Motivation for Creative Professionals
In the book The Rise of the Creative Class, Author Richard Florida postulates that motivation for Creatives is more intrinsic than extrinsic.
Extrinsic Motivation uses rewards or punishment to motivate the correct behavior.
While Intrinsic Motivation involves using a personally rewarding factor to achieve a goal.
In his research, Richard Florida found that 9 of the top ten motivators are intrinsic. The one? Money, of course.
- Challenge and responsibility
- Flexibility
- A stable work environment
- Money
- Professional development
- Peer recognition
- Stimulating colleagues and bosses
- Exciting job content
- Organizational culture
- Location and Community
Considering that most knowledge workers are Creative, this level of data helps us understand what motivates people. Simply put, intrinsic rewards drive people. In other words, money is good, but perhaps interesting, flexible, stable, challenging, and community-building work environments are important too. Throwing money at the problem may help for a moment, but probably isn’t going to motivate folks to do their best work, Elon.
References and Resources
- Richard Florida – The Rise of the Creative Class: The Survey data was pulled from a survey conducted by Information Week in 2001
- Interesting Article on Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivations
- A way more in-depth perspective
Supporting Music
Never Miss a Beat by Kaiser Chiefs
Maybe Tomorrow by Stereophonics
Originally Posted April 9, 2018