The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us – Part 2

Dan Pink, in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, argues that performance-based incentives – or “extrinsic motivators” – work well for mechanical tasks, but for more creative and cognitive work, incentives overly narrow your focus and inhibit the lateral thinking that powers breakthrough ideas. Counter to that, he provides scientific evidence that more right-brain, conceptual activities flourish best in the presence of intrinsic motivation: the desire to do things because we like them, because they’re interesting, because they matter, and because they’re part of something important. Pink’s operating system revolves around three elements.

Autonomy – The urge to direct our own lives

Mastery – The desire to get better at something that matters

Purpose – The yearning to do what we do because it’s part of something larger than ourselves

In Pink’s TED Talk, he focuses on Autonomy. Traditional management, he says, works great if you want compliance, but if you want engagement, self-direction works better. He provides a few examples of ways in which some companies have fostered self-directed, autonomous activity.

Atlassian, an Australian software company, came up with FedEx Days, in which a few times a year employees get to work on anything they want for 24 hours and work on anything you want. They’re called FedEx days because you have to deliver something the next day, and presentations are given at a company party.

Google is famous for 20% time, allowing engineers to spend 20% of their time working on anything they want. About half of Google’s new products each year result from this 20% time.

He also discusses the Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) in which people don’t have schedules – they just have to get their work done.

Every work situation is different. For example, I worked at a global advertising agency in New York where the ROWE system worked very well for creative teams – the only thing that mattered was that they came up with brilliant ideas; nobody really cared how they did it, although as an account manager it was my job to help them get there. And while I had to be present and well-prepared for meetings and responsive to clients, the fact was I could easily disappear and watch a movie around the corner if I wanted to and nobody knew the difference. I worked late, but then I took some long lunches doing Tai Ch’i a few blocks away.

I think highly of Google’s 20% time because, unlike Atlassian’s FedEx Days or other special occasions, it becomes part of your regular schedule – you just carve out 20% of your time to work on your independent project.

Last Christmas, I read a fascinating book about applying principles of Buddhism to business called The Diamond Cutter, by Michael Roach, a Buddhist monk who commuted from his New Jersey monastery every day to work at a diamond company in Manhattan.  Roach has an even more radical system he calls Circle Days. A Circle Day requires persuading your employer to let you take one day off per week to do absolutely nothing work related (he negotiated to every Wednesday off, with his salary reduced commensurately). The benefit, he says, is greater mental clarity and a fresh perspective that allows breakthrough ideas to flourish on the days you are at work.

The term comes from the Tibetan tsam, which means “border” or “dividing line” and is used to describe the art of getting away from work, going someplace else, and drawing a circle around yourself where you can sit quietly and think. Roach’s Circle Days also require a sympathetic family, because you’re not doing household chores or anything else your family would normally expect from you on your days off. The suggested routine goes something like this:

• The first half of the day, up to around 2pm, “must be spent by yourself, alone, in silence.”

• Spend the first hour and a half or so sitting and thinking in complete silence.

• Next, an hour or so of light exercise, such as jogging, golf, light weight-lifting, yoga or tai ch’i.

• Roach suggests drinking liquids only during this time, and before you eat your first meal, or lunch, spend another hour or two reading a meaningful book.

• After lunch, a nap is appropriate for refreshing mind and body.

• Later in the afternoon calls for applying yourself to a practical activity that has no relation to work. You might take a class or work on some creative project.

• The evening is for helping others through volunteer work, coaching sports, etc.

• The day ends with more quiet time spent reflecting on the day, not about work the next morning.

That is one tall order to fill, and not everyone (myself included) is going to be able to swing it. But I recommend reading The Diamond Cutter for a refreshing perspective on how you conduct your own daily business, as well as its fascinating and strikingly deep insights into both Buddhism and the diamond trade.

 

Comments

[Supra Footwear]

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