Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Comments on Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

This animated video of Dan Plink's RSA talk is extremely interesting.



Key argument: after a certain level of income, we are no longer motivated by purely financial gain. He argues that financial incentives work best for piece meal work - ie bonus tied to how many widgets are made per time period.

But for knowledge workers, science shows that financial incentives alone do not lead to higher performance.

What does?

  1. Autonomy - self directed work
  2. Mastery - challenge and the desire to master a domain
  3. Purpose - making a contribution to a transcendant goal

Fascinating food for thought and given that the tech industry is comprised of knowledge workers - very instructive with respect to organizational behavior.

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