drive

Overview

Rewards and punishments are failing us as motivators, declares Pink. Encouraging autonomy, mastery and purpose in personal and professional settings will lead to more productive, creative, and ultimately fulfilling lives.

Part One: A New Operating System

In Chapter 1 of Drive, author Daniel Pink questions the traditional view of human motivation that rewards pushing people to perform better and work harder. Pink explains that societies people have operating systems--the first operating system, Motivation 1.0, is the biological drive to survive, and the second system, Motivation 2.0 (M2), is driven by extrinsic motivators. Pink then describes organizations’ limited how attempts to improveements were made to Motivation 2.0 by--some organizations began to fostering environments for employees to nurture their internal desires, enjoying the work, growth, achievementsgrow and gain more autonomy. Pink describes society’s operating system as having threehow M2 is increasingly incompatible withilities --how we organize what we do, how we think about what we do, and how we do what we do. He describes how organizations are morphing into entities that allow for a mix of business goals rather than segregated by for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. He describes how humans think irrationally, contrary to what economists may believe. Finally, Pink describes how people need to be intrinsically motivated in order for our motivational operating system to function.

In Chapter 2, Pink discusses the negative consequences of utilizing carrots and sticks, or what he calls “à la Motivation 2.0,,” to encourage certain actions or results. Firstly, carrots and sticks have the potential to diminish intrinsic motivation,, which is or motivation that is caused driven by passion, pleasure, and interest in a certain topic or task as opposed torather than just by an external reward. Additionally, they can result in narrow, constrained thinking that is only centered only on acquiring the reward as opposed to creative, out of the box ideas that can produce more original results. Carrots and sticks can foster unethical thinking and crowd out altruistic motivations to perform a task. For the same reasons, Tthey could also encourage risky and reckless decision-making or foster addictions—people could become hooked to the pleasures associated with acquiring the rewards. Finally, Motivation 2.0 incentivizes short-term thinking and cutting corners actions to acquire the desired outcomes as opposed toversus more carefully devised plans. Despite these potential adverse effects, in some situations using Motivation 2.0’s carrots and sticks may sometimes be appropriate, according to Pink. There are a numerous tasks , for instance, that are routine and rudimentary and therefore require minimal creativity or deep -thinking;. In these cases, providing an extra incentive may help workers completeachieve these tasks at hand.

In Chapter 3, Pink discusses self-determination theory (SDT), which is premised on the idea that satisfaction, motivation, and happiness are based on the fulfillment of three universal human needs: “competence, autonomy, and relatedness.” SDT prescribes that leaders should focus on creating anwork environments that satisfyies these three needs, instead of encouraging leaders trying to solve problems with carrots and sticks. Pink furthers his examination of human motivation with a description ofoffers his own behavioral system--Type I and Type X. Type X behavior is a manifestation of Motivation 2.0, which places higher value on extrinsic motivators than on intrinsic ones., whereas Type I behavior describes Motivation 3.0, which emphasizes the importance of the third drive--the intrinsic motivators that drive usenjoying the activity for its own sake rather than any outcome. In comparing the two behavioral states, Pink notes that, Iin the long run, Type I’s always outperform Type X’s because intrinsic motivation will sustain a hard -worker for much longer than will extrinsic motivation will. Similarly, Type I behavior promotes a better state ofimproves well-being, as the focu s is on autonomy, mastery and purpose, rather than money, fame, or beauty, which are all extrinsic determinants of Type X behavior. Thus, in order to improve our own lives, families, and businesses, it would be best to follow the science, Pink says, and shift our mindset from Type X to Type I--from extrinsic to intrinsic motivators.

Part 2: The Three Elements

Part 2
Part Two explores in-depth the three e elements of “Type I” behavior-- autonomy, mastery and purpose-- to further connect how business can apply the science of human motivation to workplace performance. Pink defines three elements of Type I behavior which are subsequently explored in Chapters 4, 5, and 6: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. Chapter 4 looks to our desire to be self-directed in our work, while chapter 5 examines our compulsion for mastery. Chapter 6 looks at the final element, purpose, the need to be part of something greater than ourselves.

Chapter 4 investigates autonomy in the context of our desire to be self-directed in our work. The autonomic workplace is particularly achieved through the Ressler-Thompson “results-only work environment” or “ROWE” strategy, where employees are allowed freedom in their tasks and work styles, entrusted to complete their work. Companies like Google demonstrate the efficacy of this management style. - which have lead to highly innovative successes like Gmail and Google Translate - Wwhen the company initiated changes that which allowed specific, allotted time forto work on projects of personal interest projects rather than a strict regimen of scheduling and task regulation, the result was highly innovative successes like Gmail and Google Translate. Further, the Aautonomic management strategies of successful companies like Google also foster more workplace collaboration. which, in turn, has led to almost half of the aforementioned innovative successes.

Chapter 5 examines our compulsion for mastery. In the science fields, sense of mastery is a long-known biological need for humans to control components of their lives; most notably, accomplishing something that matters. Many corporations unhealthily focus less on mastery and more on compliance, when they should genuinely empower employees to tackle complex problems congruent with their natural mastery needs. The latterse tactics lead to productivity and work satisfaction at work, where a workers achieves his or her maximizeum “work flow,” a state of mind where one is completely and, positively enveloped in their work. Pink defines this mastery ais a mindset, a pain, and an asymptote., and Tthose who believe intelligence can be increased will better leadare more likely to achieve mastery;, and those with the “grit” to persevere are more likely to achieve excellence; and . Finally, ironically, those who understand there is always more to learn and achieve , will reach that optimum work flow.

Chapter 6 looks at the final element, purpose, the need to be part of something greater than ourselves. The pursuit of purpose provides is the perennial piece of Type I people’s peak performance. As is, autonomous people working toward mastery are highly efficient, but those with a greater objective are even more capable. Even compared to workers in pursuit of earning money, those with impassioned purpose are becoming recognizably more desired in the workplace, andbut are also better workers.

Part 3

Part Three: The Type I Toolkit

In Part Here3, Pink not only offers strategies for individuals to awaken their motivations , but alsoand gives recommendations for organizations toto achieve improvement. For individuals, strategies include regularly recording your feelings of flow regularly, asking yourself about yourexploring intrinsic motivations, and then keepingalways asking a small question: , was I a little better than yesterday? Also, Other suggestions include developing a “to don’t ” list to get rid of time-wasting distractions, and; moving closer to approaching mastery through by deliberately practice, constantly repeat and seeking feedback. For organizations, recommendations (applicable to both employers and employees) include scheduling time for noncommissioned work, conducting a regular autonomy audit, and understanding your colleagues’ purpose. In terms of paying, it is extremely important to ensure fairness both internally (by paying people commensurate with their colleagues) and externally fairness (by paying people in line with others doing similar work atin other organizations). Another excellent strategy is to paying great people a little more than the market ratedemand, which enables the organization to attract talent, reduce turnover, and enhance productivity and morale.

Pink also offers recommendations foralso gives suggestions specific to parents and educators on how to encouraginge autonomy, mastery and purpose Type I behavior in kids. Children should be in charge of their own learning while teachers act as facilitators, e.g., . Suggestions range from DIY report cards, self-designed projects, letting kids teach, and teachers asking the following about homework test: does it it promote autonomy (students decide how and when to do the homeworkit), mastery (not just regurgitation of classroom work) and applicability (kids easily recognize see how it builds on class work)? Pink also calls for raising teacher pay and eliminating “bad teachers”. but avoids defining “incompetent.” For parents, in addition to essentiallyHe recommendsing a form of homeschooling plus five schools (private or charter) that generally adhere to the Type I model, andhe advises on how to give praise (sincerely, in private and about strategy and effort rather than intelligence). He also and voices supports for allowances and chores but never in combination (or else it’s just a bribethat’s just bribery). Pink closes his toolkit with 15 must-read books that further explore Type I and Type X thinking, valuable tidbits from business leaders who all emphasizinge employee empowerment, and even thoughts on how to staying motivated to exercise (hint: lose the treadmill).