Ok, I might be trying a little hard to find some gratitude on this one, but…
I was skiing last week with some friends while we were working on developing a conference (a cool conference that includes skiing activities that help solidify key insights…yes, the one I talk about in the previous post…but that is another story). On the last run of the second day (after I had written the previous post), I caught an edge, had the tip of my ski catch and flipped over, twisting my knee. At the doctor the next day, they said that I have a slightly torn MCL.
This week I came out to Montana with my family and some friends to ski at Big Sky. We had planned this vacation for months. We were looking forward to having some time away, teaching our kids how to ski, and enjoying the mountains.
Everyone skied yesterday except for me.
I did a little work, took pictures, captured some video, and got groceries. I kept myself busy.
Today they are off again but instead of keeping myself busy I’m all alone watching the snow fall down at a rate of a few inches an hour (fresh powder). I really want to go out on the hill and ski – but my knee is not quite ready (hopefully tomorrow).
But here is what I’m grateful for…I have a day to relax and enjoy. I sat this morning with a cup of coffee watching the snow fall softly and cover the evergreen branches with a white coat. I watched a bird I couldn’t recognize fly into the evergreens and saw the snow cascade down in a torrent to the ground as the birds wings hit the branches. The mountain is hidden in mist and snow, but outside is beautiful. There is a calm quiet that permeates this place which I can’t find in Minneapolis. I’ve been given a day of contemplation. One in which I can think and be grateful for all that I have.
I could be bitter…I could be mad at the fact that I am stuck here now because I was stupid last week. But what good would that do me? So instead I choose to use this time and enjoy it.
I choose to be grateful.
And so…while I would like to be out skiing and feeling the fresh powder under my skis…I am thankful for this alone time in such a beautiful setting.
I am in Colorado working/playing with a few friends planning a future conference. While we have probably been playing more than working (we talk work on the ski hill, but I can’t really call that work) this time has given me some moments of reflection that I wouldn’t normally get. It is refreshing to step away from everyday life to gain some perspective. Looking at the breathtaking vista’s from the top of the mountain really make one thing about how we fit into the world. Feeling the sun in your face as you glide down the ski hill makes me focus on what is really important in life. Having a beer and sharing stories about the day reinforce the fact that we are social creatures.
I find that motivation isn’t usually a problem when you have new, exciting, rewarding or cool work projects. The new client that has a problem that challenges you to come up with a novel solution. The big project that will catapult your career or the company into a new stratosphere. The project that if done well will get the high profile recognition both by the leaders of the company and maybe even the outside press.
Those are the low hanging fruit….
Those are the open layups you better make….
Those are the no-brainers…
It gets harder when the task or project doesn’t have the same “appeal”
Here is the $50,000 question for you – how do you make sure employees are motivated to do the everyday, mundane, boring tasks that lead to better company performance? These are those tasks that do not get your picture in the company newsletter. The tasks that make your mind so numb that you swear you’ve lost half your brain. The tasks that are essential, but you would easily skip to watch paint dry as that would be more enjoyable?
Give your thoughts in the comment section below (I know, commenting on blogs can be one of those mundane and boring tasks)…
My wife’s company has just gone through a layoff of 125 people. This layoff was announced a few weeks ago and came as a surprise for most people (mostly the employees working there). Of course I had concern for my wife’s job and those of her co-workers…but I also had a curiosity of seeing firsthand from a very close proximity the effects that the layoff had on motivation. This is a qualitative look from my perspective and as such, should be taken with a grain of salt – but still, I think there are some useful nuggets here.
Here are a few observations that I saw:
1. Layoffs suck motivation out of people
From talking to people and listening to my wife, the overarching fact was that this layoff sucked the motivation out of almost all the employees. They were nervous. They were mad. They were making contingency plans. They were talking one-on-one or in small groups about what was going on. They were frightened.
What they weren’t doing was being motivated and productive.
Any company that thinks its employees are going to be motivated because they are afraid of losing their jobs, needs to rethink that assumption. From what I saw, it acted in exactly the opposite way. There was a sense of apathy and one of giving up once the upcoming layoff was announced. People started updating their resume’s, they added people to their Linked-in network (I got quite a few of these from my wife’s co-workers), and they called their friends and acquaintances (either to prospect for jobs or to have a sympathetic ear to vent to).
My wife said to me one day during this, “I feel like I’ve been at a funeral for a week.”
2. Communication is vital
From the time of the announcement of the layoffs to the final layoff occurring took a total of 10 days. During that time, there was a great deal of confusion, fear and anxiety. The communication coming from the company was limited and often led to more chatter at the “water cooler” than it prevented. I would be hard pressed to say that the communication put forth by the company helped much in alleviating any of the discomfort and anxiety that the employees were going through. I know that the company was limited to a degree by certain laws about what they could or could not say, however, that is not an excuse for having people be confused about the reasons for the layoff and how they would happen. I think that any company that is going through or thinking about a layoff needs to think very hard about their employee communications. Specifically, they need to let employees know:
Why the layoff’s are occurring and why this layoff is necessary
What are the alternatives that they looked at and why they were rejected
What the process is for the layoffs themselves
What is the criteria that they are looking at to determine who is going to be terminated
Where can employees go to receive more information
When they can expect more information if it isn’t available now
It is important to communicate about resources people can go to regarding dealing with the stress of the layoff, but that should be just a part of the communication campaign.
Also key to this is to make sure that whatever is communicated is followed through. If you communicate that layoffs are not going to start until next week, don’t layoff directors this week (even if it is only a handful). The damage that does to trust, motivation and stress is significant.
3. The unknowns are the worst
Most of the anxiety, anger and stress that I observed were caused not by what was known, but by the unknown. This plays into much of what I discussed in the communication section – but the entire process would have been better if there would have been more transparency in the process. The biggest unknown that faces an employee is will they have a job or not – but that isn’t the only one. Unknowns also include: what are the layoff criteria? How will the different departments be impacted? What do I do about my on-going projects if people on them might not be here in two weeks? What is going to happen after the layoffs are done? How will we cover the increased workload? What will happen to the people let go?
4. After the fact
The big challenge now comes after the fact. What will the company do now that the layoffs have occurred and the survivors are left. From the few people I’ve talked to (including my wife) there is a feeling of “survivor’s guilt” going around (e.g., “why was she let go instead of me – she has 3 kids and is going through a divorce?”). There is also sense of “is this the end?” Will there be more layoffs in the future? What is going to happen next? How will my job be effected?
This is the moment that the company needs to shine. They have put in place listening sessions with senior leadership (kind of a venting process as much as an information transfer) – this is a good start. There is need for more. They need to communicate their plan for growth to ensure that this will not happen again. Employees need to feel like they are not just numbers in a big machine that are expendable at any moment, but instead feel like they are a vital component to the success of the company. They need to be heard and appreciated. A new energy needs to be instilled – one that drives motivation up and not down.
There is an opportunity over the next month or so for the company to do this. If it doesn’t happen, I fear that it will be a long climb back to the level of engagement and motivation that was there prior to the announced layoffs.
Have you gone through a layoff? Let us know what you feel about how it impacted motivation – good, bad or ugly.
Most winter days, I drive my wife into work. Often, I’ve already started on something by the time my wife is ready and she yells up to me in my office “Time to go.” I stop what I’m doing. I go downstairs. I grumble about the hassle of driving. I put on my coat and grab the keys. I drive her in and drop her off.
It takes about 9 minutes for us to make it downtown to her office. That is 20 minutes out of my day.
I can’t think of a better use of 9-minutes. This is our time. We talk about things. We discuss our plans for the day or week or month. We share some gossip. We make some decisions. I tell her to have a good day. She kisses me goodbye.
This 9-minutes each day is ours and I treasure it.
One of the biggest motivators for me is when I’m being challenged. My friend and sometimes collaborator Paul Schoening used to do this to me all the time when we worked together. He would go out and sell something that we hadn’t done before and hand it off to me – “here, figure out how to do this.” It drove me crazy…but also motivated me.
One time in the mid 1990’s he sold a team building program that involved teams building boats out of cardboard, plastic and duct tape. He had seen it somewhere…
Of course, we had never done it. We were going to be doing this in a month in Puerto Rico…thus the challenge – how to put the program together to make sure that it delivered what we had promised.
So I created a boat model and had to test it to see if it worked. Of course, this was in March in Minnesota and there was still snow on the ground. So I asked another friend who had a mini-van to help me transport the boat to a stream that wasn’t covered in ice. We trudged through the snow and I braved sitting in this cardboard boat wrapped in plastic and duct tape in the stream.
It floated (whew!!)
The program was ultimately a success and we ended up selling many more of these team building sessions.
What I remember was the motivation that I had in overcoming the challenge. I spent a lot of time working through how to do it and think about the various aspects of the program and how it would play out. I was fully engaged.
What motivates you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Yesterday was a very unmotivated day. Really. I don’t know why, but I was lethargic, lazy, and procrastinated most of the day away. I accomplished next to nothing.
The funny thing, I realized it as it was happening. I also knew what I should do to get myself going…I mean I develop motivational programs for a living. I know the theories and the research behind this. I know the tricks of what I could do to jump start myself…I just didn’t want to do any of those things.
So I didn’t.
But it made me realize again, how tricky this motivation thing is. How we too often tend to think that we can fix someone’s motivation – even when they don’t want it to be fixed.
It makes me think harder about what we do when we try to motivate people. It makes me realize that the answers are never as simple as we would hope. It makes me realize that we need to work harder at this stuff to make sure we aren’t just giving people the same old same old…I mean hell, if I can’t get myself motivated some days…
I’m grateful for yesterday. It grounds me. Makes me realize that we need to think about this more and figure out other ways…ones that maybe I won’t just blow off when I’m feeling a bit lazy….
Tell me about your yesterday – were you motivated?
I often wonder how we ever know if we are getting employee motivation right?
Really – how can we tell?
Recently Paul Hebert at IncentIntel wrote about something similar to this (see here). The title of his article was “You don’t need to measure employee engagement.” And measurement for measurement sake is futile…however, how do you know if what you are doing is working? You need to be able to gauge that – and not just in a “Joe says he likes the new incentive plan” type of way.
I don’t fully believe that the typical measures we use can really tell us (of course, I could be wrong). So here is the BIG QUESTION: How do we know that the programs, culture and processes we’ve cobbled together are maximized and fully driving long-term employee motivation?
SURVEYS
Of course we can look at surveys that gauge employee satisfaction, employee engagement or other “motivational” measures. I like these. I use them all the time. They can give a snapshot of where a company is on the motivational landscape. Over time they can indicate if you are doing well or maybe doing not so well.
But surveys are limited in the information that they can actually provide us. It is a problem with correlation and causation – and correlation does not imply the later (which is too often overlooked). Surveys are good, but:
They provide just a snapshot of a point in time that can be influenced by other factors (weather, news, economics, etc…).
Recent events tend to outweigh older events on their stated importance.
They are very dependent upon the way a question is worded (i.e., “how do you like the new cost saving measures we put in?” versus “how do you like the new job saving measures we put in?”
They do not show causation – what is really driving the motivation that we see?
PERFORMANCE
We often look at corporate or divisional performance as a measure of motivation – particularly when it comes to measuring sales motivation. How did sales performance improve or not improve after we implemented these programs or incentives. Did sales go up and by how much? This works really well if we have a control group to measure performance gains/losses against. However, I find that control groups rarely exist in the non-academic or medical testing world. Too often we rely on one or two measures looked at for a short time and to determine success. While that can be a good indication of a particular programs effectiveness, I don’t think it really measures overall employee motivation.
Performance is typically impacted by a number of factors that we usually don’t account for (i.e., we don’t have a control group to compare to)
Performance is only measured for a short, specific period but doesn’t reflect long term elements
Performance only measures one aspect which does not reflect a number of elements of employee motivation
FOCUS GROUPS
Focus groups and personal interviews are another way of trying to gauge employee motivation. These are effective in many of the same ways that surveys are, but they can get a deeper look at what is driving or inhibiting motivation. These measures can provide an organization with a lot of very valuable qualitative information that explores a reasons behind answers and get at a level of understanding that one cannot really do with surveys or performance tracking. However, focus groups and interviews are inherently selective – we usually can’t interview everyone. It can be tricky to extrapolate findings from this type of work out to the entire work force. While focus groups and interviews provide some deep level information on employee motivation they also:
Have a limited number of people that provide input
Are time consuming and costly to implement
Like surveys, usually offer a snapshot in time that can be influenced by other factors
GUT
Sometimes I think gauging employee motivation is like porn, “I know it when I see it.” There is a certain vibe that comes from places where employees are engaged and motivated. While it is hard to describe exactly what it is, one can sense it when they walk into an organization that has it. I’ve found that it is also different at different companies – that company A might have it because people are gathered in teams brainstorming ideas in the hallway, while company B has it because they are diligently working away in their cubes. But again, there is trouble in this approach. It is dependent on individual interpretations. It is easily biased based on what I or somebody else sees and hears (which from an executives point of view can be very limited or skewed). There is no good way of quantifying this. While we like to think we can tell things, we often can’t:
Not measurable or reliable
Dependent upon the individual – one person might think a company has it while another doesn’t
Prone to biases that people have (I have a good history with company A, therefore I might be biased to see it in a better light)
Doesn’t show causation again – are the programs and procedures causing the engaged vibe?
SO HOW DO WE DO KNOW
We get back to that BIG QUESTION – how do we know? I’m not sure we can truly ever know.
Does that mean we should give up?
Hell no!
What it means is that we should try even harder and do this systematically. I believe that when we measure these types of things we not only help identify if we are getting motivation right, we are improving employee motivation. We show that we are concerned about it and that typically means something to employees (increases the drive to Bond and the drive to Defend – see 4-Drive Model).
I actually believe that companies that use an on-going, systematic combination of all four measures from above do it best. Those are the companies that are looking at how their individuals programs work but also at the larger picture. They don’t rely on just one measure or look at the short-term impact that these programs have. Instead these companies:
Put in place regular on-going surveys that measure employee engagement attitudes – this provides not just a snapshot, but can give you a trend. The more regular these surveys are (without becoming a burden) the better. There are many traditional ways of doing this but also many newer ways using technology that can improve this process. Recently Hinda Incentives wrote about Rypple and how their system helps management gain valuable on-going employee feedback.
Measure performance on both a programatic and overall basis. This means that you definitely want to measure how well a particular short-term incentive worked for increasing sales but you also want to make sure that you take a longer look at it as well (do sales stay higher or drop off after the incentive ends?). Specific performance measures should be looked at on an ongoing basis to help gauge how a company is tracking on their motivation – not just sales but efficiency, innovation, ROI. Create a specific dashboard of measures that you look at to help see the motivational trends – and if you can create a control group (even for a short-term program) – DO IT!
Focus groups and surveys are key to understanding the “why” behind the “what”. These need to be instituted on a regular basis. If you can conduct these three times a year that is great. If not, do it twice or at least once. Ask some of the same questions each time to see what changes, but also look at different aspects. Try to peel away the layers and look at what is underneath their answers. I find that conducting focus groups / interviews after you get the results from the survey is a great way to expand on that information.
Check your gut feel on a regular basis. If you are a manager, get out and walk around with the specific intention of seeing how the employee motivation “vibe” feels. Ask questions. Observe. While not scientific, this is often the best measure. You’ll know it when you see it.
Let us know what you think or ways that you measure employee motivation. Click below!
Here at “What Motivates You” we talk a lot about how you can motivate your employees. We know how important it is to have an energized and engaged workforce. Equally important however, is making sure that you are not demotivating your workforce.
Here are five ways that you can dem0tivate your employees really, really fast.
1. Not being fully honest – it is amazing how quickly people can pick up on BS. Really. You might think that you can pull a fast one and not be fully honest about something, but people know. Researcher Paul Ekman, regarded as one of the world’s best experts on lying, suggests that when we lie, we often “leak” information about the truth or leave “deception clues.” As people, we might not be able to pick up on all of these clues right away, but we usually pick up some of them. When people do find out that their boss is lying, concealing, misleading or telling a half-truth, their trust is gone. When trust is gone, it is very hard to feel motivated.
Paul Hebert, one of the great bloggers out there and generally all around good guy (@incentintel on twitter and www.121-align.com his website) wrote a piece for Fistful of Talent that looked at how incentives release dopamine in the brain – just like drugs do. He based much of this article off of a paper that I wrote a few years back (find it here).
First off, I was pleased that he utilized my paper as a starting point for his article.
Second, he brings up an interesting concept – are we addicted to incentives and if so, what are the consequences of that? I had not thought about it in that way.
I encourage you to read the article and follow the comments – which are fantastic (read here at Fistful of Talent)
I will have more to say on this later this week, but wanted to get everyone to go out and read Paul’s piece first.
I often wonder how we ever know if we are getting employee motivation right?
