Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us pdfdrive com

Allow people to complete the task their own way. Think autonomy, not control. State the outcome you need. But instead of specifying precisely the way to reach it—how each poster must be rolled and how each mailing label must be affixed—give them freedom over how they do the job.

That’s the approach for routine tasks. What about for other sorts of undertakings?

For work that requires more than just climbing, rung by rung, up a ladder of instructions, rewards are more perilous. The best way to avoid the seven deadly flaws of extrinsic motivators is to avoid them altogether or to downplay them significantly and instead emphasize the elements of deeper motivation— autonomy, mastery, and purpose—that we’ll explore later in the book. But in the workplace, a rigid adherence to this approach bumps up against a fact of life: Even people who do groovy, creative, right-brain work still want to be paid. And here Teresa Amabile has shed some light on how to use rewards in a way that reckons with life’s realities but reduces extrinsic motivators’ hidden costs.

Go back to the study in which Amabile and two colleagues compared the quality of commissioned and noncommissioned paintings from a group of artists. A panel of experts, blind to what the investigators were exploring, consistently rated the noncommissioned artwork as more creative. One reason is that several artists said their commissions were “constraining”—that they found themselves

working toward a goal they didn’t endorse in a manner they didn’t control. However, in the same study, Amabile also discovered that when the artists considered their commissions “enabling”—that is, “the commission enabled the artist to do something interesting or exciting”³—the creativity ranking of what

they produced shot back up. The same was true for commissions the artists felt

provided them with useful information and feedback about their ability.

This is a crucial research insight. The science shows that it is possible— though tricky—to incorporate rewards into nonroutine, more creative settings without causing a cascade of damage.

So suppose we’re back at your nonprofit nine months later. The mailing went out flawlessly. The poster was a hit. The event was a smash. You’re planning another for later this year. You’ve settled on the date and found your venue. Now you need an inspiring poster to captivate imaginations and draw a crowd.

What should you do?

Here’s what you shouldn’t do: Offer an “if-then” reward to the design staff. Do not stride into their offices and announce: “If you come up with a poster that rocks my world or that boosts attendance over last year, then you’ll get a ten- percent bonus.” Although that motivational approach is common in organizations all over the world, it’s a recipe for reduced performance. Creating a poster isn’t routine. It requires conceptual, breakthrough, artistic thinking. And as we’ve learned, “if-then” rewards are an ideal way to squash this sort of thinking.

Your best approach is to have already established the conditions of a genuinely motivating environment. The baseline rewards must be sufficient. That is, the team’s basic compensation must be adequate and fair—particularly compared with people doing similar work for similar organizations. Your nonprofit must be a congenial place to work. And the people on your team must have autonomy, they must have ample opportunity to pursue mastery, and their daily duties must relate to a larger purpose. If these elements are in place, the best strategy is to provide a sense of urgency and significance—and then get out of the talent’s way.

But you may still be able to boost performance a bit—more for future tasks than for this one—through the delicate use of rewards. Just be careful. Your efforts will backfire unless the rewards you offer meet one essential requirement. And you’ll be on firmer motivational footing if you follow two additional principles.

The essential requirement: Any extrinsic reward should be unexpected and

offered only after the task is complete.

Holding out a prize at the beginning of a project—and offering it as a contingency—will inevitably focus people’s attention on obtaining the reward rather than on attacking the problem. But introducing the subject of rewards after the job is done is less risky.

In other words, where “if-then” rewards are a mistake, shift to “now that” rewards—as in “Now that you’ve finished the poster and it turned out so well, I’d like to celebrate by taking you out to lunch.”

As Deci and his colleagues explain, “If tangible rewards are given unexpectedly to people after they have finished a task, the rewards are less likely to be experienced as the reason for doing the task and are thus less likely to be detrimental to intrinsic motivation.”⁴

Likewise, Amabile has found in some studies “that the highest levels of

creativity were produced by subjects who received a reward as a kind of a bonus.”⁵ So when the poster turns out great, you could buy the design team a case of beer or even hand them a cash bonus without snuffing their creativity. The team didn’t expect any extras and getting them didn’t hinge on a particular

outcome. You’re simply offering your appreciation for their stellar work. But

keep in mind one ginormous caveat: Repeated “now that” bonuses can quickly become expected “if-then” entitlements—which can ultimately crater effective performance.

At this point, by limiting rewards for nonroutine, creative work to the unexpected, “now that” variety, you’re in less dangerous waters. But you’ll do even better if you follow two more guidelines.

First, consider nontangible rewards. Praise and positive feedback are much less corrosive than cash and trophies. In fact, in Deci’s original experiments, and in his subsequent analysis of other studies, he found that “positive feedback can have an enhancing effect on intrinsic motivation.”⁶ So if the folks on the design

team turn out a show-stopping poster, maybe just walk into their offices and say,

“Wow. You really did an amazing job on that poster. It’s going to have a huge impact on getting people to come to this event. Thank you.” It sounds small and simple, but it can have an enormous effect.

Second, provide useful information. Amabile has found that while controlling extrinsic motivators can clobber creativity, “informational or enabling motivators can be conducive” to it.⁷ In the workplace, people are thirsting to learn about how they’re doing, but only if the information isn’t a tacit effort to manipulate

their behavior. So don’t tell the design team: “That poster was perfect. You did it

exactly the way I asked.” Instead, give people meaningful information about their work. The more feedback focuses on specifics (“great use of color”)—and the more the praise is about effort and strategy rather than about achieving a particular outcome—the more effective it can be.

In brief, for creative, right-brain, heuristic tasks, you’re on shaky ground offering “if-then” rewards. You’re better off using “now that” rewards. And you’re best off if your “now that” rewards provide praise, feedback, and useful information.

(For a visual depiction of this approach, see the flowchart on the next page.) When to Use Rewards: A Simple Flowchart

CHAPTER 3