Employee Motivation | Behavior Matters! - Part 16

Category: Employee Motivation Page 16 of 23

The Story vs. The Analyst: How good communication gets ruined!

The largest part of our business is developing communications for sales incentive plans.  We create presentations, develop plan books, and design flash and other forms of communication. We got into this work by accident (one client many years ago asked us to create a “meeting in a box” for his IC plan – the rest, as they say, is history), but now we embrace it and have carved out a niche.  That niche is taking highly analytical and dry plan data and making it more interesting, more engaging, and more motivating for the sales representative.  Over the past 10 years we have done just this for thousands of plans and hundreds of thousands of participants.

We strive to tell a visual and emotive story with our work.  We work hard at capturing the vital information that is important to a sales person and making that information understandable and engaging.  I like to think we do a good job – when our clients allow us to.  You see, telling a story about incentive compensation and creating captivating visuals to convey that information isn’t easy.  It requires that we make choices about what information we share.  It means that we may have to simplify the message.  It may mean changing how we present and what types of communication that we use.  This, for some clients, is easier said than done.

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The Power of Communication – best “save the date” announcement ever

Ok, this is too funny. I think it is real, but even if it isn’t, it is good. Shows you the power of being creative, using different types of media, and having good production…this is what every incentive compensation plan communications needs but rarely gets. Think of the power of this video being about your compensation plan and being introduced to your sales force at your next National Meeting…WOW!  Motivation is about more than just the reward – it is about how we communicate, how we actively engage, how we convey the message and get people to not only notice, but care…and maybe even have a little bit of fun!

Sales Motivation using the 4-Drive Model

Salespeople who are engaged in their roles, who are motivated to succeed, and who’s goals are aligned with the organizational goals have been shown to have a significant impact on helping an organization succeed (Badovick, Hadaway, & Kaminski, 1992). Successful organizations understand this and try to keep their sales employees motivated and engaged through a variety of motivational methods – mostly involving extrinsic rewards.

While much has been much written about how extrinsic rewards may have a detrimental effect of on a sales person’s intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, Kohn, or Pink – note: there is also a lot of research on how this extrinsic/intrinsic effect can be mitigated) there is little disagreement on the short-term impact that extrinsic rewards can have on a company’s performance . The short-term benefit of extrinsic rewards assures us that these rewards will be used in businesses no matter what Dan Pink has to say on the topic.   However, this does not mean that these types of programs can’t be improved.

Successful organizations and leaders of the future not only need to focus on the optimization of extrinsic reward programs but also on moving other levers within the organization that can drive sales motivation.  Using the Four-Drive Model of Employee Motivation (Lawrence and Nohria, 2002) provides a clear framework for how to do this.

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Buying Local Fulfills the Drive to Bond & Belong

A couple of weeks ago a day of celebration occurred at my house,  it was my Birthday which actually goes for more than one day it turns into a week of celebrating with friends and family. 

As I went about celebrating my Birthday, I enjoyed my FREE Birthday gifts from a couple of businesses.  The search for the FREE Birthday gift has become somewhat of a tradition and badge of honor to see what you can ‘rake’ in for FREE on your Birthday amongst my family members.   I have no problem walking into a place of business and proclaiming that ‘today is my Birthday’ which implies that I would like to be treated extra special during my visit.  A few of you may completely understand this line of behavior while others are probably thinking wow she is really off her rocker.  Regardless of what line of thought you align with the fact remains that I have high expectations for my business interactions on my Birthday. 

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The Laws of Motivation

Richard Denny has a great slideshare on what he sees as the Laws of Motivation…some interesting stuff here and I agree with most of it.  Take a look.

http://www.slideshare.net/abhishekshah/laws-of-motivation

However I do have some comments on these “Laws”…

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3 tips to increase the Drive to Bond & Belong

The 4-Drive Model of Employee Motivation’s second drive is the drive to Bond & Belong.  The drive is defined by our innate desire to form “close, positive relationships” with people around us.  The image of the lone wolf going it alone or the inventor holed up in his workshop are atypical – most people want to bond with others and feel they belong to a group.  Here are three tips to increase the B Drive: 

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4-Drives: A simple story about how one manager got motivation right!

This was our most viewed slideshare presentation with over 14,000 views – I’ve now turned it into a 4-minute youtube video….with music and everything.  Hope you enjoy and please forward on to anyone you think would benefit from watching.

How to Get Employee Motivation Right!

Oak Ridge Hotel and Conference Center get motivation – it isn’t about a single program or special one-day events. . . it is about creating a culture that engages and motivates.

Here is a short video that highlights some of what we found out when we talked with them and asked them. . . “What Motivates You?”

Culture, engage, motivate

The 4-Drives and Motivation at Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center

A few weeks ago Susan and I spent the day interviewing 11 employees at Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center  in Chaska, MN (see Oak Ridge Part 1 here).  We had observed that Oak Ridge had “gotten the formula right on employee motivation” and wanted to probe more to find out how.  From our original findings, we highlighted five things that stood out: 1) leadership counts, 2) It is not about the money, 3) It is about the team, 4) Genuine recognition rejuvenates and 5) It is all about appreciating people.  I’m taking a different approach this time, looking at it from the 4-Drive Model and seeing how each of the drives showed up in the 11 interviews.

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5 minutes and 20 Slides: A Cool Motivator!

What would happen if at your next team meeting instead of talking off of your typical status spreadsheets your team each gave their status update in 5 minutes and using 20 PowerPoint slides? 

I recently came across Ignite Phoenix through one of my crazy online searches.  It is a really neat concept for those looking for a creative spark and an innovative motivator. During Ignite Phoenix, a group of people gather together and witness 18 presentations on topics from horrible office coffee to what I learned from cows. Each of the presenters has 5 minutes and 20 PowerPoint slides to share their story. That is it. Short and sweet.

One of the organizers, Jeff Moriarty, introduces Ignite Phoenix #6 and provides the foundation for what it is all about. Their YouTube video area is fun to check out and it might just motivate you to come up with your own ignite presentation!

What story would you tell if you had 5 minutes and 20 slides?

Susan

If you know someone that might benefit from this article pay it forward and pass it along.

P.S. The other fun video to checkout is Slideshow Karaoke it is really creative!

Page 16 of 23

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