Drive

On my way back from Jiveworld 2010, a conference about social business software held in San Francisco, I had quite a bit of time as my flight got cancelled. My favourite stop when I have to wait is venturing into a bookshop. Airports have plenty. I stumbled across “Drive – the truth what really motivates us” by Daniel Pink, bought it and began reading. The video clip gives a brief overview what this book it about.

 

Why is this important from a personal and a business perspective?

Pink says, there are 2 different types of people. He calls them type I and type X.

I – people are intrinsically motivated.

• Autonomy ——- I can decide when and how I complete this task
• Mastery ———- I am actively working on getting better at my job
• Purpose ———- I get and I like what we trying to achieve as a company

X – people are extrinsically motivated

• if – then reward — you pay me that much and I do this job
• punishment —— you did not complete the task how I told you, you have to do it again

Type I behaviour is a mind set and it can be learnt. This is ultimately not only the better way but the only way of doing cognitive, creative and innovative work. Here is a warning:

Type I behaviour works only when the baseline rewards are in place. These not only include above average salaries but also represent the feel good elements of the whole work environment.

There are steps you can take towards fostering and nurturing such environments which lead to a much more productive office.

• now – that rewards —
  your employee did a fantastic job that deserves a recognition
• make it personal not public —
  first, this reward comes from you and is for her/him.
  second, it’s not something that others see as an ‘if – then’ reward.

I really like the book and recommend reading it.