implementation as
much as possible. The shorter the gap, the less chance there is
for the material to be forgotten.
2
Make It Easy
The learning content should be easy to implement and use.
Eliminate all barriers and confusion in regard to why the
training is important, how to access the training, and the
benefits of completing the training.
3
Measure For Success
Set key objectives and targets in place so you can measure (and
celebrate) the success of the training. Its difficult to improve
what you arent currently measuring.
The great aim of
education is not
knowledge but action.
Herbert Spencer, philosopher, biologist and sociologist
How To Motivate Employees Without Rewards
Phone: 888-813-2743 |
eLearning That Inspires Growth
Our mission at Dashe & Thomson is to help
organizations and their employees improve
performance by providing training and
communications solutions.

Since 1981, we have assisted more than 500
organizations with eLearning and instructor-
led training development, change management,
performance support, and employee
communication initiatives.
Recent Clients
Actionable eLearning Development
Employees learn best when learning is tied directly to
their specific role within the organization. We believe in
practical, actionable training, not information dump.
Measurable Employee Improvement
Know the impact learning can have on your organization.
We develop eLearning and training that can be measured
along with your business objectives, making the ROI on
employee development obvious.
The Right Tools
With the goal of improving employee performance, we
work to provide your organization with the essential tools
for learning and growth. Since every organization has
different needs, we custom fit learning solutions to your
specific needs and goals.
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Amplify the power of your people
Dashe & Thomson designs and develops training for Fortune
1000 clients, across many different industries, all with a
single purposeimproving performance.
Online
www.dashe.com
Email
info@dashe.com
Phone
888-813-2743
Pauli Kennelly
Senior Director, Project and Program Management
Best Buy
Every time I've brought Dashe & Thomson in,
they have met my budget and my business
objectives. They do that with good planning,
solid experience, and people that fit.
Connect with a Learning and Development Specialist
Continue Learning ->
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