Drive - Daniel Pink Flashcards
Harlow’s puzzle with rhesus monkeys
Unbidden by any outside urging and unprompted by the experimenters, the monkeys began playing with the puzzles with focus, determination, and what looked like enjoyment.
Edward Deci puzzle experiment
Group A played more with the puzzle when they received a reward but then less afterwards when they no longer received a reward.
Group B played progressively more over 3 days despite never being offered a reward.
Algorithmic vs heuristic tasks
Algorithmic tasks - follow a set of established instructions down a single pathway to one conclusion
Heuristic tasks - because no algorithm exists for it, you have to experiment with possibilities and devise a novel solution
Intrinsic Motivation Principle of Creativity
Intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity; controlling extrinsic motivation is detrimental to creativity
The (Tom) Sawyer Effect
Practices that can either turn play into work or turn work into play
Only contingent rewards have a negative effect. Why?
“If-then” rewards require people to forfeit some of their autonomy.
Functional fixedness
You look at an object and see only one function based on how it is presented.
Effect of money reward on speed of solving the candle problem
It took them 3 minutes longer because the rewards narrow our focus and blinker the wide view that allows us to see new uses for old objects (creative, heuristic thinking).
The Seven Deadly Flaws of Carrots and Sticks
1 - extinguish intrinsic motivation
2 - diminish performance
3 - crush creativity
4 - crowd out good behaviour
5 - encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behaviour
6 - become addictive
7 - foster short-term thinking
Shift from “If-then” rewards to “Now that” rewards
Any extrinsic reward should be unexpected and offered only after the task is complete.
Consider no tangible rewards (praise and positive feedback, relate to purpose)
Provide useful information (focus on specifics, praise effort and strategy rather than outcome)
Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan)
3 innate psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness (connected to one another)
The Four Essentials of Autonomy
Their task
Their time
Their technique
Their team
Mastery
The desire to get better and better at something that matters
Techniques for triggering flow in an organization
- Goldilocks tasks matching what people can do with what they must do
- Give autonomy to add tasks that turn work into play (Sawyer Effect)
- Foster a growth mindset
Ingredient for Mastery
- Flow (children seek it out constantly)
- Growth mindset
- Pain tolerance (grit)
Mastery is an asymptote
Csikszentmihalyi on Purpose
“Purpose provides activation energy for living.”
Purpose
Goals, Words, Policies
“We” companies vs “they” companies
“People at work are thirsting for context, yearning to know that what they do contributes to a larger whole.”
Attainment of purpose goals led to well-being while the attainment of profit goals led to ill-being
What’s your sentence?
“A great man is a sentence” (not a paragraph) - Clare Boothe Luce
Was I a little better today than yesterday?
Look for the small measures of improvement - they’ll lead to long term mastery.
Carve our time for noncommissioned work
20% time at Google/Friday evening experiments
Start small and with those who are most likely to embrace it (and then grow from there)
Require all to share it (ideas, plans, products, etc.)
