Daniel Pink's book, Drive:
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, presents the findings of
social science and explores the large gap between theory and practice in most
of our organizational and daily life, at work, at school, and in the community.
Most of the motivation we experience in these settings is external,
carrot-and-stick motivation. Do this and get a nice bonus. Don't do that or you
will be fired, failed, or fined.
But that type of external motivation does not work well for the most important parts of life anymore, as not only a large body of empirical evidence shows, but also our daily experience. Designing highly creative new products, learning complex new skills, or building meaningful relationships with loved ones, clients, or your community clearly are incompatible with carrot-and-stick behavior. External motivators actually reduce intrinsic motivation, lower performance, crush creativity, and encourage short-term thinking and unethical behavior (think Enron and AIG).
Pink moves from showing the limited cases where external motivation works well, such as highly routine, boring, rote chores, such as an assembly line to demonstrating how 21st century work, learning, and life now depends more on creative and passionate engagement. He cites Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose as the key elements of intrinsic motivation, along with suggestions about how to re-tool our motivational systems.
But that type of external motivation does not work well for the most important parts of life anymore, as not only a large body of empirical evidence shows, but also our daily experience. Designing highly creative new products, learning complex new skills, or building meaningful relationships with loved ones, clients, or your community clearly are incompatible with carrot-and-stick behavior. External motivators actually reduce intrinsic motivation, lower performance, crush creativity, and encourage short-term thinking and unethical behavior (think Enron and AIG).
Pink moves from showing the limited cases where external motivation works well, such as highly routine, boring, rote chores, such as an assembly line to demonstrating how 21st century work, learning, and life now depends more on creative and passionate engagement. He cites Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose as the key elements of intrinsic motivation, along with suggestions about how to re-tool our motivational systems.
Autonomy means that people want control
over their own schedule. They want the
freedom to work how they want and when they want. Mastery refers to people’s desire to immerse
themselves in their craft and to get really, really good at it. They want to develop expertise. Purpose refers to some goal that is bigger
than just a production schedule, meeting a quota, or hitting a deadline. For many people, purpose refers to something that
is larger than themselves that gives meaning to their lives, whether it is
family, a community, or a cause.
Drive reads quickly, provokes thought, and provides some guidelines for improvement. For teachers, it is helpful to remember that most of the traditional ideas of motivation always were limited in usefulness, and many are now worthless.
Drive reads quickly, provokes thought, and provides some guidelines for improvement. For teachers, it is helpful to remember that most of the traditional ideas of motivation always were limited in usefulness, and many are now worthless.
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