Drive

Discuss a time when you’ve seen one of the seven deadly flaws of carrots and sticks in action. What lessons might you or others learn from the experience?

Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, points out that extrinsic motivators (carrots and sticks) sometimes back-fire and actually decrease commitment to a task.  This is very important for today’s leaders to know because extrinsic motivators significantly drive what we do.  The lesson I will take from this book is that extrinsic motivators are not all bad when reserved to more routine tasks.  In chapter 2, Pink describes seven deadly flaws of carrots and sticks that can:

1.            extinguish intrinsic motivation

2.            diminish performance

3.            crush creativity

4.            crowd out good behavior

5.            encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior

6.            become addictive

7.            foster short-term thinking

I have witnessed the diminishing of performance as a result of paying a stipend to a school leadership team.  Members of the leadership team are paid for being part of the leadership team and supporting the administration set forth the direction of the school.  In this example,  I witnessed the team’s performance diminish claiming they already do a lot of their additional work on their own time and will need more money for added meetings outside the workday.  Thus, the group cannot meet on a regular basis, and have not been able to perform at an optimum level. 

Have you seen instances when carrots and sticks have been effective?

Ironically, I have seen the same instance work in the opposite direction with another leadership team. These individuals were also paid a stipend however, they had to apply for the position and go through a rigorous interview process.  Once selected for the position they were given the autonomy to become the “administrators” for their grade-levels.   Every year they had to reapply.  Many of the teacher leaders in this school moved on to become successful principals.

 

As you think about your own best work, what aspect of autonomy has been most important to you? Autonomy over what you do (task), when you do it (time), how you do it (technique), or with whom you do it (team)? Why? How much autonomy do you have at work right now? Is it enough?

When I look at my best work and the aspect of autonomy that has been important to me I have found that having the autonomy to select whom I work with has been the most beneficial.  Selecting the group or individual that I want to work with affords me the opportunity to take advantage of the trust factor.