Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Why? Why? Why? Why?

Daniel Pink has written several books about how work is changing. His latest, entitled Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, is one I highly recommend to everyone. The book is based on over 40 years of scientific research on human motivation. His conclusion is that there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business (and education) does.

In Pink’s article in the January 29, 2011 issue of the British newspaper, The Telegraph, he begins by describing his first day of his first class in journalism. He said that the instructor told the class that the job of the journalist was to explain to readers who, what, where, when, why, and how - the Five Ws and an H. He goes on to state that he thinks that the “why” is conspicuously absent from most businesses today. Based on research by Adam Grant at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, he posits that omitting the “why” may be a major mistake.

Pink describes several of the studies done by Grant. One study was conducted at a large US university call center where telephone calls were made nightly to alumni to raise scholarship funds. Grant divided the call center representatives into three groups.

For several days before making calls, the first group read brief stories from previous employees about the personal benefits of working in the job. The stories were about developing communication and sales skills that later helped them in their careers.

The second group also read stories before making calls. These stories were from people who had received scholarships from the funds raised and who described how the money had improved their lives. The aim of these stories was to remind workers of the purpose of their efforts.

The third group served as a control and read nothing before making calls. A month later, Grant measured the performance of the three groups.

The first group and the control group received about the same number of weekly pledges and raised the same amount of money as they had in the weeks before the experiment. The people in the second group, however, raised more than twice as much money and obtained twice as many pledges as they had in previous weeks. This was significantly more than the workers in the other two groups.

Remember, the second group spent time considering the significance of their work and the effect on the lives of others. It seems that reminding the workers about the “why” resulted in a doubling of their performance. Grant has shown similar results in studies.

I wonder if this also is a message for us in the classroom. Shouldn’t we be helping students to understand the “why” of the course or the curriculum? Could knowing why help to motivate students and lead to better learning experiences? Would finding meaning (the why) in course and at work eventually guide students toward meaning in life?

I suspect that understanding the “why” will help students to become more competent and committed. One thing I believe we need to hear is that we as faculty have a responsibility to help students understand the “why.” It probably is even more important to do this with the current Millennial student. And we must remember that the parental “because I said so” is probably the worst “why” we could give students.

One take home message for me from this research is that reminding people why they are doing what they are doing, even in vary small ways, can lead to in a very significant effect.

What do you think about this and the potential use to us in education? What suggestions do you have as ways to help students see and understand the “why” in the classroom? I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

1 comment:

Annesha Lovett said...

I agree that it is very important to explain the 'why' to students when we teach. It helps them to understand the 'big picture' instead of just memorizing terms or treating patients in a mechanical way. I've found that in explaining the 'why' it is also helpful to remind students of the mission of the profession. It gives them a sense of teamwork and accomplishment as they learn.