What Motivates People at Work
Most business leaders have lost sight of what motivates people at work. In fact, some companies haven’t updated their management practices in years, which means they’re incapable of creating high-performance teams. In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, former U.S. Department of Labor aide Daniel H. Pink says businesses commit “seven deadly flaws”:
1. Extinguishing motivation
2. Diminishing performance
3. Crushing creativity
4. Crowding out good behavior
5. Encouraging cheating, shortcuts and unethical behavior
6. Becoming addictive, obsessive
7. Fostering short-term thinking
Breakthrough Teams
Members of breakthrough teams dream ambitious goals; believe in each other and what they can accomplish together; take calculated risks, but closely measure their results; persevere despite problems or conflicts; and have a charming habit of telling stories that capture what they are trying to accomplish.
The authors of "The Orange Revolution" collaborated with The Best Companies' Group on a survey of more than 350,000 employees from 28 industries, ranging from healthcare to financial services, from education to manufacturing.
Among the surprising results:
Almost nine out of ten employees are fully engaged--the first step toward revolutionary results--when their members set clear goals, communicate openly, build trust, hold them accountable, and recognize great work.
Members of breakthrough teams regularly take the time to identify goals that align with their personal competencies as well as with team and company needs. In the process of ensuring that their efforts will be personally meaningful and of significant benefit to others, they often discover that the most impactful and fulfilling activities are not part of their defined daily tasks.
Breakthrough teams not only embrace a common cause, but also establish the values to get there. What's more, members cheer each other and the group to victory. Employees feel a heightened sense of camaraderie. 63 percent of workers found office productivity to be positively affected when con-workers are friends outside of work.
The bottom line: breakthrough teams change the way business is done for not only their company, but for the entire industry. There are no great companies, just great teams.
The impetus for each team member to fully consider who s/he is and what s/he wants out of the teaming experience creates the intrinsic motivation to achieve success.
Adrian Gostick: The Orange Revolution: How One Great Team Can Transform an Entire Organization