Recently read Drive by Daniel Pink.  Daniel is a good writer who brings out deep insights and patterns that are not visible in the quotidian (a new word that I learnt from this book–it means everyday or routine) existence.  In Drive, Daniel talks about the changing paradigm of how to best motivate people for optimal performance.  He makes a case that the control methods of carrots and sticks are outdated and do not produce good results.  Actually he shares several research studies where providing carrots (incentives) reduced the performance level.  Whew! That means paying larger bonuses is not the answer.

So what is the answer.  He makes a case for autonomy, mastery and purpose.  Autonomy means being self directed.  People should have the ability to select task, time, team and tactic (method).   He talks about autotelic (another big word which means “for its own reason”) experiences.  When we do something for its own sake.  This is an interesting way to differentiate work from play.  Work is something we do to achieve some other objective (e.g. work in the office to earn a salary) and play is something which we do for its own reason (e.g. play a game of cards or run around with your children).

Mastery means setting up people with tasks which are not to difficult nor too easy.  When people are not anxious (task too difficult) or bored (task too easy) then they perform at their best.

Finally, purpose.  Here the book sounds more like the spiritual guidebook.  People are motivated to do things for purpose larger then their self.  They want to contribute to society, they want to understand how they make a difference in the world.

The book makes a compelling case.  The challenge is to make it happen in a real business.