In Dan Pink’s masterpiece Drive – truly one of the most important books I’ve read on 21st century management – he shares how Intrinsic Motivators (those motivators that come from within… ie. not “carrot and stick” incentives) are key to retaining top performers in the 21st century. He defines the three components of Intrinsic Motivation as:
(a) Autonomy – control over Time, Task, Technique and Team
(b) Mastery – constant growth and development
(c) Purpose – working towards something that matters to you
Here at Actionable, we run a virtual office. Our core team of ten work remotely (typically from home… or Starbucks), and our Actionable Consultants are scattered across the globe. As the founder of Actionable, I love this setup. Here’s why I love having a virtual team:
- Everyone has autonomy. Lots of it. We run a weekly team meeting (via WebEx), and most team members have a weekly one-on-one call as well. Outside of that, they’re completely responsible for their own schedule. The team has complete control over when they work, where they work, what they work on at any given time and, often, who they work with on a particular project as well. Not only is this an intrinsic motivator for people, the sheer amount of autonomy they have requires a certain type of person. Virtual offices aren’t for everyone. I love the people that they are for.
- I can recruit the best, without worrying about geography. We have team members in New York, London, Toronto and beyond. We don’t see each other as often as we’d like, but people can live where they want (back to that whole “autonomy” thing).
- Everyone is developing Mastery. Time management skills, tackling new initiatives and the responsibility that are borne of necessity in a virtual environment means people are constantly growing.
- Which leaves me to focus on Purpose. My (very) focused job as the leader is to provide a clear picture of where we’re going, then to connect with each individual and help them articulate how that vision ties to their own sense of purpose. One thing I’ve learned is that everyone has a different purpose. In some cases it overlaps almost completely with the company purpose, sometimes only a little. And it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s some overlap, we can support each other in achieving those goals.
Virtual environments aren’t for everyone, and I’ll be the first to admit that they don’t fit for all organizations. It’s working for us, though, and it really does attract some fabulous people.
