❌ Are You (Unknowingly) Killing Your Team’s Motivation?

When I first started as a team leader, I believed that rewards were key to driving performance. It made sense—surely some team members needed that extra push?

But Daniel Pink’s book Drive, combined with my experience as a team coach, taught me something different:

🎯 External rewards can actually reduce performance.
💡 Real, lasting motivation is built on autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

And this doesn’t just apply to individuals—teams, too, thrive when these three elements are present. From a systems thinking perspective, I would even argue for reversing Pink’s original order.

1. 🎯 Purpose

“People become truly engaged when they know their work matters.”

When team members know what their common goal is and understand why their work is important—to the team, the organization, and the world beyond—it creates direction and engagement.

✅ Reflective questions:

What do we, as a team, really contribute to?
Do we clearly communicate our purpose to new members?
Can we feel the impact of our work?

2. 📈 Mastery

“A learning team is a living team.”

Learning and development are deep human drivers. In strong teams:

people develop as individuals and in their interaction with one another,
feedback is constructive and oriented at the joint goal,
mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn.

3. 🛠 Autonomy

“When you give space, you get ownership in return.”

Autonomy is about influence and responsibility.
Teams that can decide how to reach their goals—within clear boundaries—show more creativity, initiative, and ownership.

📌 Important note: autonomy is not the same as being left to figure things out alone.
It requires: