Over 40 Years of Improving Retention, Well-Being, and Engagement with Self-Determination Theory

With thousands of scholars, researchers, and professionals around the world now using SDT as the basis of their work, today it has become the leading behavioral science model for motivation and engagement in the world. SDT has close to a million independent research studies confirming its remarkable value in understanding, measuring, and improving engagement, well-being, and performance. It provides a powerful framework for understanding how to foster individuals’ growth and reduce burnout and turnover in a variety of circumstances, including healthcare, education, and of course, the workplace.

Self-Determination Theory challenges all of us to shift our thinking from how do we motivate people, to a much more effective question: How do we create the conditions for people to flourish? By supporting fundamental needs in others — notably the needs for autonomy, relatedness, and mastery — high quality motivation and engagement will naturally arise in its strongest and most durable forms. The result will not only be greater performance, but greater well-being, retention, and personal growth for everyone involved.