Dan Pink makes a great case for intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation in business. Extrinsic motivations – the carrots and sticks approach, rewards, incentives etc., have been shown by various studies to work only in a narrow band of circumstances. And in fact, they most often shut down creativity.
Intrinsic motivation:
- autonomy,
- mastery and
- purpose
have been shown to produce surprising business results. Take Google, for example, who allow their employees 20% of free time where have complete autonomy over their subject, their team, their methods. Over half of Google’s products are conceived in this free time.
This kind of autonomy leads to increased engagement, increased creativity, increased satisfaction and decreased turnover.
Pink makes his case using evidence from several eminent economists and creates a compelling argument that there is a gap between what science knows and what business does.