What Drives Us to Innovate?

I had a long lunch conversation this week with six co-workers at i3Logic. I call it a “brown-bag brainstorm.” It is a corny way of referring to something important about our company culture: the importance of having open conversations about the direction of the company where everybody has a voice and everybody makes a contribution.

Because part of our business is focused on developing tools that contribute to a smarter more efficient workplace, we got talking about the kinds of things we could do to tap creativity, encourage collaboration, and do great things.

Some of our discussion was influenced by an animation of Daniel Pink’s Drive. (http://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc)  The animation is well done and, in combination with Pink’s refreshing and thought-provoking point of view, it prompted some fun and useful conversation about how we could continue to build a healthy culture by tapping into the motivating elements that Pink talks about: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.

-            Autonomy: the desire to be self-directed. Fulfill it and you get engagement. Results in new innovation, more creativity, and better business

-            Mastery: the desire to be great at something. Everybody wants to be better at something they enjoy. Drives expertise which drives problem solving and explains why people want to create free things

-            Purpose: the connection between profit and doing things people believe in. Results in better products, better services, and an ability to recruit better and better talent.

How important is motivation to you and your co-workers? How well does your company or organization’s culture encourage these motivating influences? I believe that the success of the future knowledge workforce is linked to building culture that recognizes and encourages these values.  What do you think?