People are motivated more by what they receive than by what they give. Sure, many people have giving spirits and want to contribute positively to society, but when it comes to work, face it, most of your employees are there because they need the pay check.
But even if that’s true it doesn’t mean that that is the reason they stay. In fact, most people will come to a job for the money but they’ll stay because of the other rewards. Those rewards don’t always have to be physical, they can also be mental and emotional. Giving workers a bonus for reaching certain goals does satisfy the physical reward, but often the mental reward of “winning” is just as big as a motivator. Sometimes the reward is that act of being rewarded itself.. the recognition for a job well done, the pat on the back or the congratulations from the team.
You can motivate your team to succeed by laying out the reward. You keep them succeeding by helping them achieve the goals laid out.