As we've seen, marketing loves emotions. They use and abuse them sometimes... often. And preferably the primary ones, the ones that are impossible to control.
Management has also relied on the power of primary emotions. Fear is with Taylor, and pleasure is with Tony Robbins. I call this cortisol motivation for fear and dopamine motivation for pleasure[1].
Both types of motivation affect decision-making. Whether it's the fear of losing one's job or the enthusiasm of a new project, these motivations will influence the choice in the direction desired by the manager.
However, emotions are short-lived, and if they disrupt rational information processing, they disappear as quickly as they appear.
This is often the feeling you get the day after a crowd-pleasing performance. The adrenalin may have been pumping, the dopamine flowing, but when you wake up in the morning, there's still much to do. And you'll have to tap into a completely different kind of motivation. In this case, it's what I call serotonin motivation.
Have you heard of the marshmallow test?
Place a child in a room with a marshmallow in front of him. Ask him to wait alone for a few moments without eating it. If he resists, he'll receive two more marshmallows as a reward.
Studies have shown that the area most strongly activated in the least resistant is the striatum[2]
The striatum, a deep brain structure [...] is a key element in processing impulsive decisions. Indeed, it is the main target of dopamine, known to be a modulator of impulsivity[3]
A recent study[4] attempts to prove that serotonin has effects that counteract the addictive effect of constant dopamine levels in the striatum.
In concrete terms, dopamine triggers synaptic plasticity by strengthening connections between synapses in the cortex and those in the dorsal striatum. This intense stimulation of the reward system triggers compulsion. Serotonin has the opposite effect, inhibiting dopamine-induced reinforcement to keep the reward system under control[5]
Serotonin motivation is to epicureanism what dopamine motivation is to hedonism: controlling the insatiable desire for reward and pleasure.
Working for the long haul is a manager's key objective, and going the distance is an obligation. Persistence motivation is not a matter of grand gestures, invective, or games.
You have to activate the levers of collaboration and sharing in working together. We need to create a team spirit capable of constant reorganization, adaptation, and mutual trust.
Serotonin motivation is not a technique in itself. It's a point of view, a consideration that needs to be taken into account when managing teams, and it's the idea that motivation doesn't have to come exclusively from strong emotions. Motivating teams is also, and even more often, a matter of taking time out over a drink to think about the future, to imagine and to create.
You need to know how to alternate between the three types of motivation, depending on the context and the moment. If you overemphasize one or other of these motivations, teams will become tired, irritated or even bored. You need to define your strategy in the alternation of emotions and feelings.
[1] This name is not to be taken in a scientific sense. For me, it's a symbolic name that popularizes a complex subject and makes it easier to understand.
[2] Walter Mischel - The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control (2014) Hachette Book Group - p31
[3] Eva Martinez. Le striatum, substrat dopaminergique de l’impulsivité décisionnelle. Neurosciences. Université de Lyon, 2019. Français. NNT : 2019LYSE1094
[4] Comment la sérotonine freine l’addiction à la cocaïne - Université de Genève
https://www.unige.ch/medecine/fr/faculteetcite/media/comment-la-serotonine-freine-laddiction-a-la-cocaine/
[5] Christian Lüscher, professeur au Département des neurosciences fondamentales de la Faculté de médecine de l’UNIGE