“There’s a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.”

Today, I’m revisiting Dan Pink and his book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”.  I posted about it a couple years ago after I’d seen an RSA Animate video about it.  Since then, I’ve referred to the book several times in my life as a “change agent” and have seen or heard several of the author’s talks, available on the web.  Pink’s research takes aim at many of the assumptions business leaders have held for more than a century in motivating their people.  His central thesis is that in the 21st century, intrinsic motivators “autonomy, mastery and purpose”… not extrinsic motivators like rewards and incentives… are the building blocks in a better way of doing things — productivity, performance and engagement go UP… turnover and worker dissatisfaction go DOWN.

This makes so much sense — carrots and sticks may have worked in a world when we all blindly said “yes sir” to our supervisors whenever given an assignment or an “order.”  But in the 21st century, a time when accountability reigns supreme, don’t you find that workers ask “why?” more than ever?  That’s because they want to “add value”… they’re on the hook for the outcome… Their cred is on the line … We all want to understand why before we say ok to an assignment.

In this presentation from TEDGlobal 2009 in Oxford, England, Dan Pink focuses on autonomy … enjoy.