The science of motivation presents an opportunity for librarians

Last week, I finished reading Daniel Pink’s latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” which was was released in December. Last year, I read one of Pink’s other books, A Whole New Mind, a stimulating read itself. I previously written about Pink’s observation that storytelling and narrative are important 21st century skills; he also discusses other skills such as empathy and symphony (i.e. synthesis of ideas and knowledge, but hey, symphony is a much more elegant way of describing) in the book. For those concerned about losing jobs due to computers or outsourcing, Pink’s books are recommended, highly accessible reading (with a detailed bibliography for those who want to look up and read all the studies he refers to – I appreciate that!).

Drive seeks to apply findings from psychological research to business. As Pink repeats at several points in the book, “when it comes to motivation, there’s a gap between what science knows and what business does.” Pink discusses that modern tasks that require creative thinking to solve problems are best motivated by encouraging mastery, autonomy and purpose. However, many organizations are operating in ignorance of these insights. As Pink puts it:

Too many organizations – not just companies, but governments and nonprofits as well – still operate from assumptions about human potential and individual performance that are outdated, unexamined, and rooted more in folklore than in science. They continue to pursue practices such as short-term incentive plans and pay-for-performance schemes in the face of mounting evidence that such measures usually don’t work and often do harm. (9)

In thinking through the book’s arguments, I tried to think how librarians could make sense of these insights about motivation. I think the greatest opportunity lies in support the mastery factor. Mastery, in Pink’s definition, is a complex concept that involves the concept of flow of proposed by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (here’s a TED video from 2004 of him explaining the concept of flow) of being totally absorbed in a task and losing track of everything else. In my view, mastery can only be achieved on a firm foundation of knowledge and education and this is where librarians come in. This is a delicate task that requires a deep understanding of what people do and what resources would best help them. This kind of deep support that enables mastery is a high touch kind of operation that simply can’t be done by a search engine.

If you want a further taste of what Pink’s arguments about the science of motivation, check out this great TED speech that he made in July 2009:

What do you think? How else can Pink’s synthesis of the science of motivation help you in the workplace and beyond?

Related posts:

1. Young Learners Need Librarians, Not Just Google (Forbes)
2. The Human Rocket Science is…. information!
3. WILU 2010: Lighting Strikes, Birds of a Feather and more (Day Two)
4. Do School Libraries Need Books? (NY Times Blog)