Last week, we learned there are six distinct reasons individuals find motivation in their work.

From a personal perspective, some motivations are better than others.

For example, a person pursuing a noble purpose usually reports a higher level of subjective well-being than someone just working to maximize income.

It makes sense that higher motivation levels would lead to better agent satisfaction and retention metrics, but does it also lead to higher profits?

According to the HBR researchers, the cultural connection to financial performance is also very strong.

Cultures that inspired more play, purpose, and potential, and less emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia produced better customer outcomes.

This pattern has played out in multiple industries including retail, banking, telecommunications, and even the fast-food industry.

The high-motivation pattern resulted in not only better customer satisfaction metrics, but also higher revenues and profits–as much as 30% higher in one study.

You can build an organization where your agents are motivated by economic and emotional pressure, but you may find you’re losing ground to companies who are doing the hard work of building positive cultures.

Don’t take the cultural shortcut. It’s a trap.