This is a follow-on thought from my post on Daniel Pink's TED talk.
Research has shown that the Carrots & Sticks approach to motivating people actually destroys their creativity.
What does this say about jobs where the issue of money, of being paid a decent salary, is very much based on such an approach? Such as in sales - the commission-based remuneration model is clearly a Carrots & Sticks approach.
As Daniel Pink says in the video - there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business practice. To the detriment of business. Are businesses failing to leverage the creativity of their sales people?
I was once asked if I have ever worked on a commission basis. My answer was no. And I never want to. But I could not clearly give a reason why. I knew that I can only work effectively when the issue of money is sorted, agreed to, accepted and taken well off the table. Thus I can focus completely on the engagement at hand.
Now I am a step closer to some clarity around this issue. A commission-based remuneration scheme forces me to be constantly aware of how much or how little I could be paid for a particular engagement. The goal of trying to get paid enough, or not lose out on too much, will then impact the decisions I make - do I decide for the sake of the project, the bigger picture, or for the sake of my pay packet?
This significantly complicates the already complicated decision making and ideation, as my work is quite the opposite of a linear, templatised production process. It adds a variable that actually has no bearing on the success of the project!
I love it when watching a 20min video can bring such an unexpected shock of clarity!
