Autonomy, Mastery, & Purpose: Summer Reading Reflection 2

The Three Elements of Motivation

Autonomy

Acting with choice. Curious and self-directed. This is what it means to have autonomy, which is the most important of the three psychological needs. Full autonomy is reached when people have autonomy over the four T's: their task, their time, their technique, and their team.

Daniel Pink provides many examples of giving employees (or students!) the power to choose what they will do, when they will do it, how they will do it, and whom they do it with. All of his examples resulted in an increase in innovation, efficiency, and employee satisfaction. I really liked this chapter because I can relate. In both high school and college, I always appreciate when I am able to be autonomous in my work. I especially appreciate being able to choose how I want to complete an assignment/project.

During my conversations with Mr. Fellenbaum, he shared with me some examples of how he gives his students autonomy in the classroom. When they have a project to complete, he provides multiple options for the students to choose from. I like this idea because then the students will choose a project that they will enjoy working on and won't feel like they’re being forced to do something. He also will give them autonomy over how they utilize their time in the classroom. As long as they are working on one of the tasks/assignments listed on the board, his students can prioritize and complete work in a way that works for them.

One idea that I think would be neat to try in a classroom is having “FedEx Days”. This is a concept that some companies are using and I think it would be neat to try out with students. Basically, you would give students one day (maybe every month?) to work solving a problem, answering a question, or creating something related to the class. Then the next day students would share out what they discovered, learned, or created. You could make it more fun by bringing in snacks to eat while people share.

Mastery

Autonomy leads to engagement, which brings us to the second element of motivation: Mastery. Mastery is the desire to get better at something that matters, and engagement is required to produce mastery.

Pink discusses that the key to this mastery mindset is encouraging autotelic experiences, which is an experience that is also the reward. This is also known as “flow”, where a person with autonomy “forgets themselves in a function”. The structure of flow consists of clear goals, immediate feedback, and challenges well matched to abilities (just enough challenge so you aren’t anxious or bored). In the classroom, I definitely agree that this structure is beneficial. I always hated when it took a week or more to get a test grade or an assignment back. I know that teachers are very busy people, but maybe finding ways to provide feedback earlier would be helpful. You could also have students evaluate themselves before they submit an assignment, as this would allow them to give themselves feedback.
While flow is essential to mastery, I appreciate it that Pink differentiates between the two. Flow happens in the moment, while mastery occurs over month, years, sometimes a lifetime. To embark on a journey of mastery, it is important to know that mastery follows 3 laws: 

1. Mastery is a Mindset: what you believe shapes what you achieve.
2. Mastery is a Pain: mastery is not always fun and requires grit.
3. Mastery is an Asymptote: you may come close to mastery, but you will never touch it.

Purpose

“Autonomous people working towards mastery perform at very high levels. But those who do so in the service of some greater objective can achieve even more” (p. 131). In this chapter Pink further discusses the idea that money (or other extrinsic motivators) are only useful to a point. More successful companies and schools put more focus on purpose maximization, and often use extrinsic factors such as profit as a catalyst for pursuing purpose. 

This chapter got me thinking about the purpose students could find in SAEs. In addition to growing their SAE project to make a profit and learning a plethora of skills/knowledge, students could determine a way to contribute to a purpose of their choosing. I think that students who have both profit and purpose maximization would grow so much through their SAE project experiences. Pink also discusses the importance of words, perhaps the most important being WHY. When I teach, I want to make sure that my students always know why they are doing something.

Want to learn more about motivation? Listen to Daniel Pink's TED Talk!

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - Summer Reading Reflection

In my AEE 311 class last semester, we learned about motivation and how we as future Agricultural Educators can use both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to drive our students’ growth and learning. We watched a TEDTalk by Daniel Pink on what truly motivates people and how previous notions regarding motivation can actually hinder performance. My own opinions regarding motivation were challenged and I became intrigued with the concept of motivation. So when it came time to choose a professional development book to read over the summer I was excited my cooperating teacher, Mr. Fellenbaum, also wanted to read Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink.  

So far, the book has discussed how society believes motivation works versus what science tells us about human motivation. The disconnect is astounding and very eye-opening. Here are the major points and thoughts I had from this portion of Drive.

1. Carrots and Sticks, or extrinsic motivation, can actually reduce motivation.

When I first read that extrinsic motivation can actually reduce motivation in many instances, I couldn't really believe it. How could that be? I could see maybe "not affect", but reduce? Daniel Pink even stated, "For as long as any of us can remember, we've configured our organizations and constructed our lives around this assumption: The way to improve performance, increase productivity, and encourage excellence is to reward the good and punish the bad" (pg. 17).

However, the more I read, the more everything started to make sense. The use of external motivation to improve performance and productivity took off during the Industrial Revolution where everyone had a job similar to that of a machine part. Carrots and sticks worked well in that era but work poorly in today's society, where people have jobs that require creativity and other 21st century skills. 

In fact, science shows that extrinsic motivation can be detrimental by reducing intrinsic motivation, performance, and creativity, while encouraging cheating/shortcuts and short-term thinking. The Accelerated Reader program was one memory that came to mind while reading this portion of the book. In elementary school, we had to read books and take tests to accrue a certain value of points each month. If we met our point value, we got some sort of prize. I loved reading from an early age, but I remember disliking reading books for Accelerated Reader. Instead of it being something I wanted to do, it became something I had to do. I also remember students reading enough books to reach their monthly points, but never more than that. They already reached the point that resulted in their external reward, so why go any further? 

2. There is a place for both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

Pink starts off this chapter by discussing how an employee needs to feel they have adequate baseline rewards (income, benefits, etc.) before motivation of any kind will work well. This makes sense; in a way it is similar to students who perhaps didn't get enough sleep or are hungry while they're sitting in class. It's pretty hard to be motivated by anything when your basic needs aren't being met (Can someone say Maslow's hierarchy of needs??). That makes me wonder - how do teachers go about motivating students to learn and participate when their basic needs aren't being met in some way? 

However, once someone has that baseline, then extrinsic motivation works quite well to increase performance for routine tasks that don't require creativity to accomplish. But if the task requires critical thinking and creativity, then intrinsic motivation is the way to go. The three elements of intrinsic motivation are autonomy, mastery, and purpose (which is discussed in later chapters of the book). I feel this is important to keep in mind in all aspects of our lives. One thing that got me excited when reading this is the possibility of introducing these concepts to FFA Officers, and then have them come up with ideas for how to motivate other members to participate for various activities/events. 

Flow Chart showing effective ways to motivate people depending on the task/situation.

3. Not everyone is created the same.

I'm really glad that Daniel Pink included this in his book. Similar to Type A and Type B people, Pink discusses what he calls Type I and Type X behavior. Type X behavior is fueled more by extrinsic desires than intrinsic ones, and Type I behavior is fueled more by intrinsic desires than extrinsic ones. Everyone has some of both behaviors in varying amounts. I think this is important to realize, because that means there isn't just one effective way to motivate all students. But it also makes me want to figure out ways to foster intrinsic motivation in each of my students next spring. Thankfully, I think the next few chapters are going to help me figure that out. In the words of Daniel Pink, "Type I behavior depends on three nutrients: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Type I behavior is self-directed. It is devoted to becoming better at something that matters. And it connects that quest for excellence to a larger purpose" (pg. 78-79).