The Surprising Truth About What Motivates
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 8:56 am
Daniel Pink, author of the NY Times bestselling novel Drive: Us, is an expert at understanding the psychology of motivation. In his TED Talk based on his work, Pink describes a study done at MIT and funded by the Federal Reserve Bank. Results of the study found an interesting connection between monetary incentive and job performance. (You can watch an illustrated version of the talk here.)
As Pink describes: “As long as the task involved only mechanical skill, bonuses worked as romania phone number library they would be expected: the higher the pay, the better their performance. [...] but once the task called for even rudimentary cognitive skill, a larger reward resulted in poorer performance.”
To many people, this might seem backwards, and in fact it defies much of what we learn in basic economics.
Pink continues: “Money is a motivator [at work] but in a slightly strange way. If you don’t pay people enough, people won’t be motivated. There’s a curious paradox here: that the best use of money as a motivator is to pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table. Once you do that, there are three factors that lead to better performance and, not to mention, personal satisfaction: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. [emphasis added]”
Pink’s idea of motivation is backed by many within the psychology profession. According to the University of Southern California, to truly succeed an employee must like their job. Money only motivates an employee up to a certain point, but after that, the employee has to enjoy what they are doing. Once they do, they can tap into their state of “flow” and become engaged in their work.
As Pink describes: “As long as the task involved only mechanical skill, bonuses worked as romania phone number library they would be expected: the higher the pay, the better their performance. [...] but once the task called for even rudimentary cognitive skill, a larger reward resulted in poorer performance.”
To many people, this might seem backwards, and in fact it defies much of what we learn in basic economics.
Pink continues: “Money is a motivator [at work] but in a slightly strange way. If you don’t pay people enough, people won’t be motivated. There’s a curious paradox here: that the best use of money as a motivator is to pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table. Once you do that, there are three factors that lead to better performance and, not to mention, personal satisfaction: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. [emphasis added]”
Pink’s idea of motivation is backed by many within the psychology profession. According to the University of Southern California, to truly succeed an employee must like their job. Money only motivates an employee up to a certain point, but after that, the employee has to enjoy what they are doing. Once they do, they can tap into their state of “flow” and become engaged in their work.