Dan Pink popularised Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose as the big three intrinsic motivators, but we can go one better by adding (or restoring) Connection into the mix:
- Connection: People need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to other people. Examples: feeling part of a team, having a friend or buddy at work, sharing successes (and failures).
- Autonomy: Our desire to be self-directed and make decisions. Example: having a say in how you work and not just doing what the boss says or following a strict process.
- Mastery: The urge to improve. Example: acquiring new skills and refining existing ones.
- Purpose: Doing something that has meaning and is important. Examples: making a positive difference beyond getting paid — for customers, for colleagues, or to society. A more nuanced take on Purpose with lots of examples from Simone Maus.
Why Intrinsic Motivators?
Intrinsic motivators are at work whenever we do something because we want to: we do something because at least in part we want to do it and have an affinity or attraction. The motivation comes from within.
Extrinsic motivation, by contrast, comes from the outside — carrots and sticks, rewards and punishments — and while this can work for basic and mechanical tasks by helping us focus. Fear and competition can do that!
But for more sophisticated tasks, especially those requiring creativity and cooperation, excessive extrinsic motivation is distracting and can be downright destructive.
For knowledge work especially, over-dependence on extrinsic motivators is a bad bet.
Why add Connection?
In an era where teamwork and collaboration are ever-more-important, Connection is the intrinsic motivator that helps us bond and succeed together.
Pink chose to focus on Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose, drawing on Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, which also emphasises three intrinsic factors:
- Autonomy ✓,
- Competence (rebranded as Mastery), and
- Relatedness (Connection).
Do you see the switch? Pink dropped Relatedness/Connection in favour of Purpose! While Purpose is a fine addition, Pink left out the most interpersonal of the motivators.
It’s time to bring Connection back!
P.S. How do I use this and is there more?
Exercise: With a team or work group (e.g. in an Agile retrospective) brainstorm what’s working and what isn’t, and then sort into four categories: Connection, Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. See what insights emerge, and come up with a few actions or experiments to build on strengths and address deficiencies.
Extension: Notice that some things don’t fit? Try adding three more motivators — Status, Certainty, Fairness — drawn from David Rock’s SCARF model. If you find this combination works better, consider adopting SCRAMPF as an extended amalgam (credit: Andrew Long suggested this).
Prager Consulting 