Drive Part 7 of 7: Purpose
June 3, 2010 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
The third and final component to happiness at work or happiness in life besides autonomy and mastery is purpose. Studying graduates of the University of Rochester, a team of psychologists followed them down the road from graduation to see if these graduates attained their goals and if they were happy. Many students had “extrinsic” goals, i.e., attainable wealth, power, fame, etc. Some students expressed “intrinsic” goals, i.e., to help humanity, to create something of worth, etc. Although both sets of students attained their goals, the first group that desired extrinsic goals actually was less happy than when they were graduates. The anxiety and depression associated with the gain made things worse for them. Those who were intrinsically motivated were happier than when they were recent graduates.
All of us want to find purpose in what we do. It is not just baby boomers or individuals nearing retirement who need to find meaning. Those who seek external rewards may gain temporary pleasure but lose any enduring solace. By truly focusing on intrinsic goals that are centered around purpose, we may attain lasting happiness and deep, abiding satisfaction.
A friend of mine, Katrina, gave me this link last weekend that I thought was really cool. Hope you enjoy this amazing summary of Pink’s book narrated by Daniel Pink himself and colorfully animated by RSA:
Drive Part 6 of 7: Mastery
June 2, 2010 by dr. lam · 5 Comments
Carol Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford, had two groups of children, one of was asked to focus on a performance as the goal and the other was focused on learning. The difference would be say getting an A in French class (performance) and learning to speak French (learning). After learning what they were supposed to have learned, Dweck asked the students to apply their knowledge. What she found was that the students who were focused on performance were unable effectively to apply the knowledge. Perhaps all they cared about was passing a test and their ego told them that they already knew the material and that frustrated them. The second group focused on learning was able to adapt and continue to mold their thinking until the problem is solved. When we are passionate about a subject, we are able to be humble and continue on the road to mastery.
With 1200 entering cadets each year to West Point for a 4 year program, a study was done to see who would succeed. And the answer lay in those who possess something called grit. The idea is that mastery does not come easily but comes with persistent drive to do better.
Csikszentmihalyi, as discussed in the happiness blogs, focused on something called flow. When someone is totally focused on what he or she loves to do, all time and sense of self are lost. This is the pathway to master. Mastery is an asymptote. We constantly improve but we never get there. But the journey is truly where the fun is. It gives our life joy and meaning.
Drive Part 5 of 7: Autonomy
June 1, 2010 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
People do not want to be told what, when and how to do it. They want to have a sense, a real sense, of autonomy in which they can control their time, allocation of that time, and type of work to achieve the end results that they desire. That, in a nutshell, is autonomy. It is about giving people freedom to complete the task on their terms.
Jeff Gunther, CEO and Entrepreneur, in Charlottesville, Virginia, allows his workers to come in on their schedule, complete the task as they see fit, so long as they meet standards and goals that are mutually agreed upon. They are not nagged for leaving at 3 pm to see their daughter’s soccer game. He also does not peg performance to a monetary value or compensation. He believes by doing so his culture is lost and the intrinsic value of work is diminished.
William McKnight, CEO of 3M Corporation in the 1930s to 40s, said, “Hire good people, and leave them alone.” I believe and respect that. I have hired great people who work with me and not for me. They share my vision and create creative solutions to what our business needs. McKnight encouraged what he called “experimental doodling” giving his technical staff 15% freedom to do whatever they thought they needed to do, and in the process they created marvelous creative solutions to problems that would probably never be solved. Of course, Google is the most well known example of giving their staff the “20%” time to do whatever project they see fit. Through that effort, breakthroughs like Google News and Gmail were invented.
Drive Part 4 of 7: Type I and Type X
May 28, 2010 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
Paying homage to the idea of a Type A and a Type B personality with which we are all familiar, Pink coins a new verbiage to describe how he sees people based on their motivation. Type I’s are intrinsically motivated, and Type X’s are extrinsically motivated.
Now both Type I’s and Type X’s need money. If they are being underpaid against their peers or being cheated, then they can be demoralized and lose their own sense of motivation. However, for Type X’s, it is only the money that counts. Type I’s are intrinsically motivated by purpose, autonomy, and a desire for mastery (three topics coming up).
Are Type I’s born that way then? Actually, no. They can be created given the right context, experience, and situation. We can elevate a Type X into a Type I. Even if you take the case of your children, do you pay them for household chores? If so, you may be robbing them of the intrinsic value of working to support the family. Pink suggests paying an allowance and asking them to work on household chores by making them part of an intrinsic concern.
Now, if a task is overly mundane, boring, or inane, even Type I’s may need some Type X motivation. That is perhaps when a carrot could help. But over the long-term, ongoing carrots turn robust Type I’s into meaningless Type X’s. They lose their ability for long-term goal thinking and become clouded by short-term monetary compensation. What are you doing in your career? Is it all about the paycheck and TGIF? If so, maybe you should be looking for something that can help elevate you more into a Type I.
Drive Part 3 of 7: The Downfall of Carrots and Sticks
May 27, 2010 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
This is perhaps one of the most amazing chapters in the entire book. In deference to the writer, I shall only recap some of the salient lessons in the chapter. Pink argues that providing carrots to motivate people actually can lead to a worsening of performance, creativity, long-term thinking, ethical behavior, and desire. Sticks fail spectacularly as well. How is this possible?
Let’s take an example of an experiment conducted in India. One group of participants was given 4 rupees (or 50 cents, equal to a day’s salary), a second group received a medium prize of 40 rupees (or 5 dollars, equivalent to 2 weeks salary), and finally a third received 400 rupees (or 50 dollars, equivalent to about 5 months of salary). The first two groups scored about the same, whereas the third group did miserably poorer.
What was interesting is that when people are asked to perform heuristic (creative) tasks, their creativity narrows as they start to focus on the prize. They stop looking at all the options, and their brains blur. They begin to become greedy and cannot think straight.
Studies have shown also that artists who are motivated by money produce socially less significant work than those who are intrinsically motivated. In fact, setting price targets per month can create even unethical behavior, as employees scramble to get the desired number oftentimes through the low road and through cheating.
Monetary rewards may be a good thing but they can also create a crack cocaine addiction in which the individual becomes short sighted and fixated only on the money. They fail to think long term and they start to get accustomed to the extra money (like any addiction) so that it no longer becomes anything special.
The example taken from Dan Ariely’s book, Predictably Irrational, which we covered last year, discussed how a day care center started to impose a late charge on parents who did not show up on time to pick up their children. Instead of helping the parents show up on time, it made the parents lose their love and respect for the teachers and the institution and just compelled them to be even later. When the fine was lifted, the parents cared even less now that they lost a moral obligation as well as a financial one. Sticks are not necessarily the best motivator.
Although extrinsic motivation may help those in algorithmic jobs perform better, they still do not compete against the more powerful intrinsic motivation. Pink tries to help turn people to start thinking intrinsically.