What Makes Your Performers Give Their Best?

An automobile advertisement in a magazine caught my eye today. It read:

The only thing more valuable than an engineer with vision is an engineer with children.

You know where the ad went next. It highlighted the value of having engineers at their company who had a vested interest in the safety of the vehicles they were designing. They would give their very best.

What about your employees or staff? What motivates them to give their best at work? Hopefully you can identify more reasons than just a paycheck. Do you have their talents and skills aligned with things they are passionate about or have you just been putting "bottoms" in seats? If you want them to give their best in your circus, you better find out what's important in theirs.