By Jackie Martini Mortell,
October 2010

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to create a work environment that gets the best out of my team and myself.  At Smart we are constantly trying new things to see what will motivate our people and make them happier.  Recently we had a Pilates instructor come into the office for a six week “experiment.”  My management team seems more limber but I don’t think they’re happier or more motivated. <continued>


Then I saw this short video on Motivation, http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html, and I said, “Eureka!  This is why people love being consultants!”  This is a 20 minute presentation by Dan Pink and it’s the best 20 minutes you’ll spend this week.  Dan says that scientists have repeatedly demonstrated that using money is not a successful motivator.  Instead, people are motivated and significantly more productive when they have three things: 

Autonomy, the urge to direct our own lives; 

Mastery, the desire to get better and better at something that matters;

Purpose, the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

This describes our consultants perfectly.  They don’t want employment within a corporation, they want autonomy over their own work and careers.  They pursue mastery of technology and take pride in being valued for that knowledge.  And they look for purposeful contracts on which to work.  They want work they can care about and invest their best efforts in.

Dan Pink suggests that businesses move to a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE).  “In a ROWE people don’t have schedules.  They show up when they want.  They don’t have to be in the office at a certain time, or any time.  They just have to get their work done.  How they do it, when they do it, where they do it, is totally up to them.

What happens?  Almost across the board, productivity goes up, worker engagement goes up, worker satisfaction goes up, turnover goes down.”

And that would be the ideal work environment for 80% of our consultants.  Over and over again they ask us to find them contracts that let them work their own hours, remotely and have control over the technology they use to solve the business problem they’re working on.

But I think Dan Pink left out a critical component for creating a successful and productive business environment and that is urgency.  So if you have more than 20 minutes, pick up A Sense of Urgency, by John P. Kotter. 

Now I’m off to revolutionize my company.  What a great job I have… Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose.  How lucky am I?

Jackie

Comments (1)

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written by SBorde, October 28, 2010

Jackie,

You have mastered ROWE with your management team, which is why we all love working for Smart Solutions! We have the autonomy to work how "we work best" and we are allowed to make the best decision possible for our consultants and clients! I agree with the urgency comment because it's a faced paced world out there and you have to make your customers a top priority, or someone else will! Great blog!

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