Pink

Pink’s motivation theory relies on what psychologists call the ‘third drive’. This suggests that businesses need to stimulate the intrinsic motivation which occurs when someone gets satisfaction from an activity itself, without threats or rewards from the outside. He identified three factors of the self-determination theory that motivate people:

Autonomy: workers need to be autonomous in order to be more motivated, which means that businesses need to provide an environment that permits employees to shape their own professional lives. This is done through flexibility of businesses; flexibility on when, how, who and what their employees do.

Mastery: businesses need to provide learning opportunities for their employees, where they will be able to be innovative. Employees will gain mastery when they are given tasks that matter to them and are neither too easy nor too difficult.

Purpose: people are motivated when they are able to see benefits of their work. In order to achieve this, businesses need to emphasise their purpose, and show the workers that they contribute to this purpose, which will in turn increase their motivation.