How to Motivate Different Types of Employees (Without Guessing)
Some employees chase rewards, others avoid risk entirely. Learn the Towards and Away motivation styles so you can motivate every type of employee correctly.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"How to Motivate Different Types of Employees (Without Guessing)","description":"Some employees respond to rewards, others to risk. Learn the Towards and Away motivation model to correctly motivate every type of employee on your team.","image":"https://supabase-proxy.avinashchate-abc.workers.dev/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/gallery/avinash-chate-best-corporate-trainer-india-1773250187945.webp","keywords":"how to motivate different types of employees, towards and away motivation style, how to motivate employees who don't respond to rewards, employee motivation psychology for managers, motivating unmotivated employees","articleSection":"Motivation, Leadership, HR","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Avinash Chate","jobTitle":"Founder & Director, The Future Corporate","sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/avinashchate","https://www.youtube.com/@AvinashChate"]},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Avinash Chate","url":"https://avinashchate.com"},"datePublished":"2026-07-25 21:43:00.568357+00","dateModified":"2026-07-25 21:43:00.568357+00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://avinashchate.com/blog/how-to-motivate-different-types-of-employees-without-gu-1785015781"}} {"@type": "FAQPage", "@context": "https://schema.org", "mainEntity": [{"name": "What is the difference between towards and away motivation?", "@type": "Question", "acceptedAnswer": {"text": "Towards motivation moves someone toward a reward — growth, recognition, opportunity. Away motivation moves someone away from a risk — a missed deadline, a bad review, losing something they have. Most people lean toward one style, and using the wrong one in a conversation makes your motivation attempt fall flat.", "@type": "Answer"}}, {"name": "How do I know if my employee is towards or away motivated?", "@type": "Question", "acceptedAnswer": {"text": "Listen to how they talk about goals. If they describe what they want to achieve — a promotion, a bigger role, recognition — they're towards-motivated. If they describe what they want to avoid — falling behind, disappointing the team, a bad appraisal — they're away-motivated. You'll usually hear the pattern within one or two real conversations.", "@type": "Answer"}}, {"name": "Can one person be motivated by both styles?", "@type": "Question", "acceptedAnswer": {"text": "Yes, most people lean toward one style but aren't purely one or the other. Context matters too — someone can be towards-motivated about their career and away-motivated about a specific deadline they've missed before. Pay attention to the specific situation, not just the person in general.", "@type": "Answer"}}, {"name": "How can corporate training help managers use this in practice?", "@type": "Question", "acceptedAnswer": {"text": "A structured session gives managers language and real workplace examples to apply this immediately — in appraisals, sales targets, and daily one-on-ones — rather than ju…
Avinash Chate services
Corporate Trainer in Maharashtra · Leadership Trainer in Maharashtra · Team Building Trainer in Maharashtra · Motivational Speaker in Maharashtra · All service locations
← Back to all articles · Book Avinash Chate
By Avinash Chate — Maharashtra’s #1 Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker. .