One of the things I love most in my work is Programme Directing IMI’s Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership; and one of the things I love most about teaching/facilitating on the diploma is when we challenge each others’ thinking. When we have a really good discussion that provokes cognitive dissonance and then we try to make sense and meaning of a new and counter intuitive idea.
Self-Determination Theory
One of the most provocative discussions often centres around an INSEAD business case that describes how Brazilian businessman Ricardo Semler built a highly successful business around a very unusual workplace culture. Making sense of this counter intuitive case helps us to understand the true nature of motivation, and in particular, contemporary research on the psychology of motivation. This contemporary research is in the field of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and it has profound implications for how we can optimise performance in business and in sport.
SDT was researched and developed originally by psychologists Richard Ryan and Ed Deci. Their work suggests there are three fundamental and universal needs that precede all motivation, and these basic needs must be satisfied for an individual to experience psychological and physical well-being.
- Autonomy: the freedom to act with volition and choice, without a feeling of compulsion or control.
- Competence: the need to develop potential and feel effective in one’s environment.
- Relatedness: the need to experience mutually satisfying social relationships.
Their work goes against much of what we as leaders and managers do as we seek to hold people accountable in controlling and directing their work; what Ryan and Deci refer to as Controlled motivation factors or levers. Their work helps us to understand the importance of Autonomous motivational levers.
The Semler case, and making sense of it through the application of Self-Determination Theory really challenges us to ask the question of ourselves:
Does my leadership cultivate or undermine motivation and engagement? I may not be able to do what Semler did, but could I shift the dial even a little?
If you’re interested in exploring this further, you might want to look at the work of the Centre for Self-Determination Theory https://selfdeterminationtheory.org and you’ll be able to find a lot of material out there on Ricardo Semler, including his book, Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace describes in detail what he did.
