Motivational speakers do nothing for me—and most people, for very long. I have met people who say one of these well-intended folks changed their lives, but the research on learning suggests those are rare. More typically, the impact is to make people feel good for a short period, and at best create a very short-term …
Tag: coaching
Drop the Carrot and Stick: The Science of Motivation
In 1999, before I danced away the millennium on New Year’s Eve to Prince while ignoring fears about the Y2K Bug, a major study began changing the way researchers viewed worker motivation. Lead author Edward Deci was the first to propose in 1971 that workers might have internal motivations that had nothing to do with …
A Martial Artist and Agile Coach Explains Shu-Ha-Ri
When I walked into the studio of Master Y.K. Kim in 1981, I was lost. Not in the physical sense; I was there on purpose, drawn by his Yellow Pages ad. I was lost in the spiritual sense. My identity was gone. As I looked around his low-rent dojang in Orlando, I spotted on a …
Cheap Agile: Don’t Hire a Team of Coaches
Multiple times a week it happens: No matter how many ways I try to make clear I am only a solo or lead transformation coach, people contact me about joining the team of Agile coaches in some large company. The worst part is not the waste of my time. The worst part is the waste …
Please Don’t Feed the Seagulls
Nearly every week, I am contacted by a recruiter wanting me to become a consultant who guides clients in Agile transformation on a traveling basis. It feels like every major IT consulting/staffing agency is getting into the game. Too bad the only evidence this approach works comes from drop-in consultants and their agencies. A look …