Biological drives are part of what it is to be human. Hungry? Eat. Thirsty? Drink. Desire for intimacy or to recreate? Have sex.
We’re more than a collection of biological drives.
Secondary drives include reward and punishment drives. When you want folks to do things, you reward accordingly or punish accordingly.
But we’re more than those drives too.
We also do things because they are interesting, exciting, or helpful to the world.
The past 50 years of studies on human motivation are actually pretty interesting.
We have a two-dimensional view of humans. We try to restrain the biological drive and amplify the reward/punishment drive. But there’s more.
In an experiment involving MIT students, three groups were offered small, large and very large rewards. Mechanical tasks were positively affected by the reward system. The bigger the reward, the better the performance. The focus is sharper, and the task is much more important. But when the task is cognitive, even though rudimentary, the rewards don’t help because focus limits creativity.
When carrots and sticks fail, we don’t say, “Man, we failed again. We need a new approach.” Instead, we go get more carrots and sharper sticks. And that’s not good.
Red Gate Software did something radical. They had a sales force that didn’t work on commission. What happened was, sales folk began to game the system. So they made it more complex. The sales folks became more complex and returned to gaming the system. This went on a while.
So they eliminated it. He talked to the top guys in sales for his company, Tom and James. “Tom, no more commissions. Raised base salaries. Profit sharing.” Tom likes it, but says James won’t like it.
James actually loves it. The problem is Tom will never go for it.
No matter how smart you try to be, if you come at things with false assumptions, you’ll not do too well.
- Human beings are machines. FALSE. There are no levers and buttons to manipulate to make them do as we want them to do.
- Human beings are blobs. FALSE. People are not passive or inert. Everyone has a passion. We are essentially in need of engagement and activity. This is the default setting. It can be changed: There are people who are passive and inert. But the default setting is a desire to be engaged and active.
So what works?
Three key elements for motivation: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. Totally inadvertent that it turned out to eb AMP. 🙂
Autonomy
To talk about Autonomy, we have to consider management. Management is not natural. It is technology from the 1850s. We don’t work that way anymore. Management is technology to get compliance. We don’t want compliance. We want engagement. Management does NOT lead to engagement. Self-direction leads to engagement.
Ask yourself to think about their best boss: You very rarely hear, “She breathed down my neck all the time. She told me what to do. She micromanaged.”
Remember, we have no carrots and very few sticks in the Church.
Autonomy over technique, team, time, and task is vital.
Atlassie Software begins with the assumption that their folks WANT to be active and engaged. They started asking their folks, once a quarter, to spend 24 hours on a project—anything they want. The only requirement, come back and share with the company on Friday. Now, they ask their folks to spend 20% of their time on whatever they want.
Google has been doing this since almost Day One.
Richard Ryan talks about “scaffolding.” You have to build things in to help them find their third drive. Add training wheels, like guided exercises.
Mastery
No matter where you are, there will be someone nearby playing a bassoon on any given weekend. Biologists can’t explain that. Economists can’t explain that. It makes you very little money. Why do it? Because it is inherently rewarding. You can get better at it!!
This might be the single most powerful motivator at work.
In a study where folks charted their motivational level over the course of several years, it is found that employees, FAR AND AWAY, were motivated by making progress!!! Achieving a little more Mastery! These were days they felt more loyal to the organization, more dedicated to their work.
Flow is the key. We lose a sense of time. We lose our sense of self because we are lost in the challenge, immersed in the repetition and feedback of the moment in order to determine those things that can be changed to bring about improvement.
Feedback must happen constantly. Performance reviews are America’s version of Kabuki Theatre.
More feedback comes from our own experiences. At the beginning fo the month, set performance goals and learning goals. Where are you making progress? Where are you falling behind?
Self-analysis of personal feedback is POWERFUL in achieving mastery.
PURPOSE
A page is turning. We are seeing the limit of the profit motive. It is not a bad thing. And it is certainly not the only thing. For-Profit and Non-Profit lines are blurring in the area of purpose motives.
Average, uninspiring things are the result of purposeless motivators, or motivators that don’t at least touch on purpose.
CONCLUSION
Cross reference XIAO’s commentary on Chinese economy needing a deeper, more significant meaning.
Diagnostic Tool: Listen to what people say, certainly. But, more importantly, listen for pronouns. Is it “WE” or “THEY?” “We” Organizations are usually high-performing.
One person cannot change the organization. But they can change what they do tomorrow. And if enough folks do that, then, of course, the organization will change.
All great things begin with conversation. The cascade of conversations we are having about leadership, purpose, and the collective third drive will most definitely change the world.
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