What’s the best way to reward a great employee?

If you suggest a bonus or a day off, you may need to rethink your approach to motivating yourself and others – at least according to Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

He describes external rewards as the carrot-and-stick approach. Such an approach may once have worked, but it won’t in today’s ever evolving landscape. Instead, he says the secret to high performance has three essentials:

1)       Autonomy: the desire to direct our own lives

2)      Mastery: the urge to get better and better at something that matters

3)      Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

My blog is a perfect example of the essentials at work. There is no paycheck for publishing this blog. There is no carrot waiting for me. So why do it?

For one, I am mastering a new tool (or at least learning it). I can work on it when it suits me. I choose my topics. And it has a purpose – I’m able to share information with NFPW members who may not have the time or desire to research and distill on the topics that I cover. It’s part of my service to NFPW.

The book also includes a tool kit for taking the ideas in the book and putting them into action – in your professional life, in your child’s education, in your personal life.  

If you are intrigued, but just don’t think you can fit another book into your life, check out this video that neatly depicts it.