Executives often think higher pay drives discretionary effort, but they overlook psychological motivators like gamification. A mentor's goal-setting meetings kept Rose motivated enough to reach managing director. Leaders frequently dismantle these structures instead of recognizing their power.
Many executives mistakenly believe that their employees won't give discretionary effort. For them, the only thing that wakes them up is more money. Here is a different twist. Top leaders ruin engagement by diminishing gamified structures. For example, on her way to the managing director position, Rose had a mentor who helped her set one goal after another. Their regular meetings kept her on track, especially when she didn't feel like giving an extra effort. While it's impossible to assign everyone a mentor, that's not the point. The gamified approach to working unknowingly provided that added push Rose needed to stand out from her peers. In retrospect, she finds this hard to see until she becomes a student of gamification.
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