TED Talk Inspiration

I am always thrilled when a new TED Talk video or audio is released.  They prove to be entertaining, intriguing and always thought-provoking.

One of their latest releases was very inspiring to me as a library manager.  The speaker, Dan Pink, talks about motivation and employees, more specifically why incentives DO NOT WORK. 

Happy day!  My library and most libraries aren’t funded well enough to offer real incentives for employees.  So it is good news that they don’t end up encouraging better work from people. 

But libraries still have to motivate their employees.  Pink suggests that we need to give them three critical things:

Autonomy

Mastery

Purpose

In other words, we need to give them the ability to make decisions about their work and feel good doing it.  We need to give them space, time, and the knowledge that they can find their own way.  Time to play, invent, think deep thoughts, and be creative. 

I am looking at doing this in some systematic way with my staff.  Perhaps giving each person 10% of their time to do what they love with an expectation of something (who knows what) coming out of it eventually.  I am still working on the details.

So what do you think? Would that sort of freedom motivate you?  What would you do with it?  And how would it change your library?