An inside look into Baobbá, and why the model works
Baobbá, a small company from São Paulo is getting some media attention lately by promoting its “open business” work model.
The company works on several startups, and promotes a new way of working, which includes the following:
- A place where equality and openness is part of the model,
- A place where new ideas and projects are created and grow organically,
- A place where you choose the projects and activities you would like to get involved in,
- A place where people trust you, care and want you to become the best of yourself,
- A place where people share values about love, nature and spirituality, and work to change our society accordingly.
Pretty innovative, eh?
No, there is no boss
The point that can be seen as the most unusual from most of the workplaces is the absence of a boss that tells you what to do.
To illustrate that this is not madness but a sensible choice, I’d like to share insights from the book “Drive” by Daniel Pink.
As children, we are driven by our inner desires to learn, to discover and to help others. But as we grow, we are programmed by our society to need extrinsic motivations: if we study hard and work tirelessly, we will be rewarded with high grades and good paychecks.
Slowly, we lose more and more of our intrinsic motivation.
The idea behind this “stick and carrot” method is that rewards reinforce desirable behavior. With the prospect of higher wages in mind, laborers haul more coal, and modern employees are quicker to respond to emails.
Punishment, by contrast, is intended to prevent undesirable behavior.
As employees fundamentally have no enthusiasm for their work and will try to shirk any responsibility, those in a management position must invariably direct and supervise them.
This system still continues to dominate the working world, but there are some bubbles of resistance…
Something is going on…
In recent years, there have been companies whose leadership rests on the self-determination of the workers: instead of monitoring their employees and keeping them on a tight rein, they have either relaxed control or completely let go of the reins.
Why is that?
Let’s illustrate this with an example: How would you explain the way people gave Wikipedia their free time to build a huge website without any remuneration? Their motivation was not driven by their basic needs, neither driven by any rewards or sanctions. How, then, can it be explained?
People need self-determination
Turns out there is another inner force that drives us. When a person finds a job fulfilling, no further reward is necessary. Merely the joy of being able to program an application such as Firefox or to publish recipes on the internet for other people to benefit from is, frequently, enough motivation to do the work.
Intrinsically motivated people want to be able to dictate when they work, what they work on, and what they are responsible for. They do not need to be directed or rewarded, because they enjoy working and do so voluntarily, without demanding anything in return.
Some people wish to have more of a say in their working hours, others in the way in which the team is composed.
If an employee is allowed these freedoms, they develop a greater potential for achievement, are happier in their job, and are less inclined to burn out.
In short, self-determination contributes positively to motivation.
People need to have possibilities for perfection
The drive for perfection is also a motivation.
To satisfy it in an optimal way, workers need to work on a task at a level of difficulty that challenges their abilities and stimulates them without being too complicated and, hence, demotivating.
People need to have a meaningful goal, a purpose
The thing is that having a larger goal in mind is more motivating and activating than money could ever be.
It has been proved that creative workers are at their most productive when intrinsically motivated, and high productivity benefits the whole company.
Workers who are given a voice in the decision-making of their company become more intrinsically motivated. More importantly, if it is made clear how important each individual’s contribution is for the performance of the whole company, each person feels their actions to be meaningful, and this way they become more committed.
So, how people get motivated to work?
Rewards and sanctions are effective on a short-term basis as performance incentives, but in the long run however, they lead to harmful behavior and destroy the inner impulsion.
Passion and dedication on the part of workers are better achieved through self-determination, possibilities for perfection and meaningful goals.
These are the ingredients that you need to inject in your company to take your employees’ motivation to a whole new level.
Some law of attraction in action here
Keeping this in mind, what happens when a place brings forward its innovative work model and claims to give freedom, trust and purpose to its members?
It attracts people who share these same values, with similar goals. And from what I can tell working here, that means awesome co-workers.
You probably know that diversity in the workplace is a big deal for innovation… people come from many different backgrounds with a wide array of skills, all sharing a lot of humanity.
People simply showed up, as we don’t have any recruiting department.
Now, is it the most efficient work model?
I don’t know, maybe not. I guess it needs a bit of structure somehow, but with good will and common sense, a lot can be achieved.
It’s a work in progress.
But from my point of view, a company that encourages you to get to know yourself better by letting you pick the projects you’d like to get involved in, that is available to help, and that serves a fulfilling purpose through their projects… can’t go wrong.
