Whats the Sawyer effect on your team?
In ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ when Tom faced the dreary task of whitewashing Aunt Polly’s huge fence, Mark Twain wrote…
‘Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden’. But just when Tom has nearly lost hope, ‘nothing less than a great, magnificent inspiration bursts upon him’.
When his friend Ben ambles by and mocks Tom for his sorry lot. Tom acts confused. ‘Slapping paint on a fence isn’t a grim chore, he says. It’s a fantastic privilege’.
The job is so captivating that when Ben asks to try a few brushstrokes, Tom refuses. And he doesn’t relent until Ben gives up his apple in exchange for the opportunity.
Soon more boys arrive, all of whom fall into Tom’s trap and end up whitewashing the fence – several times over – on his behalf.
Twain then observed, ‘work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do’.
Before going on to write:
‘There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign’.
In other words, extra rewards can turn an interesting task into a drudge, turning play into work. Which can send performance, creativity, and even good behaviour on a downward spiral.
This is known as The Sawyer Effect with decades of studies being done on the subject, leading to the conclusion that tangible rewards tend to have a substantially negative effect on motivation.
It seems this is one of the most robust findings in social science, but one of the most ignored, as we persist in motivating people with short term rewards, rather than focusing on the long-term.
In business when building a team, it’s important you have the right people in the right positions, who all buy in to the organisations long term vision, rather than being motivated by short term rewards.
Yes, you have to pay them well, so they don’t have to worry about their day to day needs, but they must be motivated to do a great job by the organisations vision and collective spirit of the team.
And as the organisation progresses, through the team’s motivation and commitment on doing a great job, the whole team should then share in the collective rewards, driven by one common goal.
Our team collectively share 20% of the quarterly profit we make. 10% goes into their next salary and 10% is saved for Christmas. The remaining 80% covers debts and reinvestment requirements.
…this works for us but there’s many options for you to consider.
