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August 10, 2010 2:30 pm
This week’s topic
Intriguing research on what truly motivates people, based on an animated executive summary on YouTube of Dan Pink discussing his book Drive.
Summary:
Pink is debunking the commonly accepted theory that organizations can motivate knowledge workers by carrots and sticks, by incentive compensation. He presents compelling evidence that higher incentives actually led to worse performance for complex, creative tasks. Purpose, challenge, automony/self-direction, mastery, making a contribution…these are the things that truly motivate people.
The insight for your own career:
I hear a lot from coaching clients who are really unhappy with their pay. They pin their strategies around getting a better salary, benefits, a bonus. I’m the last person who will argue that pay is irrelevant (and Pink doesn’t argue that either). But will a higher salary really make you happier at work? Is that all it will take? Or do you need more autonomy, greater challenges, to feel like you are making a contribution?
More often than not, my coaching clients and I discover they’re motivated by a lot more than money, and that addressing their compensation alone is only a partial solution at best.
The insight for managers:
Money can be a red herring in the workplace. It is easier and more socially acceptable in modern culture to complain, “I’m not paid enough.” It can be harder to talk about wanting to have work with meaning, to seek out challenges, to make contributions. All of that can come across as more ambiguous, touchy-feely, idealistic, and perhaps even selfish.
If you’re managing people who are asking you for raises you cannot give, then perhaps you can look deeper to what motivates each team member—and make it easier for them to describe their motivations beyond compensation.
A warning though: Let’s not kid ourselves here. Compensation is still important. If the pay is too low, then people won’t focus on the work. The point is, think broadly about motivation because increasing compensation alone may not lead to more engaged staff.
The exercise:
Ask yourself/your team:
What do you really enjoy about your work? When do you thrive? Consider both the end product and the process to get there.
Aside from pay, what else do you really dislike about your work? Consider: the degree it’s challenging; the amount of autonomy; how much you learn; how you work (the processes).
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