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HAVE YOU HEARD the words "I just can't make them do what I want them to do"? Conversely, have you uttered the words "I am just not into this project or assignment"? The project brings people together, including a project manager and team members or a program manager and program participants. However, as the routine of work begins, participant enthusiasm can wane. Leaders need to be attentive to what factors in their organization can drain or inject participant energy. The reasons why individuals come together to collectively work are myriad indeed. There must be something about the work environment that is interesting and rewarding and sparks the desire to pour energy into it. Leveraging these elements is paramount to keeping engaged participants.People congregate for a variety of reasons, including for religious, work, and sports activities as well as family and friends gatherings. They collectively congregate because of a shared interest or purpose (Rummler & Brache, 1995 ). Nonprofit organizations are one example of people coming together for a common purpose, usually for combining their energies to meet the needs of others. This can be accomplished through a single program or multiple programs depending on the objectives determined by the organization's stated overall purpose. Typically, the majority of the workforce in nonprofit organizations is composed of volunteers. Often, there is paid staff, but it is the volunteer base that carries out the day-to-day tasks and makes things happen (Krout, 1989 ). Leaders in such organizations need to understand volunteers: What motivates volunteers, and what does it take to keep them engaged?This article addresses how leaders in nonprofit organizations go about measuring program performance, understanding the science behind program design and the linkage to clinical theory. The article provides insights as to how a program design affects program performance. It takes the perspective that if a program is designedThis article focuses on how program design affects program performance, linking participant motivation to performance. The focus of the article is a study that took place in a nonprofit organization and addressed how to engage volunteers such that they find meaning in the work they do and satisfy the needs of those they serve. Moreover, the findings suggest causal relationships among the variables of program design, leadership, and participant motivation.The article highlights some implications of human motivation on performance improvement.The following questions are addressed: How does a leader evaluate program performance and participant motivation? How does a leader redesign a program so that it maximizes participant performance and elevates intrinsic motivation? It is noted that motivation translates into energy.Energy is what one expends to accomplish a task. That task, once accomplished, can be measured against an expectation. Did what was produced meet or exceed expectations?

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