“Daniel Pink demonstrates the potentially negative effect of financial incentives in his new book: Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. He describes several experiments where people who were offered a financial reward to quickly complete a challenging task actually performed worse than those who simply did it for enjoyment. An important part of figuring things out is getting into a state of flow (sometimes known as being in “the zone”) and a focus on financial incentives often prevents this state of mind.”
Figuring Out Your Way to Startup Success » Make Work Meaningful
Totally agree. A friend recently offered me a $ incentive to help him raise money and connect with the right people. I agreed because I care about my friend *and* the project he’s working on. (If a project isn’t meaningful to me, I can’t work on it.) A week into “helping him,” I hadn’t helped nearly as much as I would have liked. I realized that the $ incentive actually inhibited me from making genuine recommendations and connections. It also added pressure (to my already full plate) and caused me to over think the introductions. So, I cut the incentive and immediately improved my ability to help out…
