Love this! Great visual that highlights the difference between our right brain and left brain thinking styles…
Just remember, we all have a full brains! That means that we are both right and left brain thinkers. Make sure you tap into both sides of your brain.
For those few of you who might have noticed, the number of blog postings on this site over the last two months has been significantly down. This was on purpose as I realized that I needed a sabbatical of sorts from writing.
After my crazy experience of working through Hurricane Irene (see here) I was a little burned out. I could tell because the writing ideas that had come easily (well relatively easily) to me before, were now few and far between. There was not that burning desire of “Wow – I need to share this with people.” In fact, it was just the opposite, whenever I came up with an idea, it was, “Who cares?” I was burnt out on it. It was adding stress to my life (more than what I felt was necessary) and was becoming an “issue.”
So I cut back.
Not completely, but enough that I felt like I was taking a break. I did not post every week. The posts that I did do were short and mostly updates. I tweated less.
I did not take a complete sabbatical. I still worked. I did my day to day things. I jumped into creating some new workshops. I worked on developing some new business ideas with a friend. I sold a bunch of projects for this fall/winter.
But I didn’t write.
And it felt like I had some time off. I felt like I had a break. Which is what I needed.
And I found out a few things.
1. The world did not end (I knew that would be the case, but still, one never really knows)
2. My readership dipped, but when I did post something, it popped back up right away
3. I want to write stuff again (now that I’ve had some reflection time
Most of us don’t have the opportunity to take a real sabbatical. However, I bet that each of us could find one or two things that we could take a sabbatical from. For me it was writing this blog and keeping up on the social media stuff. By taking a conscious break from it, I feel more motivated to do it now.
What is your mini-sabbatical going to be? What do you need a mini-break from? Is it new product development? Leadership meetings? Working on next years annual conference? New sales? Worrying?
And remember, the world won’t end…even if you think it might.
For your mini-sabbatical
1. you need to reduce your thinking on the topic/issue (not completely give it up)
2. You should give yourself a set amount of time to take off (I did it for two months, but I could see it working in as little as two weeks)
3. Keep a journal or log of ideas that come to you regarding your mini-sabbatical area – but don’t work on those ideas (this is to help with your motivation later)
4. Do things so that you don’t fret too much about what you’re not doing (I did not look at the number of viewers to the blog because I knew that it would probably distress me)
5. Remember, the min-sabbatical is supposed to rejuvenate you – if you feel it adding more stress, you need to change something about it (either how you are doing it or the fact that you are doing it at all)
Leave a note and share your ideas on this. Let us know how it goes.
I’m a pragmatist.
This means that while theory is nice, what is really important is what happens in real life.
Most of the time when clients hire us, they hire us because we can impact the bottom line through changing the behavior of their employees. Most of them don’t care about the theory behind that change no matter how wonderful it is (e.g., The Four Drive Theory of Employee Motivation) – what they want is results.
Which gets me to the point of this post – if we are really about changing behavior, why do we care about motivation?
Think about it – motivation in and of itself does not change anything. You can be motivated and pumped up and rearing to go and still not accomplish anything. I’ve been motivated for years to loose weight – yet up until a few months ago, I haven’t done anything about it. In their book, “Change Anything” Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan and Switzler (the guys from Vital Smart who wrote Crucial Conversations and Influencer) talk about how motivation is just one aspect that is required to achieve personal change. Indeed, they talk about the fact that if all we have is motivation, no matter how much it is, we are most likely headed for failure.
To drive change we also need to have the skills, tools and knowledge necessary to achieve that change. We need to have a social network that supports us in our change efforts and isn’t trying (actively or passively) to derail that change. We also need an environment that helps us and doesn’t hinder us. In other words, motivation by itself is not enough.
Yet…
Motivation is vital to this whole equation. It is the impetus to get us off our butts and start doing something. It is the pressure that is applied to us throughout the change process – the pressure to continue and not quit when it gets tough. It is the internal drive and fortitude to keep going and keep pushing oneself. Without motivation, no change would happen.
And that my friends, is the reason that motivation is important.
Back in 1997, when The Lantern Group started almost 70% of our work focused on team development. We did everything from on-going team development consulting with managers, to team assessments, to experiential ropes courses, to developed a number of fun and effective team building events. Over the years, our focus shifted to other aspects of the business and our team development work decreased until for the last few years it comprised just under 10% of our revenue. 
But this year, something has changed.
Since February we have received more inquiries about doing team building programs than we have in the past two or three years combined. These are both big and small programs – from groups 200 plus to small executive teams of 8-10 people. The managers and VPs that we’ve talked to have indicated that they want to do something to help increase the effectiveness of their team while also providing them with a fun activity that can be a diversion from the everyday stress they have been under.
Normally I would just count my blessings and be thankful for leads coming in. But this drastic increase has made me wonder, “why?” Why the increase? Why now?
1. Pent up need – because of the recession, companies did not have budget that they could use to help build their team and improve bonding.
2. Changes in the teams – either through layoffs or attrition, team dynamics have changed and there is a need to improve how people work together
3. Need to have fun, but with a message – again, due to the recession, many companies have had people working under significant stress, longer hours, with more responsibility. Astute leaders see that there is a need to let their people unwind and yet they want to make sure that there are some learnings and insights to be had
4. Work itself has changed – the very nature of work has changed with more people working off-site, more technology, more need to collaborate in new ways. Good leaders use team development programs to help sort that out.
What are your thoughts? Do you think there is a growing need? Please leave a comment.
Do we dream too much about our goals?
A recent post on PsyBlog outlines the distinct difference in performance between people who “fantasize” about future success and those who “expect” future success. The blog article was based on research by Oettingen and Mayer (2002) in which they concluded, “Positive expectations (judging a desired future as likely) predicted high effort and successful performance, but the reverse was true for positive fantasies (experiencing one’s thoughts and mental images about a desired future positively).”
The PsyBlog article explains the difference between expectations and fantasies as follows: “Expectations are based on past experiences. You expect to do well in an exam because you’ve done well in previous exams, you expect to meet another partner because you managed to meet your last partner, and so on” while “fantasies, though, involve imagining something you hope will happen in the future, but experiencing it right now.” The difference might seem small, but in fact, had a big difference in outcome. People who had high expectations about finding a job did much better in actually finding a job than those who just fantasized about finding a job. See more results here.
Which leads us to our potential problem with incentive programs.
Do we end up communicating to everyone that they can achieve the highest payout or reward? If we do, then does that lead to fantasizing about the reward instead of expecting the reward? I’m not sure.
On one hand, I know that in the communication work that we do, we typically use examples and highlight top earners – the ones who achieve in the top 10% of participants. How does that communication play with the 50% of participants who are in the bottom half of earnings and probably will not achieve that level of success? We show pictures of what people can buy with their earnings – a new boat, travel to a tropical island, new coach bags, a 62 inch t.v. Are we inadvertently leading these people to fantasize about what they can do with that extra $20,000 when they don’t have the history to expect that they’ll ever earn it?
Companies often use annual reward trips, short-term contests or non-cash incentives that reward the top 5% or 10% of performers – do these by their nature create a split between those who expect to earn them and those that just fantasize about earning them? Does this then lead to poorer performance by those who just fantasize about winning them with no real expectation of actually winning?
This is just one study, but it resonates with other information on this subject from Locke and Lathum; Badovick, Hadaway, & Kaminski; and Bandura to name a few. So what does it all mean?
Of course. When we take a holistic approach and think about this differently.
A few ideas that would help include:
While we all like to dream, we might need to ensure that our incentive programs offer a little more grounding.
So what do you think – is this all just ivory tower research that has no application in the real world, or is it something that we need to take into consideration? Let us know your thoughts and leave a comment.
The ApproachA few weeks ago a number of factors all convened so that I spent 5 days playing 99 holes of golf (see here). It was fun, but I’m ok if I don’t hold a golf club in my hands for a little while.
Let’s preface by stating that I’m not an avid golfer nor am I a very good golfer. I’m average. I usually get out 3 to 4 times a year. I can talk the talk, I do some things well, and others not so well. One of the things that I was doing well during those five days was hitting my 9-iron.
And I was hitting it well.
On a pretty consistent basis I was hitting the ball between 140 and 170 yards with my 9-iron – and they were mostly straight (which is a big deal for me). And once* I put one out there about 185 yards (*it was downhill and the wind was behind me). Put this in perspective, according to Brent Kelly at About.com the average men’s 9-iron distance is between 95 and 135 yards. You would need to move up to a 5-iron to reach the average distance I was getting with my nine.
Of course I was hitting most of my other clubs poorly. I’d top my driver and it would bounce out 30 yards. I’d slice my 3-iron into the trees. I’d hit my five iron, but it would fade left and only go about 100 yards. I’d totally duff my 3-wood.
So what did I do?
I ended up just playing with my 9-iron and putter. Honestly. It didn’t matter if it was a par 3 140 yard hole or if it was a monster 540 par 5 – I’d pull out my 9-iron and shoot.
And you know what…I played better than I usually do. We used many of my shots in the scramble competition. I won my head to head match. Overall, I did pretty well using just my 9-iron.
I did pretty well for me – but I definitely wasn’t one of the top golfers playing. Sure I did better than I usually do, but I know that using my 9-iron on a long par 5 is not the optimum solution. Yes it improved my game – but I wasn’t going to be able to match the top golfers I was playing with if I only used two clubs.
I often see companies that use incentives like I use my 9-iron. It becomes the only club in their bag.
Therein lies the problem.
We find that we have some success with an incentive program/reward program/new initiative and we think, “hey, we’re doing pretty good here.” Then we use the same thing again and again – regardless of the issue we are trying to address. The problem is that using that approach, we will never be at the top of our game. We will never be able to fully motivate and engage our employees. We will get to the equivalent of a 540 yard hole, which requires a creative new approach – and we pull out the “9-iron incentive” instead because, hey, “I can hit it 170 yards.” But that probably won’t ever get you a par. And it certainly won’t get you an eagle.
There are a number of clubs that we have to use to help drive motivation. We need to engage people with challenging jobs, build great interpersonal connections, create a culture that people are proud of, make sure that people have opportunities to grow and excel. But these are all harder to master, take longer to build, and have a higher probability of a major slice or hook – so we too often just fall back on the old faithful 9-iron incentive plan.
So I need to go out to the driving range and start working on my other clubs – maybe starting with the 8-iron and moving down the line**. That is the only way that I will ever improve my game and become a “good” golfer.
The only way a company will ever become really good at motivating its employees is to start developing their skills with other methods of engagement besides incentives.
We can look at the 4-Drive Model of Employee Motivation and know that we have to engage people in bonding, learning and defending as well as in acquiring.
Get out on the proverbial driving range and see what works for you. Add a little more job rotation. Change the goal setting system. Maybe some more team building. How about a more open and communicative culture. It takes practice. It takes time. There will be a few shots that go in the water…but in the end, its what is required to become a scratch golfer or a great company!
(**Of course, I think I’ll take a few more weeks off from golf to fully recover…I mean 99 holes in 5 days is a lot!)
Let us know what your favorite club is – leave a comment!
I just got back from a presentation by Al Switzler, one of the authors of “Crucial Conversations”, “Crucial Confrontations”, and “Influencer” and now “Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success.” I have to say, I was impressed (and that usually doesn’t happen with presentations).
While I have not yet read the book, the information presented today was very thought provoking and more importantly, actionable. This is not always the case with business or personal help books. The concepts and ideas that Switzler discussed were real and I could see how they applied.
“Lots of people do research about people, but almost nobody does research about you. You need to be come both the scientist and the subject.” Think about it, you are rarely the subject of a research experiment and even then you would probably be one of many. This idea is simple – look at your life with the eye of a researcher – what works for you, how do you behave in these situations, what motivates you? Then be the subject of your own experiments – try different things to see what makes a difference for you.
“Do you pass the commitment test. You need to be able to vividly and passionately articulate why you want to change. If you can’t do that, change will most likely not happen.” In other words, we need to make it real to ourselves both cognitively and emotionally. The words we use to explain why we need to change need to be “vivid” and we need to talk about them “passionately.”
“We often think of failure to change as a lack of willpower. It really has many more facets than that.” Switzler explains that they found six sources of influence that impact the likelihood that change will occur. These are:
I am looking forward to reading the book and giving you an update when I’m done….
Our knowledge of the Four-Drive Model of Employee Motivation is constantly being expanded as researchers study it and organizations work with it. This is exciting because it allows us to use this theory more effectively to drive performance and increase employees motivation.
Recently I have been in contact with Kristen Swadley, a student at Missouri Southern State University. Ms. Swadley has added to our understanding of Four-Drive Model by conducting research to see if demographic differences such as age, gender, marital status, tenure, income, job role, or education level impact any of the four drives. Analyzing data from 315 surveys, Ms. Swadley found some interesting findings that point to both the robustness of the Four-Drive Model as well as how specific demographics correlate to some of the drives.
The following information is from the thesis she completed around this study:
Regarding gender the analysis showed that there was no difference between males and females in their tendency towards a particular drive. Thus the four-drive model does not have a gender bias.
However, there was a relationship between the age of respondents and the drive to defend – older participants (over age 41) showed a higher correlation with the drive than the younger age (under 25).
The drive to defend was also found to be higher in married and divorced participants compared to those who listed their status as single.
Tenure showed a correlation only with the drive to bond where unemployed individuals rated that drive significantly less than those who were employed (specifically, those employed for 0-3 years and over 12 years – which is an interesting fact in itself).
Income levels showed a correlation between both the drive to bond and the drive to comprehend. Those individuals who earned under $19,999 placed a significantly lower value on both these drives than those in the higher earning brackets.
There was a difference in the drive to comprehend between various work roles. Specifically, there was a difference in how both middle management and trained and professionals viewed that drive compared to skilled labor (with middle management and trained professionals placing a much higher significance on it).
Unsurprisingly, educational level also showed a correlation with the drive to comprehend, with those participants who had achieved a graduate degree valuing this drive much more than those with just a high-school degree or some college.
This information helps us as leaders start to understand how we can better use the levers we have to motivate our employees. Ms. Swadley puts it best when she says, “While it is true by the tenets of the Four Drive Theory that all humans are motivated in some way by the four basic drives, it is important to take into account that all employees are motivated by the four drives at differing levels. A manager with the intention of implementing the Four Drive Theory in the workplace should have employees tested to find out which of the drives are most important to the individual on down to which of the drives provides the least amount of motivation.”
We hope to have Ms. Swadley right a guest post in the upcoming weeks to explore a little deeper what her findings mean for managers and leaders – until then, please let us know what you think by leaving a comment. Thanks!
I just read a blog post by Michael Lee Stallard entitled “Should Leaders Care About Employee Happiness?” in which he talks about how happiness is important to business and how organizations need both “task” and “relationship” excellence. What struck me hard however, were two simple sentences he wrote:
“We are human beings, not machines. Emotion matters, even in business.”
How very, very true. “Emotion matters, even in business.”
This should be a no brainer. We shouldn’t even need to bring this up and yet we do need to bring it up because leaders often forget this. We lead like our employees are parts of a big organizational machine and if we just push and pull the right levers, we will get the desired output. We build systems looking for optimal performance and use incentives as if they were the gasoline that runs our engines.
We forget that “we are human beings, not machines.” And as Dan Ariely points out, we are “irrational” human beings.
We need to stop thinking about business as a machine, and think about it more as a volunteer service club. Imagine you are the president of a Rotary Club and you need to get your club members to work on a project. You don’t offer them an incentive. You don’t command that they give up their Saturday to build a music park in North East Minneapolis or spend two years working to build a high school in Haiti (FYI – our Rotary Club did both of these – see here). You don’t give them new computerized systems that churn out delivery plans. You can’t. Service clubs don’t work that way…
What you do is you appeal to their “humanness” and their “emotion.”
Yes, if you want to be an effective leader, you definitely need to focus on the very human side of things. Remember “We are human beings, not machines. Emotions matter, even in business.”
Would love your human thoughts on this – click on “leave a comment” below
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