Drive

Motivating people

Intrinsic motivation is much more powerful than extrinsic motivation:

In the middle of the last century, two young scientists conducted experiments that should have changed the world—but did not.
Harry F. Harlow was a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin who, in the 1940s, established one of the world’s first laboratories for studying primate behavior. One day in 1949, Harlow and two colleagues gathered eight rhesus monkeys for a two-week experiment on learning. The researchers devised a simple mechanical puzzle. Solving it required three steps: pull out the vertical pin, undo the hook, and lift the hinged cover. Pretty easy for you and me, far more challenging for a thirteen-pound lab monkey.
The experimenters placed the puzzles in the monkeys’ cages to observe how they reacted—and to prepare them for tests of their problem solving prowess at the end of the two weeks. But almost immediately, something strange happened. 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. And in short order, they began figuring out how the contraptions worked….
…Nobody had taught the monkeys how to remove the pin, slide the hook, and open the cover. Nobody had rewarded them with food, affection or even quiet applause when they succeeded….
Scientists then knew that two main drives powered behavior. The first was the biological drive. Humans and other animals ate to sate their hunger, drank to quench their thirst… But that wasn’t happening here….
…If biological motivations came from within, this second drive came from without—the rewards and punishments the environment delivered for behaving in certain ways. This was certainly true for humans, who responded exquisitely to such external forces. If you promised to raise our pay, we’d work harder. If you held out the prospect of getting an A on the test, we’d study longer. If you threatened to dock us for showing up late or for incorrectly completing a form, we’d arrive on time and tick every box… But that didn’t account for the monkeys’ actions either. As Harlow wrote…, “The behavior obtained in this investigation [viz. with the rhesus monkeys and the puzzle] poses some interesting questions for motivation theory, since significant learning was attained and efficient performance maintained without resort to special or extrinsic incentives” [emphasis added].
To answer the question, Harlow offered a novel theory—what amounted to a third drive: “The performance of the task” he said, “provided intrinsic reward.” The monkeys solved the puzzles simply because they found it gratifying to solve puzzles. They enjoyed it. The joy of the task was its own reward…

…Perhaps this newly discovered drive—Harlow eventually called it “intrinsic motivation”—was real [emphasis added]. But surely it was subordinate to the other two drives. If the monkeys were rewarded—with raisins!—for solving the puzzles, they’d no doubt perform even better. Yet when Harlow tested that approach, the monkeys actually made more errors and solved the puzzles less frequently.

Daniel H. Pink. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. RiverHead Books. http://bit.ly/Aq4DZn

We all know people who “love what they do” and for these people work is not a chore or task but a rewarding experience. I truly enjoy being CEO of Conisus and my focus has always been on the challenge of developing people, making our company successful, and helping oncologists and allied healthcare professionals improve patient outcomes. For me, the jobs I have enjoyed the most have never been about the money but about the challenge.

Jeff Giampalmi