The surprising truth about motivation
The Surprising science of motivation [TED] from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.
Dan pink is one of my favourite management authors. He came accross some very interesting ideas on drive and self-motivation, which really help understand many of the motivational issues we face in organisations.
Dan Pink claims that intrinsic motivation is about 3 elements: Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose.
Mastery for we strive to become better and more efficient if we are allowed room for change and improvement. In order to capitalize on that sense of accomplishment, organisations should provide an environment where people can progress and contribute more and more.
Autonomy, because too many restraints and here goes creativity and lateral thinking out the window. You cannot hope for innovative ideas to spawn under duress or too much guidance. Often creativity comes from the fringe, and guiding it too much just results in its impediment.
Last Purpose, because without the sense for a higher common purpose, motivation is personal, and often falls into procratstination. Innovation is a frustrating process of trial and error, mistakes, dead-ends... Higher purpose puts those failed experiences into perspective, and change them from motivational destructors into purposeful events on the way to success.
This video I chose to share with you this morning is about motivational bias, and how our incentives might not work, and in many cases fall short of the objectives we were expecting to see accomplished. It gives a useful insight on why certain motivation policies and systems do not work, and how to change them into effective engagement systems. Enjoy!
