Hi, everyone. Today I want to talk a little bit about motivators, and specifically about the difference in types of motivation that work well when you’re trying to drive a faster pace of innovation.

There’s been a myriad of research that shows that for doing very defined, high stakes tasks, rewards can work well. So you know, special bonuses or incremental pay can work really, really well when there’s a defined task because it gets people to focus and execute. Unfortunately, that same research shows that when you’re trying to do a more creative task, those same high stakes motivations actually hurt creativity because that over-focus keeps people from really opening the aperture to try new things. That doesn’t mean we can’t motivate. It’s just a different set of motivators work well, and there’s a lot of recognition for that, and others. But today, specifically, I want to talk a little bit about purpose.

Almost all companies have a purpose. And I often ask executives, “How much time do you spend trying to connect to what your department, or your workgroup, or your division, does to that purpose, and how you actually fit into that?” These are important considerations because those intrinsic motivators are often what get people to think about work, you know, when they’re on the run in the morning, or thinking about solving a problem when they’re in the shower. That can foster a sense of, you know, “We’re doing this for a greater purpose to help expand the aperture of what your organization is capable of doing.”

So again, process, agile, DevOps, all those things are important, but if you don’t have people with the right mindset and motivation, it’s hard to get people to be as motivated as you want them to be. I was talking to the CEO of a large global bank, and they spend a lot of time thinking about financial inclusion and investing in financial inclusion in the third world. And that was talking about “why,” and the motivation around that. But it was interesting, I was later talking to the CIO, who said, “Hey, it helps us to attract talent, when people can spend some of their time doing that because a lot of the same code that developers are writing help the bank in those global situations. And that, almost more than anything else, helps to attract, retain, and get people to be working extra hours to deliver because they can tangibly see the benefit that they can have more broadly.

So I’d highly encourage you to go back, to really think about the mission of your company, and how you can apply it and connect people in their work to it. It’s an incredibly important motivator, especially when you’re trying to drive a faster pace of innovation and creativity. Thanks a lot. Talk to you soon.

[To hear more of Jim’s views on culture and open leadership follow him on LinkedIn to see his video series, “An Open Conversation with Jim.”]

Innovation can be difficult. Having to present and justify novel ideas while taking several risks into account can certainly ramp up the pressure that innovators feel. Obstacles can seem indomitable, goals can seem far-fetched, and efforts can seem futile. Focusing too deeply on an issue can preclude our sight of the bigger picture, motivation, or purpose.

Jim mentions an interesting distinction in motivation between structured and creative tasks. Innovation tends to fall in the second category since innovative ideas are, by no means, normal; they require people to think outside the box. But what truly drives the ability to do so? As Jim had discussed, a lot of research has shown that “high stakes” motivators actually impede creativity, a key component of innovation. Instead of focusing too heavily on what’s at stake, it may be more beneficial to ask yourself, “What am I really trying to accomplish?”

Answering this question requires a realization of one’s true purpose in innovating. Our instincts might associate accomplishing tasks with satisfying whoever assigned them but when it comes to innovation, such a motivator rarely produces astounding results. It might get the job done but it usually does nothing beyond that. Innovation usually results in broad, significant change, and envisioning that change can help innovators to embody genuine purpose in their work.

Another step to driving innovation, as Jim mentioned, is applying purpose. However, many still struggle with finding that purpose, a process that can either keep ideas in someone’s notepad or convert ideas into the “next big thing.” Once someone has a strong sense of that purpose, innovation becomes at least a little bit more seamless. Interestingly enough, IBM’s slogan is “Think.” And in times where innovation is heavily encouraged or even demanded, it becomes absolutely essential to do just that.