The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Accelerate frequently chronicles the hard work of building and nurturing teams because we believe that real teams are the antidote to the chaos of modern medicine (in the words of Dr. Tom Lee). Here, we highlight a necessary ingredient of high-performing teams: motivation.
By Mari Ransco | 1 minute
WHAT DRIVES US
AUTONOMY
The desire to direct our own lives.
MASTERY
The urge 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.
From , Daniel Pink
AN IDEA WORTH SPREADING
Motivating is a critical aspect of leadership in any field, but especially important in health care. Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ care is delivered in teams, and most of the time, the individuals on the team report to different people. Traditional rewards (or punishments) are often unavailable (and probably ineffective at changing long-term behavior). The skills of influencing and motivating are key to building and nurturing a great team.
Many of you have found the work of Daniel Pink highly instructive. In his book , Pink dispels the myth that extrinsic factors, such as a financial reward or punishment, are effective motivators. Instead, he writes that intrinsic motivation is a much more successful and sustainable. Specifically, leaders should focus on offering autonomy, mastery, and purpose to increase performance and employee engagement.
THE PUZZLE OF MOTIVATION
If you haven’t seen it before, we—and over 18 million other viewers—encourage you to .
No time for a TED Talk? Read the
CONTRIBUTOR
Mari Ransco
Editor-in-Chief, Accelerate Learning Community; Senior Director, Patient Experience and Accelerate, Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ of Utah Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ
