Category: Employee Motivation Page 5 of 23
“ The bottom line in all of it is that, in life, it’s all about people.” Colin Powell
I saw Colin Powell speak way back in the 1990’s and I can still remember one part of his speech. He talked about how he had two dogs – a small dog and a big dog. He stated that his small dog was the alpha and had no fear. He stated that this was because the small dog’s only reference point was the big dog. It looked at the other dog, saw that it was big and powerful, and assumed that it must be big and powerful itself.
It is often the same with people. We tend to use the people around us as reference points on who we are.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that, “A person’s chances of becoming obese increased by 57% if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given interval.” (Christakis & Fowler, 2007). The theory of self concept explores how we view ourselves – which is shaped by who we hang out with and who we surround ourselves with. Jim Rohn states, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
So it’s all about the people you surround yourself with.
Do they have a positive outlook or a negative one? Do they work hard or not? Do they live life to the fullest or complain about what they are lacking?
So ask yourself this – who is in your circle of friends?
We are looking for input from people like you to answer some questions on how you were able to change something in your life or set out and achieve a goal. We want to understand how you were able to lose weight, get a promotion, start a new hobby, eat healthier, change a bad habit, start a new positive habit, complete a project, etc…). We are trying to uncover the underlying factors that help people purposefully changed a behavior or attitude. This research will be used as input to a model of change that we are developing as well as possible inclusion in a book we are writing on the subject. In the comment section, please share the following:
1) What did you purposefully set out to change or achieve?
2) What was your motivation that drove you to that do this (was their a specific trigger or was it something that you had focused on for a long time)?
3) What were the key actions that you took to achieve that change or result?
4) Did you change things in your environment to achieve this (i.e., move the treadmill into the bedroom or hang a progress chart on the wall)
5) Did you tell people (or a single person) what you were trying to do?
6) Did you set milestones to your goal?
7) Did you measure your progress against those milestones?
8) What was the hardest part about the process?
9) What was the most important part of your change journey?
10) What tips would you give for someone else who is trying to change this aspect of their life?
Leave your response in the comment section 0r send me an e-mail at kurt@lanterngroup.com – Thank you!
This blog has 
been kind of quiet lately – partly on purpose and partly because life is busy.
The on-purpose part of being quiet was brought on by a post I read by Derek Sivers blog (http://sivers.org/boring) on whether it is better to focus, entertain or both? The underlying message being that we sometimes put out content to just put out content, when instead we should be focusing and developing our ideas and build a “path to mastery.” It is a great conundrum that we all face…as Derek says, “you’ve got a conflict: What’s best for you is to shut up, sit down, and focus. What’s best for them [audience]… is for you to be entertaining.”
That being said, I’ve been working on developing a few concepts that build off of what we’ve done in the past, but reflect a new approach for us. This required me to shut up, sit down and focus.
As readers of this blog know, we have concentrated on improving employee motivation at an organizational level for years. We put a lot of stock into understanding the research out there on this topic and not just repeat the same old ideas. For instance, outside of the original researchers, we have probably done more work on the 4-Drive Model of Employee Motivation than anyone in the country (see here, here, here, here and here for just a sample of our thoughts on this). We think that this motivational theory offers companies new ways of looking at their reward and recognition framework that is refreshing and helps drive motivation in exciting ways. We used this and other research (mostly insights from behavioral economics and psychology) to help organizations set up reward and recognition systems that tap into these insights and improve employee motivation and engagement. We’ve done exciting work with a number of large and small companies helping them do this.
What we hadn’t done is focus on what individuals could do to improve their own motivation.
We had not explored how individuals, such as yourself, keep on task and stay motivated to achieve your goals? How can we leverage the new research that is out there to help us stay motivated everyday.
So we are shutting up, sitting down, and focusing on that.
And it is fascinating.
Recent work by researchers on habit formation, willpower, and individual change have shed light on a number concrete steps that we, as individuals can do, to help keep us motivated and on task. We have taken the first strides in building a process that melds together all this research into a few main concepts that can be framework for a personal motivation plan. Our initial work has led us to develop a five step process, that we think will not only help people to ignite their own motivation, but also to build ways to maintain that motivation for the long run. These five steps are:
1) Find your motivational flow
2) Recalibrate your habit triggers
3) Enable your daily environment
4) Socialize your motivational strategy
5) Track your goal progress
Each step has both research and real actions behind it.
We are still working on this and are looking for collaborators to help refine the process and test our assumptions. The idea is to create a workshop and support materials that can be piloted. In the near future, we will be testing the model and piloting the process with a few people. If you want to be part of that group, let us know (leave a comment below or e-mail kurt@lanterngroup.com) and we will put you on the list and you can be one of the first to try it out.
As always your thoughts are appreciated.
Change creates an emotional response
Even in the best of times, companies experience different competitive and environmental factors that can lead to organizational change and thus employee uncertainty. In hard economic times, those changes occur at a much greater pace and employee uncertainty can be even greater. Employee uncertainty creates a number of challenges for organizations as employees often feel anxious, disillusionment, disappointment, confusion, and even anger over their lack of control in an unknown situation. This often leads to decreased employee motivation, focus and subsequent decreases in productivity and performance.
Companies can employ a number of different mechanisms to help recharge employee motivation in changing environments. One key mechanism is the use of targeted incentives to help engage employees and focus them on improving productivity. Because incentives can be structured in a number of different ways and use a variety of reward options, it is important to understand what aspects of incentives will drive the greatest return given the uncertainty and emotional response that is felt by employees during these organizational shifts.
Understanding the psychological response:
The emotional response of individuals to potential negative changes is theorized to go through a process similar to grief. The Kubler-Ross Reaction to Change[i] cycle shows how employees typically flow through recognized stages when faced with change.
Initial denial is followed by resistance, then a period of self-doubt and worry, followed by a time of letting go, with acceptance of the change and exploration of options, and finally moving to new commitment and focus. This is an emotionally charged process that requires time to respond to change.
Organizations need to be able to manage this process and move people through these stages as quickly as possible. The engagement of the emotional elements of the brain is vital to being able to achieve this. During the high stress, denial and resistance stages, our brains do not process rational arguments as easily or readily as they usually do. In order to gain a foothold in this emotional cauldron, incentives need to have an emotional hook. Non-cash incentives achieve this hook through a variety of behavioral economic principles. First, they provide hedonic luxury escape which is about being able to remove yourself from the current state and imagine yourself with a luxury item or good[ii]. Second, they activate different sectors of the brain associated with visualization (i.e., right hemisphere brain functions) versus the more rational sectors associated with transactions (i.e., money and left hemisphere brain functions)[iii]. Third, non-cash elements do not push employees into a calculative modality in which they equate effort with monetary amounts. In stressful situations, this calculation is short-changed and often interpreted as “they are trying to bribe me.” Non-cash awards are evaluated as a separate, non-financial component that is viewed in isolation and not in factors that are associated with other compensation factors.[iv]
Examples:
Many organizations have utilized non-cash incentives in periods of uncertainty and change. The following are just a few examples of these incentives and the results that they generated.
Y2K Angst
A technology firm out of Des Moines, Iowa was experiencing high levels of turnover and angst with its software programmers because of the uncertainty surrounding Y2K and how their jobs were going to be negatively impacted. A non-cash incentive program aimed at achieving specific Y2K milestones was implemented across the organization. AwardperQs (a non-cash point system) were awarded to individuals and teams that achieved specific milestones. This program provided clear focus and motivation for the software programmers and achieved in excess of 90% of employees engaged/ participating/hitting one or more milestones.
Sales Force Integration
A leading medical technology company was moving from a product-centered sales philosophy to a customer-centric team approach. This involved a realignment and adjustment to the sales force that created significant uncertainty in the field about their jobs and roles. A six-month incentive program was developed that rewarded people for sales that required integration of two or more product groups. A fixed award pool created a sense of urgency and engagement in the incentive. The client realized a return of more than 300:1 on this program.
Realignment
A pharmaceutical firm was going through a major realignment of territories and product allocation due to a large product soon to come off of patent. Many sales representatives had new managers, new doctors and new products that they needed to work with. A short-term team based award was put in place that offered teams the chance to earn from selected merchandise if they were in the top 20% of districts across the nation. Quota achievement across the division came in above the stretch goal, even with the distraction of realignment.
Other Factors
Obviously there are other factors that influence how quickly organizations move their employees through angst to engagement in situations that are stressful or uncertain. While this paper does not expand upon those, two key factors that relate to incentives include:
- Incentives should be short-term to allow for readily available goal progress particularly when dealing with uncertainty. By providing short-term incentives and tracking to that, individuals will achieve a sense of progression towards goal which increases the perception of certainty in the program.
- Communication is key. Incentives cannot be viewed of as a bribe or they will be summarily dismissed. The tone and narrative of the communication needs to be set up to have the most positive impact and create a separate interaction with the incentives that sets it as different from the cause of the uncertainty.
[i] Kübler-Ross, E. (2005) On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss, Simon & Schuster Ltd.
[ii] Kivetz, R. (2010) Rewards Hierarchy and Hedonic Luxury, presentation at BIW Forum
[iii] Jeffrey, S., (2006) Cash or Hawaii: The benefits of tangible non-monetary incentives, dissertation
[iv] Jeffrey, S., (2008) The benefits of tangible non-monetary incentives, Incentive Research Foundation
I’m consulting with a 12 Billion dollar sales division of a Fortune 500 company regarding the future of their reward and recognition system. Without going into much detail, they are trying to take a strategic approach to how they can improve the effectiveness of their reward programs. As part of this process, we are using the 4-Drive Theory as a model to help guide how we build this system.
As one can imagine, the organization’s current reward and recognition programs rely heavily on the Drive to Acquire & Achieve. By far, this was the predominant focus for over 90% of the components. Additionally, our research showed that the current system has a number of legacy programs and other recognition items that are no longer strategically aligned with the organizational mission.
There are a number of ways that a reward system can be developed. We aligned on developing a system that would tap into all four of the drives and focus on motivating actions on three specific sales behaviors. With this in mind, we wanted to create a framework that would leverage various reward and recognition components. That framework is shown below:
Within each of these four components could be a number of different programs that would be focused on driving one or more of the desired behaviors. We also identified that while any of the components could activate any of the four motivational drives, that particular drives would be more readily activated by programs within specific components. We’ve mapped this below:
So while both the incentive compensation and the non-cash components easily activated the drives to acquire and challenge, group trips and other recognition were more likely to tap into the drives to bond and defend. This provided us with a framework to think about how we could leverage all four drives with various reward and recognition programs.
While this is a high level perspective, it does provide a company with way to think strategically about their reward and recognition system that aligns it with the 4-Drive Model. We were able to map out specific programs within this framework that provided both a means for effectively driving behavior as well as leveraging all four drives.
To our knowledge, this framework has not been used previously within a large company. We are very excited about how this is being applied and the impact that it will have.
Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts by leaving a comment below. Thanks.
There was a recent blog from HRZone UK that claimed, “Blog: Most employers spend more on office cleaning than staff motivation.” I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this statement or info in the article.
That being said, accuracy is not the point. The point is, you get what you pay for – right? So what is it that your organization is paying for?
How is your company spending its money? Is it on it’s people or on systems? Is it on sales or is it on customer support? R&D or discounts to suppliers? The money often points to where the focus is for your company?
Two things that I often do when working with companies trying to improve their employee motivation is 1) interview key leaders to understand what the key drivers of the business are and 2) conduct a total rewards audit. I use step one of this process to get at the underlying drivers of the business. This often isn’t the first thing that comes out of leaders mouths. In fact, it usually requires me to probe with them to really get at the root cause. This understanding of the key drivers is vital to being able to motivate the appropriate behaviors and performance. What we find in step two of this process is that the company’s Total Rewards are NOT in alignment with the key drivers. In other words, companies are often spending their money on things that are not key to driving their success (similar to the clean office analogy in the HR Zone article).
This is not a good way to spend money.
Hopefully your company isn’t doing this. But a simple way of finding out is to look at where you are spending money and then seeing if that aligns with the key drivers of the business. If it aligns, you are doing well, if not, you have a problem.
Here is a link to the HR Zone article if you care to give it a glance: http://www.hrzone.co.uk/topic/managing-people/blog-most-employers-spend-more-office-cleaning-staff-motivation/119615
Have a great day!
I found this summary of Lawrence and Nohria’s “Drive” and thought that it was a nice summation of the book. Josh Kaufmann does a nice job of laying out the key insights to the theory and some good ideas on how to apply the theory into the real business world. I really like the final comment by Kaufmann regarding adding a drive around “feel.” It is an interesting concept that I’m going to explore in more detail.
Click through to link to read more…
http://personalmba.com/driven/
Let me know what you think – leave a comment!
Remember – you can always follow me on Twitter @WhatMotivates
The following is the final blog of 3 posts from our guest blogger Paul Schoening, President of Plan C. He is bringing a unique perspective on what it takes for a small business to survive. In his first two posts (here and here) he talked about the difficulty of starting a business based on passion and how that passion is both good and bad. He discussed how entrepreneurs need to look at building a sustainability plan and not a business plan. In this blog are his final two tips. Let us know what you think. Enjoy!
4. Continually learn: I’ve mentioned education already but I need to stress how it’s important to stay ahead of the competition. To do that, you need to carve out time to learn. It doesn’t matter how you learn, but you must be constantly learning. I’m not saying that you need to take classes – but you do need to keep up on things.
Read, attend conferences, sit through webinars, go to the library (I know – old fashioned but it works), find a mentor, network and learn more about your business than you think you will ever use. Using the internet to learn is easier than ever – enter a topic in google and you have thousands of links to explore. Subscribe to websites that help you learn and stay up on leading thought in your industry. University sites offer a lot of free classes via the web (see here). Apple even has iTunesU that you can get on your iPhone or iPad and learn while you are on the go.
When you are starting a business, finding time to learn can feel like you are taking away from other important aspects of the business – but it is key to long term survival. You’ll need to prioritize your time and make critical choices which will allow you to learn and grown your business at the same time…including how to more efficiently sweep the floors! Engaging your new employees through continuous learning is also a key factor in retaining the talent you need to succeed. Rick Osborn, president of the Association for Continuing Higher Education says, that’s a mistake.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said Osborn. I understand that when businesses are looking to make cuts, these are the kinds of programs that are the first to go. In the short term, those kinds of cuts might work for a business. But, in the long run, you’re going to have to restore the cuts.”
Businesses that offer professional development often have a strong track record for employee retention. In fact, employees cite continuing education programs as the No. 2 reason they stay in their jobs, said Susan Porter Robinson of the Washington, D.C.-based American Council on Education.
Source; www.bizjournals.com December 7, 2009
5. Connect, connect, and connect some more: Get connected with people in your industry, other small business people, and anybody else that could potentially be of benefit to your business. Do this so you can understand the challenges, opportunities and resources available to be successful. Research by the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center indicated that the effects of networking and connecting with other people have a long term positive impact. The research found that 9-months after a networking “mixer” event, participants rated the top five benefits as
- Being networked professionally
- Feeling energized by the interaction
- Gained a business insight
- Established a collaboration opportunity and
- Had found professional inspiration
Source: Enhanced Professional Networking and its Impact on Personal Development and Business Success, 2006
While every social engagement is not a sales call, it can be a potential opportunity to talk about your business and what you do. Join Linked-In groups, start a channel on You-Tube, expand your twitter accounts. Utilize your network of friends, family and acquaintances. Make the effort. You never know where the next sale is going to come from. Don’t leave anything on the table, this is your livelihood!
Let us know what you think – leave a comment below. Join in the discussion!
The following is the second of 3 posts from our guest blogger Paul Schoening, President of Plan C. He is bringing a unique perspective on what it takes for a small business to survive. In his first post (here) he talked about the difficulty of starting a business based on passion and how that passion is both good and bad. He discussed how entrepreneurs need to look at building a sustainability plan and not a business plan. In this blog are his next two tips. Over the next few weeks, the final post will outline the final two survival tips. Enjoy!
2. Show me the money: When starting a new business, oftentimes entrepreneurs focus on sales revenue or profit figures to assess how they are doing. I know I did. In fact, we had record sales in our final quarter as a business and yet we couldn’t make it last. 
While it is good to be profitable and increase sales – it is absolutely critical to have a positive cash flow! You need to have enough cash flow to give yourself time to get off the ground and pay your ongoing bills. Fast growth and increased sales are great, but this can create a sense of overconfidence that can skew your decision-making especially with early business success. Conversely, when times are challenging and a business owner is under pressure we can easily make rash decisions fueled by emotion, not logic (i.e., “how the hell am I going to pay for this?”).
One example of cash flow issues was custom cabinet seller M&J Kitchens – who had survived the Great Recession even when its revenue from homeowners and builders dropped by more than half in 2009. They weathered the storm. Then, late in 2011, with sales almost 42 percent higher than the prior year, they were unable to pay their bills and owner Drew Davies was forced to shut the 26-year-old company down. What happened? M&J highlights how important cash flow is. The issue was a “cash-flow crisis precipitated by his bank and trading partners, who Davies says, abandoned payment agreements that had been in place for decades.” M&J’s cash inflows were coming in slower and it’s payments still needed to be made. In this instance “M&J had to float their customers—builders, architects, and home remodelers—who had slowed their payments, typically from 30 days to 60 or 90. At the same time, his own suppliers changed agreements that had been in place for decades by cutting credit lines or requiring deposits, which Davies says could tie up between $60,000 and $120,000 per month.” After more than 25 years of business, the company was forced out of business, not because sales were down, but because it couldn’t cover its cash flow.
Source: Businessweek.com February, 2011
What happened to M&J is not atypical. It can happen to all of us. Which is why we need to have cash flow plan. One way of looking at this to think about how much cash is required to make payroll, pay suppliers, and cover other expenses each month – then figure how many months of cash reserve you will need to have if things don’t go smoothly. In my case with the bike business, I usually looked out 3 to 4 months. I should have been looking out 6 to 9 months. Each business is different – so think hard about what a downturn or change in situation would mean to you. How fast do your customers pay? How long can you push out your own payments.
One way to avoid these mistakes is by finding a great accountant or financial consultant and using them to map out a plan for this. Look at ways you can collect money faster by offering discounts for payments early or requiring a deposit. See how you can restructure payments on goods and services that you use. Look at payroll differently – offset high bi-weekly pay by using quarterly or annual bonuses that provide flexibility for you and rewards your employees for great work. If you can’t afford to hire an accountant full-time, there are many firms that you can outsource part of the accounting of the business to or hire in for consulting. The voice of reality (a shrewd accountant) will keep you in check.
3. Double the time you think it will take: Time is a resource that is often underestimated when starting a new adventure. In the passion of developing out this great new idea, we forget about 
how long things can take. Particularly the little things. You can celebrate that you are the President or CEO of your business and be very happy to have the title. But you are also the janitor, the sales person, marketer and customer service rep. You need time to handle all of these responsibilities, take time to do research and to ensure that you are continuing your education and staying on top of the latest trends and facets of the marketplace.
Here are a few examples of some rough time estimates that an entrepreneurial friend put together for me for some of the things that he does that are not part of his core business.
- Accounts payable: 2 hours per week
- Accounts receivable: 1 hour per week
- Payroll: 1 hour per week
- Social Media Outreach: 3 hours per week
- Developing marketing campaign: 2 hours per week (varies, but this is an average)
- HR: 1 hour a week (up to 8 hours a week when issues arise with employees or when hiring)
- Scheduling: 1 hour per week
- Responding to sales requests: 1 hour per week
- Networking: 2-4 hours per week
- Miscellaneous (IT trouble shooting, equipment purchase/repair, responding to solicitations, etc..): 2 hours per week
This totals up to over a day and a half out of the week for work doesn’t even include business development, sales, or anything that has to do with the work that drives value for his customers (granted, he could probably reduce his Social Media Outreach – I mean really, 3 hours on Twitter, Linked-In and Facebook?).
One way to overcome this time crunch is to look at outsourcing some of the functions of your business so you can focus on the areas of which you have immediate control and greatest value-add. This might require you to increase your outflow of cash (which can be troublesome – see #2) but if it can allow you the time to focus on the important things for success, then it is worth it. Another option is to think outside of the “box” and look at creating partnerships and alliance where you can trade services or leverage each others core competencies.
