Improv Everywhere shows how you give 2,000 tired, grumpy New Yorkers a high-five:
Fantastic!
I wish you a very happy weekend!
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Well make up your damn mind – do rewards motivate or don’t they?
For a long time, rewards were the be-all and end-all of motivation. Everyone knew that the way to encourage people to achieve better results were to reward better results. Bonuses, incentive schemes and pay grades were created to implement this.Then science starts interfering and pointing out that, actually, rewards only motivate in a very narrow set of circumstances and that there is a huge gap between what science knows and what business does. That’s what Dan Pink talks about in his excellent TED presentation.
Now the effect of rewarding students for performance and good behavior in schools have been tested very rigorously and the results appear in this excellent Time article, according to which some rewards do lead to better performance.
So which is it? Do rewards motivate us to shine or don’t they? This is not only interesting for schools, the findings may apply to businesses as well.
Some background:
A Harvard economist named Roland Fryer Jr. did something education researchers almost never do: he ran a randomized experiment in hundreds of classrooms in multiple cities. He used mostly private money to pay 18,000 kids a total of $6.3 million and brought in a team of researchers to help him analyze the effects. He got death threats, but he carried on. The results represent the largest study of financial incentives in the classroom — and one of the more rigorous studies ever on anything in education policy.
The results were surprising:
The experiment ran in four cities: Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York. Each city had its own unique model of incentives, to see which would work best. Some kids were paid for good test scores, others for not fighting with one another. The results are fascinating and surprising. They remind us that kids, like grownups, are not puppets. They don’t always respond the way we expect.
In New York the study resulted in no improvement in test scores. Fryer called the results “as zero as zero gets.” New York was ironically the city where students were rewarded for better test scores.
The program that got the best results was in Dallas:
Schools in Dallas got the simplest scheme and the one targeting the youngest children: every time second-graders read a book and successfully completed a computerized quiz about it, they earned $2. Straightforward — and cheap. The average earning would turn out to be about $14 (for seven books read) per year.
So what might explain the difference? Why did one scheme fail while another got results?
I think the answer might lie in the fact that the NY scheme rewarded results while the Dallas scheme rewarded the process, ie. the actual steps towards the results.
I’m going out on a limb here, but I do think that this carries directly over to the business world. At work it is more motivating to reward effort rather than results because while results are rarely directly under your own control, your efforts are.
In other words, you can work your butt off on a project or a sale and still not get it because of factors completely outside of your influence. Or in the current crisis, you can work hard to meet your sales budget, but there’s no hope in hell you will, because the entire market is down 15%. Conversely, you might be a no-good, talentless slacker but due to a general increase in the market or one windfall client you still reach your goals for the year.
This is what Srikumar S. Rao talked about at our last conference, where he encouraged the audience to focus on the process, not the outcome.
Go read the whole article at Time.com – it’s fascinating stuff.
Your take
What do you think? Do rewards motivate you? How and when do you like to be rewarded? Are there any circumstances where rewards tend to demotivate you? Please write a comment, I’d love to hear your take.
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Watch this video
My good buddy Srikumar S. Rao’s new book is now out and while I haven’t read it yet (my review copy is on the way) I know it will be good. Just the title alone is great: Happiness at Work – Be Resilient, Motivated, and Successful – No Matter What.
There’s also a whole series of 1-2 minute videos on Youtube where Srikumar talks about some of the themes from the book. My favorite is this one, where he explains how we learn to be unhappy.
And if you want to know more there’s the video of Srikumar’s smash-hit presentation from our conference in Copenhagen last year. This video has now been viewed more than 200,000 times and focuses specifically on the two traps we must avoid, that keep us from becoming happy. You can watch the entire speech here (18 minutes):
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When even Forbes Magazine gets it…
When even a staunch defender of capitalism like Forbes Magazine says that “Money is not the best motivator” I consider the issue settled.From the article:
There is ample evidence to suggest that money may not be the best way to motivate desirable behavior. In fact, it may be one of the worst ways.
…
Money is a byproduct, and usually a secondary one at that, for such achievers.Emotional sources of motivation are more powerful, and they are best conveyed informally in an organization through the respect of peers, the admiration of subordinates, the approval of one’s personal network and community and the like. Money becomes the default motivator because it is measurable, tangible and fungible — and trouble strikes when the prospect of a lot of money becomes the primary goal.
I would of course argue, that the very best motivator is happiness at work :o)
Related posts
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I haven’t even finished the first exercise and already I’m in tears
Along with my book Happy Hour is 9 to 5 (which you can buy here or read for free here) I released a workbook with an accompanying set of exercises.A while back one reader downloaded the workbook, tried the exercises and wrote this comment:
I happened upon your site today but feel absolutely compelled to write you. I read your site for about 2 hours today. I don’t even know where to begin…I worked in a field I loved for years. Started a family and then money became the driver. That has been the worst mistake of my life. I went from a field I loved to the exact opposite just to chase the bigger dollars.
My current field is terribly stressful…I have gained over 100 lbs. and now suffer from insomnia, headaches, and extreme fatigue. All along I thought it was due to the stress of this job (this is my 3rd one in this field with the same stress/frustration) but now I realize through doing the activity in your workbook that it is not this “job” but the career field as a whole. It is an awful fit…I’m a creative/writing/social type and now work in accounting with nothing but numbers all day.
I haven’t even finished the first exercise and already I’m in tears realizing that I have got to give up this job. I can make a decent income in my preferred field but have let fear (of failure and maybe success too) and loss of money (worried to death about not being able to help provide for my family) keep me trapped for literally 6 years.
I am not even 33 yet…but I suffer from all sorts of stress related illnesses, don’t go out with my girlfriends, or even enjoy hobbies anymore…just because I traded a great career for money. Your workbook has encouraged me to make this transition my top career goal. Thank you for making this resource available you have literally helped save my life!
BTW, the most profound thing I learned in the very first exercise is that I used to take better care of myself when my work was more in-line with my personal values. I never connected those dots before!
I think that is a profound insight: That we take better care of ourselves when we are happy.
It also got me to thinking that the great fallacy in all health-, diet- and weight loss programs may be the very idea that if I eat right, exercise and lose weight then I will be happy, when in fact it may be the other way around: If I become happy, I will treat myself better and have the energy to eat well and exercise.
Have you noticed this in yourself?
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Happiness at work in Guatemala
I’m going to Guatemala in July to speak about happiness at work to the Guatemalan Human Resources Management Association.They are currently looking for sponsors for the speech. The director writes:
To this conference we invite a lot of H.R. Managers from all over the region, and has a good attendance for brand awareness or public image, but we need sponsors to cover your fee and trip expenses.
We are looking for them here, but some times our speakers helped us with that. If you know some one that could be interested in the sponsorship to cover your presence we will appreciate it a lot, and we will contact them in order to arrange everything, what we offer or if they want some special arrangement.
So my question to you is: Do you know any organizations in or around Guatemala who would like to help sponsor my trip and keynote?
Let me know if you do or if you know anyone who might.
I did a similar thing when I spoke in India a while back. Tata (India’s biggest private company) sponsored the trip and in addition to speaking at the conference I also did two workshops for groups of managers.
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Forgive your enemies…
This may not be the most noble reason to practice forgiveness:
… but it works for me :o)
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A happy mayor
I often think that if there’s one area that could use some happiness at work, it’s politics. I’d like to see more politicians who are not afraid to be optimistic, happy, cheerful, nice and friendly.
Well, here’s one who is:
Not only is Mayor Hazel McCallionhappy of the City of Mississauga in Canada happy at work, she is also 88 years old, has been elected 11 times, has a 91% approval rating AND has kept her city debt-free.
I think happiness is a powerful force in politics – it may even have been what got Obama elected president over McCain.
What about you – do you know any other examples of happy politicians?
Thx to Guilla for mentioning this fantastic video.
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I’m proud of this blog
Two weeks ago I got a question from Mark in a comment, that began with these words:My job has been literally killing my soul for the past 3 years. I have known this entire time I needed to leave. But I didn’t realize how seriously I was burning out, and now I feel like I am being pushed over the edge.
I have drank every night for the past three months. I am acerbic, aggressive and emotionally closed off. I hate the people I serve so much I cuss and spit when I have to see them. I have secondary trauma and can no longer sleep without medication. It is not possible to hate your job more than I do.
I passed the question on to all of you, and more than 25 people have taken the time to offer Mark ideas, thoughts or sympathy.
Well, Mark read your input, and here’s his reply:
Well what a response. You guys are something else… you are really so helpful I am kind of taken aback. My thanks to Alex for posting this… I was reticent at first but can take a lot from what everyone offered from their own life experiences. I don’t want to share too many details, for the sake of not being compromised at work, but I work in the helping field and have simply excessively burned out. This kind of help is something the Internet does best: allow people to share their deeply personal experiences in a generally anonymous manner.
Anyways, just to follow up, I went on a vacation and got some perspective re: having a choice as to whether I had to put up with this misery at work. I remembered that I do have a choice, which I had forgotten in all of my progressive unhappiness. To relate it back to the goal of this blog/website, I also realized that I had very high expectations for myself and my life that had become toxic; I was expecting things from myself that were based on comparisons to others and how I perceived my life trajectory should be. I was finding that the success train was not coming “on schedule” and I was internalizing failure based on my measuring myself up to others. This was a recipe for depression and for feeling like a victim.
Now, I still have to get out of this job. I am in a temporary good place because I see now, and with the help of you all’s input, that I can leave at any time (it’s staggering how I could have forgotten this). I have applied to the most menial of jobs (won’t say where for anonymity reasons) because I have accepted that it’s just life, not to be taken so seriously, and that sometimes you have to just do what you need to and forget how you think you might measure up to others
If my menial job options don’t come through -and maybe I’m saying menial when I have no right to- I will quit and force my own hand. I have family and friends to fall back on and do have options. I just need to remember that.
Anyways, this has gone on too long about myself. I do have the support of a counselor and I do exercise regularly. I am actually quite healthy aside from the job and drinking too much in response to it. But I will put some of your suggestions into practice and and very grateful for your input. Thanks so much for offering up your experience to me. And Alex, thanks for the website.
Mark
I was struck by two things in all of this: First of all, how deeply it affects us when we hate our jobs. It colors every aspect of our lives. I know, I’ve tried it. And secondly, how many people could relate because they’ve been there.
Thanks to everyone who contributed!
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Friday Spoing!
This just proves that you can be happy at work at any age:
Have a very happy weekend!
