4MAT® Train the Trainer Blog

Daniel Pink, Carrots and Sticks and Motivating Learners

February 1, 2010

Dan Pink and I had a chance to connect in between speaking at the Serious Business conference in New Orleans last weekend. Dan just released his latest book, Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.  In his book, he shares the 7 Reasons that Carrots and Sticks (Often) Don’t Work…here are 3:

1. They can extinguish intrinsic motivation.
2. They can diminish performance.
3. They can crush creativity

This book has interesting applications to 4MAT training design and delivery. The essential purpose of the 4MAT Engage step is connecting to the intrinsic motivation of the learner . Many train the trainer programs emphasize integrating fun activities. Engaging the learner requires more than fun activities-it requires a deep connection to the greater purpose of the learning. When this doesn’t happen, we risk performance and creative adaptation.

Filed under: training design

Tags: 4MAT, 4MAT 4Business, 4MAT model, train the trainer