• External rewards—like money and grades—have been proven to DIMINISH performance on complex tasks!
This goes against everything our business world and education is built on. So I asked my wife about this, a Milken National Educator of the Year. She said “Yes, that’s been known for years.”
She gave me a book by the famous education researcher Alfie Kohn, which provides the following facts about grades:
1. Grades tend to reduce student’s interest in learning.
2. Grades tend to reduce student’s performance in challenging tasks.
3. Grades tend to reduce the quality of student’s thinking.
The issue relates to motivation, and has profound implications for information assurance and business continuity professionals who must motivate people to follow the policies that they establish.
Please watch the 18 minute video below. I promise, you’ll thank me afterwards. If you don’t agree that it was one of the best ever uses of your 18 minutes, write me and I will gladly refund your time.
I’d like your thoughts on what this video can teach us about how a BC or IA professional can do their job better?
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html
Last Week’s Quiz Question
Why did Vermonters huddle around their television sets at 10:00am., on December 28, 2009?
Answer: To watch the demolition of the Champlain Bridge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwxXSfJxSzQ&NR=1
Winner: Matt Bambrick.
Matt received four tickets to the Brookfield Ice Harvest: http://tinyurl.com/ydv4avg
This Week’s Quiz Question
What is the tallest man-made structure in Vermont? (By “structure” I mean something that you can enter, thus excluding things like radio and TV towers)
The winner will receive an autographed copy of AC/DC's little known information security-themed album, "Dirty Deeds Stopped Dirt Cheap."
Send your entries to jorlando@norwich.edu
Stimulating case made for the difference in approach motivating to accomplish. It is about work accomplishment, at least in this case. Although, I believe the premise and 'facts' apply to many parts of our lives.
ReplyDeleteThinking about how to apply autonomy-mastery to BC leads me to this - BC seems (as does FEMA, NFPA, BSI,) to be about common standards, repeatable methods, and regiment. I'm early in my career in BC, but so far I'd say that Dan Pink's suggestion to move toward a new way of working, would fail in BC. Not fail because it couldn't work, but fail because of the unchangeable attitudes I see in the disaster preparedness corridors. My two cents, thanks.