Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Motivation, the act of going in a certain direction to achieve something; it occurs everywhere, in school, in the work world and even at home. Rewards keep us motivated, such as mowing the lawn means more allowance at home and doing an extra 15 question on the math homework results in ten extra credit points. Dan Pink’s TED talk defines the science of motivation and how we respond to different levels of rewards. You are probably thinking, the higher the reward the more it motivates people. It seems logical, but the world is just too complicated to confirm that logic.

In Dan Pink’s TED talk he follows the incentive, “There’s a mismatch in what science knows and business does.” To determine how we respond to the amount of reward, he used a series of experiments.  The first one he described was the candle problem; the objective is to find a way to get the candle on the wall without leaking wax on the table below by using thumbtacks and matches. Pink acknowledged the results in how the experiment was set up; if the thumb tacks were in the box, people trying to fix the problem would use critical thinking, that didn’t work. Many people tried to thumbtack the candles to the wall or use a match to melt some of the wax off, which would allow the candle to stick to the wall…both didn’t work. But when the setup of the experiment was modified, with the thumbtacks moved outside the box, the problem solvers immediately thumb-tacked the box to the wall and set the lit candle inside. It is interesting how the solution of this problem sounds so simple, but the power of the right side of our brain tends to glance over that solution. The experiment was setup left-brained because it shows only one solution. The second part of this experiment is when rewards come in to play; Pink said that when a reward coincides with the candle problem, people solved it three and half minutes slower. This didn’t quite make sense, but when I thought about it a little more and came up with a solution. If someone was writing a blog post for fun or for a contest (with a reward) which blog post would be better? The blog post done for fun is better because we have several perspectives and more motivation. Writing for fun also feels more relaxing, especially when you enjoy it. Writing for a contest keeps your mind glued to the thought of the reward, the piece might still be good, but it won’t be better because the brain still has one motivation, to win.

Dan Pink’s TED talk was very entertaining and included some strong, valid points. He started off his presentation with a joke that produced some laughs. He talked about how his biggest mistake was going to law school; he also made a comment that 90% were better at law than him. It got the crowd settled in and interested in what was coming up. Another comedic remark was, “I’m an American, I don’t believe in philosophy!” He then described the candle problem and the results behind it to show the positives and negatives of motivation and problem solving. This showed how different setups of the experiment produced different final products. The next experiment he presented consisted of students from MIT facing different challenges; it was effective because the results were very unpredictable. Pink said, “In eight of the nine tasks that we examined across the three experiments, higher incentives led to worse performances.” His voice was very strong throughout his TED talk, especially when he thought some information was very important or something he disagreed with. Pink’s visual background was useful because he presented the facts on the screen and wanted that information to stick in peoples’ mind. The end of his speech was the most effective part because he started his last three to four minutes explaining the three words autonomy, mastery and purpose. He showed how the words apply in the work world and gave examples of companies that apply them. He also said that incentive thinking and using the three words leads to better results among employees. He ended with the powerful words, “...we can change the world.”

Motivation is important, but in the way it is performed is what matters. With autonomy, mastery and purpose companies such as Google, Atlasian are starting to use the process of ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment). ROWE is more flexible and follows the status quo, “It doesn’t matter where, when or how long you work, as long as you get the work done.” This has been a big success; a software company called Atlasian in Australia has a 24-hour period where the employees are allowed to work on whatever they want. This may seem like a goof off time, but this is where the great ideas are created. Google also uses a similar process called 20 percent time; products like Gmail and Google News were developed in 20 percent time.

 When I think of this process in a school environment for myself, it sounds like homeschooling. Homeschooling is basically doing your work whenever, wherever and however as long as you meet the deadline. For me this does applies with my homework because I can do it whenever, wherever, but it doesn’t apply to however because I have to follow the left-brained system. Although the HOWE does apply to my dad. My dad works in IT and his office in Colorado Springs, but he can work at home because all of the people he works with live in Phoenix or San Francisco. His schedule is very flexible as long as he gets his work done. If this was installed in education then it would eliminate the state of public schooling. It wouldn’t work in school because you need lecture classes to teach and guide you in the subject. Also, a big part of public school is the social aspect; being with your friends, learning with your friends. If someone was home schooled, then they miss out socially unless they were involved in a lot of activities. In the world for businesses this is important to follow ROWE; it will raise the motivation of employees, it increases job loyalty and gets the work done. Pink says businesses need to do this, if every company has a 20 percent time, then the world would be filled with Gmail size ideas every day, the economy would be better and it would change the world.