In one of our morning sessions during the first week back for staff on Wednesday, one of our teachers was talking about Dan Pink’s book When, that talks about the secrets of timing. I read it when it came out a few years ago, but I wanted to revisit the ideas so I decided to listen to a podcast this morning on my run that featured an interview with Dan Pink. The interview ended up being more about the chronology of his books, which was nice because it allowed me to think about an idea from one of his previous books, Drive. In his book, Pink talks about the three components of intrinsic motivation. As I thought about these three factors, my mind went to two different places: how do I feel about these three factors as they relate to my current position, and how does our staff feel about them. First things first, I’ll start with me:
Autonomy – I feel like I have a good deal of autonomy, or the ability to direct my work. I recognize that our school is part of a much larger organization, and there are going to be somethings that aren’t in my control. There are policies set in place for the greater good of the district, but within that space I feel I have a significant amount of decision making power to move the work forward. Based on what I learned about my personality type a few days ago, this is probably the most important aspect to me. I like to have some direction, but room to make decisions within that structure.
Mastery – While I absolutely have the desire to improve, I wouldn’t mark my current situation as high in this area. I think that, as a larger organization, I don’t have the opportunities to grow my skillsets unless I go out of my way to find those opportunities, and in most cases, take care of them off the clock. I’m motivated by the desire to get better, but my job/profession doesn’t build that regularly in to my work day.
Purpose – I think it’s safe to say that anyone who has committed their life to education feels a great sense of purpose. The impact we get to make in the lives of hundreds of students each year is almost overwhelming. I believe in what we do, particularly the parts that we have autonomy to decide – example: The Leader in Me.
If I could add one more aspect to this list of motivators it would be community. For those of us who have worked at schools, or in jobs, where that sense of community was absent, it’s clear to see why people choose to leave. I know that at times our sense of community is tested, or strained, but at the end of the day, this sense of belonging is what underpins all of these other areas.
I’ll be honest, I’m intensely curious about how our staff feels about these three areas. I created a super short anonymous survey and sent it in this week’s memo to everyone, and I looking forward to hearing how folks are feeling after one week back. I hope this data will give me information that I can reflect on. After all, what matters most is that our entire team feels like this is the place for them to grow, provide impact, and feel like they belong.
#conditproud
Dan