Rewards and punishments are such an integral part of organizations it’s hard to imagine doing anything else. Yet a new video reminds us that these are the least effective ways to motivate anyone.

The clip was sponsored by the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts and has been making the rounds for some time. Here’s the absorbing eleven minute video (direct link):

For regular readers of The Methodology Blog, this is old news. We’ve talked before about ambition and motivation, we’ve reviewed the problems with incentive pay and even gave an entire presentation around intrinsic motivation. Slaughter Development believes strongly that we should motivate workers by empowering them to work.

If you’re a manager, stop worrying about what you pay your employees and start focusing on how to value them. If you’re an employee, stop worrying about what you are “allowed” to do and instead focus on defining your responsibility and authority.

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