Traditional means of motivation in the workplace (rewards, incentives, commissions), sometimes do more harm than good.  In this video, Dan Pink makes the case that for the complex tasks faced by today’s workforce, “intrinsic” motivators — autonomy, mastery, and purpose — are far more effective than the traditional “carrot-and-stick” methods.  It’s kind of long, but that’s the gist.

If that sounds familiar, it’s probably from a review of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in Marketing or Psych 101.  The idea is that food, shelter, safety, money, etc are “extrinsic” rewards and they form the base of the pyramid.  To reach the top of the pyramid and the peak of human motivation, you have to get into the way more touchy-feely subjects of self-esteem and self-actualization — something very few companies do well.

maslow-pyramid

Very interesting stuff.  Thanks Matt for sending.

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