Drive and Motivation: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose

I love this new video of Daniel Pink's speech about the surprising science of motivation. He presented a similar speech at Ted Talks. RSA added animation to the video and make the ten-minute video fly by. We will see a lot more of these videos. I just finished his book, Drive, and it was a fascinating read.

His premise is that in this post-industrial age economy, the carrot and stick approach is no longer effective at motivating people. He uses recent science to argue that money does not motivate and can actually decrease performance. He makes it clear that money works for routine, repetitive tasks, but as the tasks gets more complicated, money does not motivate.

People are driven by internal, intrinsic motivation. Right from the womb, we are motivated to walk and talk without any expectation of reward. We are born curious. He argues that we are motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

He states over and over there is a huge gap between what science knows and what business does. Few businesses are using what he calls Motivation 3.0 such as Results Only Work Environments (ROWE) or giving employees the freedom to choose their own projects 20% of the time. But, for the most part, business ignores the science of motivation.

My only criticism is that he may take his argument a bit too far. No matter how creative or entrepreneurial the job, there is a certain amount of routine, repetitive tasks to every job. Money is certainly a motivator even for the knowledge worker. He also ignores research in management science that argues progress is the most important motivator. Companies that can provide personal and professional growth have the most engaged employees.

There is definitely a place for Mr. Pink's concepts in small business. What he proposes is nothing new. He builds on research such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs with new science and a fresh look at the new economy. Drive is a page-turner and really challenged my thinking. That makes it a book I would strongly recommend.

What is your optimal performance zone?

This morning I ran a personal best at Johnny's 5k Memorial Run. Sometimes I forget that not everyone on Twitter understands running lingo. I tweeted,

Wohoo! PR 21:05. Off to coach soccer now.less than a minute ago via txtMike Campbell
MikeCampbellCFO

And I received this reply:

@MikeCampbellCFO I don't know if it's what you meant, but Proverbs 21:5 is a great reminder. http://twurl.nl/xe225g Have fun with socccer!less than a minute ago via TweetDeckJay Ehret
themarketingguy

Ironically, I was thinking about effort and performance after the race. I have been training for this race for several weeks by running three days a week. I run one tempo run, one speedwork and one. By definition, training runs are not at race pace; they are about 80-85% race pace. A good training plan also incorporates proper rest. On race day, 100% capacity should result in peak performance.

Does the same principle apply to business? Do workers achieve peak performance by operating at 80% capacity? Does working at 100% day-in and day-out lead to burnout? If you are working at 100% capacity 100% of the time, is there no room for growth? If you are working at 100%, should you try to get back to 80% through better time management, better prioritizing, better use of technology, and/or better delegation?

Treat every day as training ground for the big moments. It's the big moments that define your value and your career -- big decisions, big projects, big closings, financial crises, seasonal peaks, etc. Eighty percent capacity does not mean mediocrity or 80% effort. It means performing at the leading edge of your comfort zone or slightly beyond. And by performing at the leading edge, your comfort zone continues to grow and expand. For example, when I first started running, my comfort zone was 10-minute miles; now it is 8-minute miles. There is no such thing as 110% effort, but 100% this year should be more than 100% last year. And when that big moment comes, you will be ready to shine.

Author Geoff Colvin in his book Talent is Overrated states, "only by choosing activities in the learning zone can you make progress. That's the location of skills and abilities that are just out of your reach." Activities inside your comfort zone are too easy to produce growth while activities in the panic zone are out of reach. He further states that excellent performance is the result of deliberate practice, not hard work and innate talent. Deliberate practice is "activity that's explicitly intended to improve performance, that reaches for objectives just beyond one's level of competence, provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition." (What It Takes to Be Great)

Alasdair White defines comfort zone as the state in which one operates without anxiety and with little risk. And he defines the optimal performance zone as the state in which the level of anxiety boosts performance. Studies have shown that a certain amount of anxiety boosts performance. However, too much anxiety pushes one into the danger zone and performance decreases significantly.

So, the irony is that Jay provided a proverb that succinctly describes my post-race thoughts, "The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty."

How to hold an effective meeting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nifmus/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Ever been to a meeting that was like watching the grass grow? Meetings for the sake of meeting is pointless. It wastes times, drives costs, and destroys morale. If I write any more of an intro, I'm not practicing what I'm preaching. So here goes:

Begin with the end in mind. Thank you Steve Covey for this classic. What do you want to accomplish by meeting? Can it be accomplished without meeting? If you need to meet because you haven't met in awhile, then take your team to lunch. Don't put together a bogus agenda just to meet.

Start on time. End on time. End a little early, but never late.

Send a written agenda no less than one week before the meeting. If you want valuable input, then you need preparation. If you don't prepare and bring something valuable, you won't get invited back. Speculation and off-the-cuff is not going to cut it.

Meet to decide, not discuss. Bring the issues to the table. Have a healthy debate (with well-prepared data and analysis). And make a decision. Minutes should only include decisions and actions.

That's it. If I'm missing anything, then Google it. There is tons written about this. But reading a thousand word essay on how to run a meeting is like sitting through a really bad meeting.

Posted via email from Mike Campbell's posterous

Bye Bye HP Slate. Bye Bye Microsoft

I was disappointed that HP canned it's Windows 7 Slate PC. While a million people bought the iPad in the past month, I was holding out for the HP Slate. Then rumors stated that HP was pulling the plug on the slate because they could not get the performance out of Win 7 they wanted.

My company is a Microsoft shop, like many other small business. Our accounting, project management, and CRM software run on Microsoft SQL Server, Internet Explorer, .NET, and, of course, Office. I wanted a tablet that was half the size of a laptop (i.e. a screen without a keyboard) that I could use in the evenings and on the road to access these apps.

I also wanted a lightweight reader. I get forwarded a lot of info that I like to read in the evenings. The screen is just too small and PDFs are just too hard to read on my iPhone. I subscribe to dozens of blogs, emails list, and YouTubers. I get tired of a hot, heavy laptop and lap desk on my lap.

The rumor came on the heels of HP's announcement to purchase Palm. It is speculated that HP wants Palm's WebOS. Reading between the lines, and purely my opinion, HP dropped Win 7 because of price, not performance. I've using Win 7 for several months and it is speedy. It's boots in seconds from sleep mode.

I thought Microsoft was brilliant by making an OS with touch functionality. The HP Slate was going to be the first product to showcase this. But HP just can't keep the price point at $550 AND pay Microsoft what they want for Win 7. I looked forward to a touch tablet with USB and SD ports so I could upload my Garmin and camera pics.

Regardless of my opinion, that puts iPad back in consideration for me. The only other options are Android devices such as Dell Streak or wePad, which aren't due to ship till late 2010 or early 2011. As with many early adopters, we'll just figure out a workaround to get everything we want. I'm thinking LogMeIn for iPad might just do the trick.

Finally, this puts Microsoft way behind in the slate market. So far behind that I just don't think they will be able to catch up. Dell, HP, Google, and Apple have drawn a clear line in the sand. Consumers want a device that is between the smartphone and laptop. They want it to function closer to a smartphone primarily for content consumption, not creation. And they do not want a laptop replacement like the IBM convertible tablet PC.

For more read, The Real Reason Why Steve Jobs Hates Flash. "The PC revolution is almost coming to an end, and everyone's trying to work out a strategy for surviving the aftermath."

Posted via email from Mike Campbell's posterous