According to Dan Pink, the latest studies in human motivation come down to the following:
Once you pay someone just enough money to take money off the table, you maximise their drive and motivation by providing the following things:
- Autonomy and self direction in our jobs
- Mastery of a challenge available in our jobs
- Purpose for doing our job for this company
You can see this animated by RSA Animate on YouTube:
Unfortunately, all of these items go against many of the process driven methodologies being taught right now. Or rather to be fair, I should say that the methodologies have a process, and they are implemented badly by managers that find it easier to simply follow the suggest process to the letter, without actually thinking whether it makes sense in this instance.
For example, there are a number of rapid application development methodologies in technology development these days, and one of the better ones is Agile. At the highest level the concept is to continuously adapt to the task at hand, while understanding your progress, and always delivering in the period of time you originally decided. Sounds great, however quite often the three motivational items above are forgotten, and you end up with something that follows the process of Agile to the letter, although misses the intent of Agile.
I read recently that "Product Roadmaps are evil", by a person describing Agile methodologies as the best solution to product development, and if you have a roadmap, you are minimising Agile's ability to adapt and be.... Agile.
Well I would instead look toward the motivational items above. The roadmap in an organisation at its simplest level is a vision for the product or a longer term purpose or objective. It does not mean that this purpose or vision cannot also be agile and change, however simply throwing away the plan for where the product is heading because it might impact the Agile methodology is just silly, and I would argue demotivating and disruptive (in a bad way) for the business and the team involved.
Anyway, next time you run a team, think about whether the team and the individuals in that team are getting self direction, challenges to master and understand and are engaged in the purpose, or you may find that you could be getting a lot more out of those people, that team and most certainly that business.
Once you pay someone just enough money to take money off the table, you maximise their drive and motivation by providing the following things:
- Autonomy and self direction in our jobs
- Mastery of a challenge available in our jobs
- Purpose for doing our job for this company
You can see this animated by RSA Animate on YouTube:
Unfortunately, all of these items go against many of the process driven methodologies being taught right now. Or rather to be fair, I should say that the methodologies have a process, and they are implemented badly by managers that find it easier to simply follow the suggest process to the letter, without actually thinking whether it makes sense in this instance.
For example, there are a number of rapid application development methodologies in technology development these days, and one of the better ones is Agile. At the highest level the concept is to continuously adapt to the task at hand, while understanding your progress, and always delivering in the period of time you originally decided. Sounds great, however quite often the three motivational items above are forgotten, and you end up with something that follows the process of Agile to the letter, although misses the intent of Agile.
I read recently that "Product Roadmaps are evil", by a person describing Agile methodologies as the best solution to product development, and if you have a roadmap, you are minimising Agile's ability to adapt and be.... Agile.
Well I would instead look toward the motivational items above. The roadmap in an organisation at its simplest level is a vision for the product or a longer term purpose or objective. It does not mean that this purpose or vision cannot also be agile and change, however simply throwing away the plan for where the product is heading because it might impact the Agile methodology is just silly, and I would argue demotivating and disruptive (in a bad way) for the business and the team involved.
Anyway, next time you run a team, think about whether the team and the individuals in that team are getting self direction, challenges to master and understand and are engaged in the purpose, or you may find that you could be getting a lot more out of those people, that team and most certainly that business.
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