In a scale of 1 to 10, what are you? Daniel H. Pink in the book “Drive” talks about two types of people. The Type X behavior and the Type I behavior.
Type I behavior responds to intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivation. My younger brother spent hours growing up learning all the stats from the NFL. He knew all the players, their positions and their pros and cons. It was a massive amount of time and dedication to learn about all these people! He could talk for hours with everyone about all the details. Was he getting paid for this? Was he getting a grade in school for this? No. He did it because he enjoyed the puzzle…. intrinsic motivation.
Type X behavior is more extrinsic motivation. In college, I was only motivated to do well in General Chemistry because I wanted to go to veterinary school. I would not have picked up the class because I found it interesting or wanted to research this topic forever. Heck no! I will take the class and I will get the best grade possible, but not for the sake of mastering the topic! Someone who truly enjoys Chemistry and unlocking those puzzles will beat me in the long run, because they are willing to persist for something that they enjoy without outside reward.
It’s not like the Type I people on your team don’t appreciate recognition or that raise, but values outside of physical rewards or recognition will push them to excel. Those people in day one care that take the extra time to dry off each piglet and make sure they are nursing well. The people in the gestation barn that notice that sows aren’t feeling well and make sure that they are addressed that day and follow-up. Those are the ones that make the extra effort day in and day out because they enjoy pigs, the team and seeing the farm perform well. They will do so much better than the people who are there for the job, paycheck or raise.
So… How do we protect the Type I people on our team? Prevent them from burning out and give them the fuel they need to do their job? Let’s find out what we can do….
Pigs and People 