Dan Pink calls for a new operating system for business—one designed with the intrinsic motivators of autonomy, mastery, and purpose in mind. Autonomy speaks to the urge we all have to direct our own lives. Mastery is about our desire to get better and better at something that matters. Purpose speaks to the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

Regarding autonomy, consider how as a child you loved to play and explore on your own. Adults continue to operate with that inner drive. So if you’re an employer, give your people real control over certain aspects of their work. That may include allowing them to decide what to work on and when to do it. Ultimately it means helping them make progress. Your job is to give meaningful feedback and encouragement.

On mastery, do you remember trying to learn some new task or technique? Did you experience frustration at failing or a sense of happiness from succeeding? Your frustration was due to not overcoming a difficult problem and your happiness resulted from conquering a real challenge. Had the difficulty been lessened to match your capability, you would have succeeded. But equally important to note is that you would have probably been bored and unhappy had the challenge not been severe enough. People do not want to engage with just easy things nor do they enjoy worrying about failing to master something. They want a sense of progress according to their capabilities. So calibrate what your people must do by evaluating what they can do. And furthermore, don’t cause your people to lose heart by attempting to fit their triangle or square capabilities into round tasks.

Lastly, regarding purpose—what wakes you up in the morning with a smile and helps you go the extra mile? Elizabeth Moss Kanter states that “People can be inspired to meet stretch goals and tackle impossible challenges if they care about the outcome.” In other words, people who have purpose are motivated to tackle difficult problems. So help your people connect to something larger than themselves. Don’t simply focus on performance data and measurement. Connect work to values. Ensure that whatever your company or organization is doing will in some way impact the world for the better.

Now obviously there is a balance in all of this and some of it is context driven. But give some attention to these three factors and it will result in higher job satisfaction and better job performance.