She writes:
> Bernie DeKoven is seeking a system that recognizes and supports intrinsic
> motivation and play. I believe that the key to his quest is in ridding
> the current system and environment of those elements that detract and
> destroy the natural desire to do a good job that most people are born
> with. And I believe that traditional performance management and pay for
> performance programs, even at the Best in Class companies, get in the way
> of productivity and fun.
I truly appreciate your faith in the "natural desire to do a good job."
It strongly reinforces a conversation I had with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
about my efforts to make meetings more fun. He helped me realize that the
real fun of a meeting comes from the effectiveness of the individual and
group, not from any game or exercise or technological cuteness that is
externally imposed. The same conditions that produce flow in a good game
are found in a good meeting. Flow doesn't need to be rewarded. And I agree
that the impediments to flow come from the negative affects of extrinsic
reward/punishment systems.
My "Getting Paid to Play" theme perhaps would better serve this dialog if
it were reworded to "Getting Paid and Getting to Play." What are your
findings about reward systems that actually promote (or at least don't
inhibit) this experience (flow, play, personal, spiritual and material
profit)?
-- Bernie DeKoven DeKoven@aol.com http://www.california.com/~meetings