A few weeks ago, I posted my reflection on innovation, being radical, and remaining authentic in my student affairs work. Since then, I’ve read Drive by Daniel Pink for the #sachat book club. Drive seems to capture (for me at least) exactly the problem innovators are running into within student affairs – and it sounds like it’s happening in lots of other fields as well.
For example, here’s a great quote from the recent Harvard Business Review blog network on “Declaring Your Radicalness” by Umair Haque (who gets extra points for orienting his manifesto like a tree, which pinpoints my philosophy exactly):
“We need better ways to live, work, and play: institutions and ideas that are radically better than the ones we’ve got now; rules that make human interaction not just lead to minor-league baby steps in efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness — but quantum leaps in real human prosperity.”
The problem? The system isn’t designed to reward innovation; the system’s design (Motivation 2.0) actually decreases innovation.
For reference, Pink defines three different versions of motivational operating systems – 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0:
The motivational operating systems, or sets of assumptions and protocols about how the world works and how humans behave, that run beneath our laws, economic arrangements, and business practices. Motivation 1.0 presumed that humans were biological creatures, struggling for survival. Motivation 2.0 presumed that humans also responded to rewards and punishments in their environment. Motivation 3.0, the upgrade we now need, presumes that humans also have a third drive – to learn, to create, and to better the world. (Pink, page 225)
The #sachat on Drive was fantastic, and there are lots of great questions and thoughts that came out of the discussion.
Gotta admit, it’s painful to read Drive when you work in a 2.0 environment. #SAchat
— Leah Wescott (@LeahWescott) July 19, 2012
I agree, wholeheartedly. The innovation and radical work we’ve been talking about, stirring the pot and bringing new ideas to life can be really challenging if you work in a Motivation 2.0 environment – because it’s not designed to foster that kind of engagement. Instead, we are expected to do certain work for certain rewards, with punishments designed if we don’t follow the rules. Yet over and over again, Pink points out study after study showing that the Motivation 2.0 environment actually decreases results – whereas Motivation 3.0 increases them, along with employee satisfaction.
Student Affairs folks have some routine parts of their jobs, but a lot of what we do is non-routine – meaning that most of our work requires us to put in cognitive thought process, critical thinking, and problem solving. We are seeking purpose, whether that is changing the lives of students, contributing to our world, or pursuing life-long learning. If our environments can reflect more of the Motivation 3.0 environment, not only will we be fostering innovation and the radical ideas that will improve our profession, but will allow us to become more engaged, motivated, and satisfied employees.
Q1 Very clear though in my job interviews that I excel in environments that foster innovation, not management.#sachat
— Becca Obergefell (@OberBecca) July 19, 2012
All of this is great in an idealist world where we can make changes with the snap of our fingers – but most of us don’t. What then? How do we implement the strategies from Drive to create an environment that fosters autonomy, innovation, and satisfaction? Obviously, this will be different based on our institutions, our current positions, the culture of our departments, and our relationships.
Lucky for us, we can all do something to create an impact, to innovate, and to examine our own motivation. A recent article from Forbes.com by Naveen Jain gets at the heart of this:
I believe that people who will come up with creativesolutions to solve the world’s biggest problems — ecological devastation, global warming, the global debt crisis and distribution of dwindling natural resources, to name a few — will NOT be experts in their fields. The real disruptors will be those individuals who are not steeped in one industry of choice, with those coveted 10,000 hours of experience, but instead, individuals who approach challenges with a clean lens, bringing together diverse experiences, knowledge and opportunities.
And while experts will have a part to play in solving today’s looming crises where incremental evolution is needed, I believe that non-expert individuals will drive disruptive innovation.
We can all be innovators, even in a 2.0 environment. Here are some ideas to get you started.
MOD – Q4: How do you increase motivation for your employees? What strategies do you use to create a more autonomous environment? #SAchat
— Student Affairs Blog (@The_SA_Blog) July 19, 2012
Q4: I ask them a lot about where they want to challenge themselves, how we can make their jobs better, & give them LOTS of autonomy #sachat
— Kristen Abell (@kristendom) July 19, 2012
Q4: Mutually set clear/high expectations and back it up with support. Leave space for autonomy and challenge. #sachat
— Craig Z (@cz2day) July 19, 2012
Q4: By constantly self-evaluating on whether I walk the walk AND talk the talk about giving autonomy. #sachat
— Cindy Watkins Kane (@cindykane) July 19, 2012
Q4: we reflect & set goals together then I let them work as they wish. I offer support & hold them accountable during meetings. #sachat
— Krissy Petersen (@Ms_Krissy) July 19, 2012
Q4 #Strength-based tasks as much as possible– find tasks to fit the talents. Share the routine tasks too. #sachat
— Becca Obergefell (@OberBecca) July 19, 2012
Q4 Ask for input in creating a new process or program, ask for feedback, own mistakes & failures #sachat
— Ashley N. Robinson(@AshleyNRobinson) July 19, 2012
Q4: Encourage students to draw parallels between job related skills they develop, and diverse applications outside current positions #sachat
— Christopher Toutain (@christoutain) July 19, 2012
Q4: I check my own ego. I encourage my staff to operate w/in their style & strengths, not mine. #sachat
— Ben Newhouse (@BenJNewhouse) July 19, 2012
Q4 If staff doesn’t enjoy their work, no carrot or incentive is going to fix it. Sometimes we need to accept/recognize a bad fit too #sachat
— Becca Obergefell (@OberBecca) July 19, 2012
Pink offers an entire chapter on putting the strategies from Drive to work. Here are some of the highlights:
- Carve out time for “non-commissioned” work – time employees to work on any project they choose
- Start small – if 20% time (for that innovative project work) is hard to sell, start with 10% – training wheels
- Instead of hosting another off site retreat, use that day as a FedEx Day (one day bursts of autonomy allowing employees to tackle any problem they want – then showing the results to the rest of the company after 24 hours; why FedEx, you ask? – because you have to deliver something overnight
- Conduct an Autonomy Audit – to find out if your employees really have autonomy (this is scary – people might not want to hear the answer – BUT, you can sell it with data that says people with more autonomy perform better)
- DIY Performance Reviews – give them to yourself, often – set goals at the beginning of the month and then call yourself to your office to see if you met them
- Take 3 steps toward giving up control (and offering more autonomy):
- Involve people in goal-setting (you’d rather set your own goals, right – they want to, too)
- Use noncontrolling language (must & should turn into think about & consider)
- Hold office hours (let them come to you)
- Design for the 85% – our policies are often designed for the 15% of people who will break the rules, a system that assumes bad faith from folks and will foster the behavior we want to deter – so instead, create rules that imply trust
- Persuade your boss by starting small
- Ask the right question – don’t ask to change everything, but figure out what small thing can make things a little bit better
- Be strategically subversive – try something quietly, then if it works – tell others about it
- Emphasize results – tell your boss about what works, then bring up strategies – don’t lead with “I want to be autonomous and work more towards mastery”
Tell us – how are you putting the strategies from Drive to work? Share your ideas so that others can try them, too!
There are some great folks who have blogged about Drive already (see below for two of them) – feel free to add your book review to our comments as well!
Becca Obergefell (bonus: Becca’s post includes a great 10 minute video synopsis of the book!)
