Team motivation: The bonus won't fix what the context has broken

Maurizio-Antonio Ridolfi
Jun 5
3 min read

📋 SUMMARY

When a team falters, the first instinct of the manager is often to add a bonus or incentive. But rewarding only motivates for the duration of the reward, especially if the team's performance is already fragile.

Before trying to remotivate, you need to understand what's wrong with the organization. That's the whole point of what I call the Leaning Tower of Pisa syndrome in HR.

The costly reflex

A founder often describes the same scene to me. The team used to be tight, then something faded. Ideas dried up, deadlines started slipping, the mood got heavier. So the founder acts fast: a bonus, a performance reward, sometimes a team-building day. The logic feels obvious, if people are pulling back, just reward them better.

A few weeks later, the same manager returned, surprised. The effect lasted only as long as a payment. The team pocketed their money, said their thanks, and then went back to exactly where they started. The bonus fixed nothing . It just put a band-aid on a crack that hadn't been noticed.

Why the reward don't hold

There are two very different ways to feel motivated at work.

The first runs on pressure : I do it because I have to, because a certain number is expected of me, because I'm afraid of disappointing .

That kind of motivation works, but it runs out. It needs an ever-bigger carrot to produce the same effect.

The second is based on meaning : I do it because I understand what I am used for, because I am trusted, because I have a say .

This kind of self-worth can't be bought. It's built in the work environment, day after day. And it's the only kind that lasts when the bonus is gone.

The trap is believing that you can buy the second with the tools of the first.

Diagnose before you repair

This is where what I call the Leaning Tower of Pisa syndrome comes in. When a building leans, you don't repaint the facade: you first examine the ground it rests on. In HR, it's the same. Before deploying a motivational program, I look at the situation on the ground .

Let's take an SME that I advised. The manager wanted to "revive motivation" with quarterly bonuses.

Observing daily life, the real problem became clear: no one knew why their work mattered anymore. Tasks piled up with no visible connection to a result. Good news never circulated. New employees arrived without any welcome and were left to fend for themselves.

The bonus couldn't do anything about it, because it wasn't a money issue.

The real levers of a leader

Once you understand the ground, the levers become simple and concrete. They cost almost nothing, but require consistency.

Truly open up communication : listen to where the problem lies and then say what to do about it.
Restoring meaning : linking each task to a visible result and celebrating progress, even small steps, rather than waiting for a major victory . Paying close attention to a new colleague's first few weeks, because a rushed onboarding process extinguishes motivation before it even begins.
Giving people a voice : a leader who asks for their team's opinion, then shows what they do with it, creates more engagement than a bonus.

None of these levers are spectacular. But together, they gently straighten the tower, instead of repainting a facade that is still leaning.

What this changes for you

If you recognize yourself in the leader described at the beginning, the good news is simple: the problem is almost never the budget. It's about understanding the situation on the ground. And that's something you can work on.