Starting with Daniel Pink's "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us," I set off on a reading spree about motivation and influence. As an administrator at a county office of education, my brain was constantly wondering how all of this information applies to schools.
I've worked with numerous principals who were unable to motivate their teachers to change or collaborate or analyze data and several who were highly successful at this. The research shows that out of all of the factors that contribute to student achievement, the teacher and the lessons that they teach are BY FAR the strongest influence. So, a school leader's job is simple, hire the best teachers, retain the best teachers, train the best teachers, and motivate the best teachers. Most leaders know how to hire, retain, and train teachers. But what about motivation?
I'd like for this blog to be a conversation. I'll summarize some of the research and writings on the subject and I'd love to hear from administrators how they've used this information or how the information might apply (or not) to schools.
Over the next several months, I'll summarize books such as Drive, The Motivation Breakthrough, The Influencer, The Art of Influence, Flow, Tribes, Outliers, and several research papers on the subject. I'd love to hear your opinions on how we can apply these powerful strategies to creating schools that are motivational, supportive, and highly effective.
Please lend your voice, share with your colleagues, and add to this important and valuable work.
Tags: motivation, teachers, daniel pink, drive, michael horton, mike horton, principal, autonomy, mastery, purpose carrots and sticks
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