How to raise the intrinsic motivation of your employees with teaching-as-management
As AI propels humanity into the future, we are bombarded by the fear that this future AI will steal/eliminate our jobs. In one survey of Britons, though, more than a third said their jobs were meaningless. In another survey, men prefer housework over their jobs. So maybe eliminating jobs isn’t so bad after all.
One conclusion from these studies is that many jobs are not particularly rewarding. That implies workers have little intrinsic motivation for their job. One study showed that intrinsic motivation is a highly desirable trait among employees. Why? Because you get greater commitment and employees tend to be more creative solving problems. I dare venture that people who have intrinsic motivation also behave more ethically and are more satisfied because extrinsic goals are less important, i.e. the proverbial journey is what matters.
Intrinsic motivation is different for everyone, though there are a few common themes: having autonomy, expressing oneself through work, having an impact, overcoming a new challenge, learning and growing.
At Pez.AI, we emphasize personal growth and development to increase intrinsic motivation. Teaching-as-management focuses on individual learning as an end in and of itself. In other words, the journey is the goal. In this model, a successful business is the happy by-product of successful learning and growth. The purpose of leaders and managers is to provide the structure to make it easy and safe to learn and grow.
How is this different from traditional training programs? Companies like Microsoft are developing complete curricula to train and teach their staff. Other industries sponsor on-the-job training and industry-academia collaborations. The difference is that the emphasis of these initiatives is on skills and productivity, which are extrinsic motivations. Many training programs are explicit in communicating “take our course and you will get paid more”. Focusing on extrinsic motivators can breed opportunism and in some cases morally dubious behavior.
The teaching-as-management framework
How does teaching-as-management work in practice? Let’s compare the goals of employees with management. The goal of an employee is to
- focus on learning and personal development;
- apply learning to business problems.
These goals tie directly into intrinsic motivation. One of our few cultural requirements is to ensure that candidates are passionate about learning. We’re less concerned about the skills people have and more concerned with whether people are committed to learning and growing. Business is dynamic, and people need to adapt to succeed. Those that are not passionate about learning or are stuck in a fixed mindset tend to leave of their own accord, which is best for everybody. We are not in the business of coercion and forcing people to change.
On the flip side is management. Our role is to
- create an environment that facilitates learning;
- align learning goals with business goals.
In practice this can mean constructing learning plans, teaching, giving feedback. I give weekly lectures to show employees new perspectives on problems they are solving. I’m also writing a book to share my wisdom and philosophy for doing data science. Everyone has their own style, but the point is to facilitate learning. It means designing desirable difficulties that are just hard enough but not too hard. It also means ensuring that people feel comfortable/safe failing. Learning is half failure, and learners need to know they can fail without repercussion. It’s up to managers to ensure this is possible.
Benefits of teaching-as-management
Why does this approach make sense? There are numerous benefits. I started with motivation. Many people want fulfilling work and want the freedom to accomplish goals how they wish. We can all spend countless hours on something we’re passionate about even if it seems difficult and tedious to others. By focusing on each employee’s learning goals, it’s possible to tap into the intrinsic motivation of each individual. Helping employees reach their goals, organizations ultimately get commitment and loyalty without coercion. This essentially applies to management Dale Carnegie’s observation that the fastest way to make friends is to be genuinely interested in other people.
The second benefit of teaching-as-management is that it scales. It is the antithesis of micromanagement and focuses on empowering every employee. I assume that empowered staff are more satisfied, are more reliable, and require less management oversight. This theory isn’t new and is celebrated by companies like Nordstroms and their famed one page employee handbook. When employees exercise good judgement, rules and policies become much simpler and organizations become nimbler. Remember, the plural of rule is bureaucracy, and that is the surest way to mediocrity. A good case study is United Airlines, but you see this as well with most call centers. Companies like Nordstroms and Zappos are extraordinary because they are so rare.
Teaching-as-management emphasizes continuous learning, which is a short step from Kaizen, or continuous improvement. Rebranded as lean production in the West, Kaizen focuses on efficiency and eliminating waste but not necessarily people. In essence, the goal is to make more time for valuable work by eliminating unnecessary waste. This goal mirrors our thinking regarding bots: eliminate the waste of operational and administrative interactions to make more time for valuable interactions. In the end, it’s all about creating more rewarding experiences and minimizing unrewarding experiences.
This is just the beginning of my journey with teaching-as-management. There are other details that I’ll discuss in future posts. But this is enough to whet your appetite. Let me know what you think. Cool? Crazy? Comment!
Brian Lee Yung Rowe is Founder of Pez.AI, the chatbot platform that helps people engage in more meaningful interactions. Join the beta to see how bots can improve your relationships with your customers and employees.
