The Harvard Business Review just came out with "The HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for 2010". The one that caught my eye was the first item, "What Really Motivates Workers", by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer. 600 managers from dozens of companies were asked to rank what resulted in the highest motivation for workers. The top selection: 'Recognition for good work (either public or private)'. Dead wrong! The results of a multi-year study of knowledge workers that tracked their day to day activities, emotions and motivation levels showed that the top motivator is Progress. High performance and satisfaction come with a sense of meaningful accomplishment -- a moving forward -- with support from management in overcoming obstacles. Amazingly, this motivator was ranked last by the managers, so tuned are they to recognition as key. Read what's at the link to learn more. (Beyond what is shown, you will need to buy the article or subscribe to HBR).
An interesting side note to the above: I think that this research explains why the "Agile" methodology of software development is so succesful. A major element of it is the daily "scrum" meeting. Mountain Goat Software explains it well. The key is, you go around to each person and ask three questions: 1) What did you do yesterday, 2) What will you do today, and 3) Are there any impediments in the way. Any impediments that are raised become the leader's responsibility to resolve as quickly as possible. Could there be a surer way to ensure success with high motivation?