Behavior Matters!

Page 36 of 38

Blogwell: Top 3 Insights

On August 20, 2009

A week ago today I attended the Blogwell Conference in Minneapolis, MN. It was a wonderful event packed full of great content but after the 4 hours my head was spinning! I since have had time to process the event a little bit further and I have discovered three key insights:

Try, Try Again, and Keep Trying
Small Business Advantage
Authentic Conversations

Try, Try Again, and Keep Trying

The Blogwell Conference was geared towards larger corporations and the lessons they have learned thus far in implementing and embracing social media. One of the presentations I attended was by McDonald’s. The key insight I walked away with from their presentation was to try something and if it does not work revise and try again, and if that does not work, revise, and keep on trying. They were persistent in their social media efforts. In an organization that is as large as McDonald’s, that includes a layer of franchises in the business model, this equates to an interesting dilemma on how to use social media. The utilization of social media has taken on a tailored and customized approach, not only for their customers, but for the employees as well. The interaction with their customers is from the approach of, “Once we’ve created the relationships, it’s all about cultivating them so that eventually, hopefully, they will become key brand ambassadors for us,” said Heather Oldani. They went out and did some research on what their employees would like in a web based community. Station M was created with their input and, “the whole idea of which is to give the crew a place to come and engage with each other,” stated Steve Wilson.

Small Business Advantage

The surprise insight was that big business may have the overwhelming brand recognition and large consumer base but small businesses in general have the social media advantage. The Lantern Group, Inc. is considered a small business and as we have been implementing various social media solutions it had never occurred to me the advantages we had with social media. The layers of bureaucracy within large organizations can stifle or shut down any social media project. The social media advocate within the large organization may spend more time selling the benefits of social media than actually getting started on the implementation and utilization of social media. This is a key advantage for small businesses. As a small business there was a bit of investigating, selling and cost benefit analysis before we implemented any social media tools but this process took less than two months. The surprising thing was that although there is a learning curve to social media tools, setting them up was fairly quick and user friendly. But like Mc Donald’s we have tried things, revised, and tried again as we are continuously learning and growing about what works, what our customers want, and the best way to deliver the information.

Authentic Conversations

This reflective insight came from the last blog post I wrote on Monday, (Blogwell Unleashes Your Brain), where I discussed the authenticity of the conference attendees and how social media can bring out authentic conversations. Some big and small businesses may struggle with social media because of their inability or fear of being authentic in their communication and actions. Think about it, when is the last time any conversation on authenticity took place in the average cubicle dwellers workplace or for that matter in the local Chamber of Commerce meetings for small businesses? The industrial age thinking of when you walk into your place of work you are no longer ‘you’ with your own voice, opinions, and perspectives you are now part of the organization and thus must think, act, and behave according to their rules. The industrial age mindset is still a part of many organizations and like any change this mindset will collide against those individuals within the organization that want to engage in authentic conversations. There is hope, listening to the many presenters at the Blogwell Conference showed that there are engaged and visionary leaders in larger organizations who are trying to figure out social media. I believe it is not a coincidence that companies who have embraced innovation throughout their history are also embracing social media, i.e. General Mills.

Social Media will continue to evolve and change how we communicate with our customers and our employees. My hope is that one day all of the cubicle dwellers and the Chamber of Commerce attendees will become engaged in the incredible conversations and share their authentic voice.

Susan Stone

Blogwell Unleashes Your Brain

On August 17, 2009

In Employee Motivation, Uncategorized

Brain

Last Thursday, August 13, I attended the Blogwell conference at General Mills, HQ in Minneapolis, MN. It was my first social media conference and I really did not know what to expect but I was excited to check it out. The afternoon was filled with 8 different social media case studies from a variety of corporations.

From the moment I arrived at the Ridgedale parking lot, to wait for the shuttle that would transport us to General Mills, I was observing my fellow conference mates. I was fascinated from the cross section of people that were waiting in line for the shuttle. The demographic spread was pretty cool; young, old, male, female, purple, green, small business, Fortune 500, and pierced. The variety of individuals on the van was pretty amazing to witness. This same variety carried over into the larger conference. I was intrigued by the attendees and wondered what does this mean…was social media the catalyst for this gathering of way cool people? My thought – definitely yes!

For the next four hours I would meet some amazing people and I was impressed by how friendly everyone was and how open they were to helping each other out. The wall of pretenses that usually surrounds conference attendees did not seem nearly as prevalent in this crowd. In fact, I sincerely believe that the authenticity of social media was present in this group and maybe that is it. Utilizing the various social media tools fosters authenticity and transparency so it should not have been surprising to me that meeting the real people behind their twitter and blog names were ‘real’ people! They were genuine, sincere, eager to listen, teach, and share their knowledge and expertise.

One of the presentations that I enjoyed the most was Scott Monty from Ford. Ford is one of the top 10 brands utilizing social media. Scott Monty has really paved the way for integrating social media with business processes and communication. He shared a video where he and the CEO, Alan Mulally were utilizing twitter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaaKNcovfdQ). I really enjoyed this snapshot because it showed a unique collaboration. I smiled when Alan Mulally stated that what has prevented him from twittering is his typing ability so Scott Monty was typing for him so Alan’s, “brain could be unleashed into the world.”

Can you imagine how many other voices are out there that are not sharing their incredible talents because they lack a particular skill? It makes me wonder and it also makes me hopeful that even if we lack a particular skill the drive to learn can be a powerful motivator to help unleash our brains into the world!

Innovation Principles

On August 13, 2009

In Uncategorized

We typically talk about motivation in this blog – but not today. Today I’m recommending a cool blog that I’m following called metacool by Diego Rodriquez – http://metacool.typepad.com/metacool/. Diego is a design guy. He talks about design and is inspired by design. What is truly fascinating though, is the 21 principles he has been developing around innovation. Here are his words about that:

These principles are intended to underpin a general theory of innovation. They are not meant to be principles of design thinking, though some of them are obviously closely related to the theory and practice of design thinking. Inspired by the simplicity work of my friend John Maeda, I’m trying to figure out what I think and know at this point in my life when it comes to all things innovation.

He is through 17 of them so far. They apply to more than just design (as he states) – they can be applied across disciplines. This is where it becomes very cool. How do we innovate around motivation? Take principle number 1, how do I “experience the world and not just talk about experiencing the world” In other words, “How do I experience motivation, and not just talk about motivation.” This is key to innovating (as Diego has pointed out). If we are to truly innovate around developing better ways of motivating, we need to experience motivation and not just take this and that piece from various theory’s.

I encourage everyone to go out and look at Diego’s blog and to think about the current 17 principles. I know that I am.

Kurt

Pay: Cost or Investment?

On August 12, 2009

In Uncategorized

Susan and I had the opportunity yesterday to hear a presentation on assessing pay evaluation by Mark Wallace and Tim Hill of the Hay Group. In it, they talked about the difference between when companies look at pay as a cost or when they look at it as an investment. The difference in how these two world views impact behavior is significant.

When pay is viewed as a cost, it is managements job to minimize it. With this perspective, companies tend to look at pay benchmarks, limit pay increases and create estimate salary budgets for review. However, when pay is viewed as an investment, management’s job is to optimize that investment. Companies actions take on a whole different flavor. With an investment perspective, companies look at how pay drives performance and motivation. How does the pay structure align with the roles and responsibilities of the job. How does the pay opportunity spur employee motivation or engagement. How can pay, recognition, benefits and incentives be leveraged to drive organizational success – as measured on many levels (not just cost savings).

Which pay philosophy do you think is better? I know which one I do.

Let us know your thoughts!

Lessons from the Good Old Days…I Double Dog Dare You

On August 10, 2009

In Employee Motivation, Teambuilding, Uncategorized

My first management experience was back in college and back then email was not the main communication tool you used with your team and cell phones were only used in the movies. As an Assistant Director of the Residence Halls, I managed a small team of Resident Advisors. It was old school communication; you met with your team in person and set expectations, reviewed the policies and procedures of the hall, asked questions, and even enjoyed moments of pure fun without the distracting email or texting clickety clack noise in the background.

Technology has helped communicating with teams in many ways, especially when many teams have virtual or remote locations. But some days I long for the good old days when communication took place first and foremost in person and without cell phones, emails, or texting capabilities.

I miss…

The Unspoken Language: I miss the non-verbal cues that are present in an in person meeting. Something is missed when a team meets on a conference call. You can hear the voice inflections but you can’t see if they are rolling their eyes, read their facial and body language, or even know if they are actually paying attention during the call.
Free Flow Conversation: Meeting with a team in person can be beneficial not only for getting things done but for also connecting and bonding with your team. The one off conversations before and after a meeting seem to flow easier than if the meeting was on Skype or a web conference. Technology burps happen, those unexpected hang ups, disconnects, or heaven forbid user error events disrupt the flow of a meeting and it takes people 10 minutes or more to get back on track and refocused.
Cloud Distractions: Before the days of cell phones, email, and texting the biggest distraction during an in person meeting might have been the big puffy clouds floating outside. And if you were in a brainstorming meeting those big puffy clouds could have inspired the next breakthrough product idea. Today it seems as if we are in a constant holding pattern, like trained dogs that come when their owner whistles we hear the incoming email or text noise and our immediate reaction is to look. Despite our greatest efforts not to look we still do! The number and magnitude of distractions have increased along with the expansion of technology.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy utilizing technology and harnessing the amazing benefits that it has to offer but I also like to harness the amazing power of bonding with a team in person. Managing and inspiring a team is more of an art than a science. The next time you schedule a conference call and you are all in the same building why not meet in person, I double dog dare you!

S. Stone

Do you really know what makes you tick? OR You think you know what motivates you – but you really don’t

On August 6, 2009

In Employee Motivation, Incentive Compensation, Incentive Plans and Sales Awards, Uncategorized

We believe we know what gets us up in the morning and rearing to go – don’t we? If someone asked you what motivates you, you would be able to tell them – right? Our ability to reflect on our own motivations is a belief that we all think we do well. I would argue that we are fooling ourselves and we really aren’t as good at it as we think.

Case in point, research has continually shown that when asked what type of reward employees think would be most motivating or that they would most want, they choose “cash.” Our own research shows that when asked, 70% to 80% of employees typically listed cash as the top reward. However, when you actually look at studies that show performance lift, non-cash awards have a greater impact. Dr. Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational recently blogged about this (See http://www.predictablyirrational.com). He cites an experiment done with Goodyear Tire company in which non-cash rewards improved performance more than double what the cash rewards did. In fact, there are numerous studies that support this idea.

So how can it be that if asked most people would state they prefer cash incentives but perform better when offered non-cash incentives? Part of the reason is because we don’t really understand what drives us? Cash is easy. We understand it. Economists point out that cash has “utility” – in other words it can be used to purchase any number of items that we desire. Non-cash is not so simple. We might not like the choices we have or feel limited by the selection. So what gives?

Dr. Scott Jeffrey’s has done much work on understanding this phenomena (see http://www.incentivecentral.org/awards/whitepapers/benefits_of_tangible_non_monetary_incentives.1830.html). Much of it comes down to how we evaluate, separate, justify and are socially reinforced by each incentive. In other words, we evaluate the value of cash and non-cash differently resulting in a higher value placed on non-cash elements do to affective factors (we can visualize ourselves with a new 56” TV and that gives us a good feeling – this is one step removed with cash). We also tend to lump cash bonuses in with our paycheck and it isn’t seen a separate, special reward. We have to justify spending our cash awards on luxury items such as the above mentioned TV instead of paying down the mortgage – not so when we are only offered luxury items. And finally we tend to not talk about the cash we earn to our peers and friends – but we do tend to talk about that new TV (or trip to Hawaii, or new Golf Clubs, etc…) and are socially reinforced by the bragging rights of those conversations.

So back to the initial question of understanding our motivations – we can see that there is much more to the story than asking people what motivates them. The fact is we don’t always consciously know what motivates us (think Freud). So while asking your employees what they want is a good first step, make sure it isn’t your only step. You need to dig a little deeper to get at their underlying drives.

Kurt Nelson

Unclear Motivators Impact the Bottom Line

On August 3, 2009

In Employee Motivation, Uncategorized

Knowing where you are going is critical in today’s topsy turvy economy. Does the organization you are working for have a clear direction? If they do not, there is no telling if what you are doing on a day to day basis is the right path and you might feel like you are fumbling along the many detours along the way.

Take a moment this week and get clear on your personal motivators as well as your organization’s motivators. Sometimes employees are frustrated by the fact that they are going along day after day doing things that they have no idea how they impact the business or how important their contributions are to the organization. If 100 people are working within the organization and 10 know exactly how their daily contributions impact the organization and the other 90 do not have any idea, everyone is missing out on a huge opportunity not just the 90 who are off course.

Start with asking yourself, “Do I know how my daily work activities contribute to the organization’s success?” and alternatively, “Are there any of my daily work activities that are detracting away from the organization’s success?”

Check in and make sure you are clear on how your work activities are impacting the organization. Also, get clear on what your personal motivators are for your current employment. Sometimes we shy away from the tough and confusing questions because we are afraid of the answers. Shying away from what is hiding in the shadows will only add more clouds and confusion to your world not increase the clarity of your world. If you are unable to answer the questions above then seek out the answers, it is up to you.

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up someplace else”
– Yogi Berra

Teambuilding: More Than just Teamwork

On July 30, 2009

In Teambuilding, Uncategorized

Yesterday was a whirlwind as our team facilitated a commercial challenge teambuilding event. Cameras were rolling and competition was in the air as 12 teams created a customized 60 second commercial answering a specific question on how their customer viewed a particular product. I could see a determined focus in the teams as they set out to write their script, choose roles, scout locations, and obtain the perfect props to enhance their film. It always amazes me what group and individual dynamics appear during a teambuilding event. Some of the behaviors are new while others are tried and true stand bys that seem to creep up to the service anytime stress or tension is in the air.

As I observed and worked with the teams, four things stood out:

Leaders Emerged Quickly: This particular group of 100 people was not shy and the leaders emerged quickly. The gauntlet had been thrown and the teams were on a mission to win one of the awards along with the bragging rights of having the coolest commercial.
Inspired Creativity: Sometimes a creative spark is easy to generate to get the ball rolling while other times it can feel like the idea bank is nothing but a dry well. Yesterday, the creative energy was alive and flowing as teams summoned their imaginations that may have been dormant for years and turned common everyday items into magnificent commercial props. Sometimes a hotel towel can turn into a life saving vest!
Shared Experience: It seems that the more technology influences our daily lives the more disconnected and removed we become from face to face contact. The teambuilding event brought back the ability for people to hang out, bond, work outside of their comfort zones, and share laughter. This shared experience is now a part of their memories and technology is not able to delete this from their memory database.
The Customers’ Shoes: One of the objectives of the event was to create a compelling commercial from the perspective of the customer. What a great opportunity to take a test drive and walk in the customers’ shoes. The insights that were gained by shifting perspectives were very enlightening for the participants.

Teambuilding when done effectively with a purpose and clear objectives in mind can be a powerful motivator for groups large and small. The group of 100 participants yesterday experienced learning the old fashioned way by igniting the power of creativity and imagination.

An Inside Look at Employee Motivation

On July 27, 2009

In Employee Motivation, Uncategorized

Celebrate! Another goal has been reached we have entered the Twitteruniverse – @WhatMotivates.

This is an exciting time at the Lantern Group as we embark on several new adventures. Adventures that will hopefully position us to be more effective in helping companies engage their workforce; in expanding our knowledge and understanding of motivation; and in creating a workplace where we can grow and prosper.

Our process of transformation began back in March 2009. Despite the down turn in the economy our rock star leader decided it was the perfect time to retool, check in on our dreams, and decide on what is next for The Lantern Group as an organization. The company has enjoyed success and we have worked with great clients, but what was next?

Our team of three (along with their wonderful spouses) met in sunny Mexico, what a great place to dream, vision, and tap into what motivates and drives us as an organization. We determined that it was time to make a pretty dramatic shift to really tap into what drives and motivates us – employee motivation.

Employee motivation is not a new concept, it has been around a long time but what has excited us is incorporating and enhancing what we already know with a new motivational theory – the four drive theory. This theory is practical, provides a language around employee motivation, and it integrates well with other great theories. We discussed, set goals, including those stretch goals, and created a plan.

We left Mexico excited and ready to embark on a new journey. Four months have passed and we have been rocking our goals, oh and continuing with our client work of course!

So what have we accomplished in the past four months, here is a sampling:

Expanded Research: We studied the 4-Drive Model, extended how it can be used inside companies, conducted a number of employee interviews, and found our niche.
Brand New Website: Currently in development – to be released to the world very soon!
The Lantern Group Blog: What Motivates You was created and is live! Check out the great posts: http://thelanterngroup.wordpress.com/
Twitter: Officially became members of the Twitteruniverse. Come along and follow us @WhatMotivates
Product Development: A lot of great new products are being developed behind the scenes, we may need some ‘testers’ in the future so be on the lookout for announcements!
Cool Merchandise: Yes, we are developing some rocking merchandise working with a graphic designer to help bring our motivation vision to life. Because it is all about helping individuals, teams, and organizations be the best they can be by unleashing their potential. Woohoo!

Not bad for a team of 3 people huh? It is amazing what a team can accomplish when they have a clear vision, hold each other accountable, the goals are aligned to the individual strengths and talents of the team members, and enjoy some celebrating along the way. Work can be fun right? Oh yes it can!

It is an exciting time at The Lantern Group and we are grateful to those that have been with us from the beginning and we look forward to those we will be working with in the future.

Come and join us on the adventure as we are inspired by What Motivates You!

Employee Motivation – 9 simple tips for Managers

On July 23, 2009

In Employee Motivation, Uncategorized

Employee motivation, in my view, is key to creating long term successful companies. While there are no magic bullets out there, here are 9 tips that we’ve gathered over the years that can help any manager improve the motivation of the people working for him or her.

Page 36 of 38

Blogwell Unleashes Your Brain

Innovation Principles

Pay: Cost or Investment?

Lessons from the Good Old Days…I Double Dog Dare You

Do you really know what makes you tick? OR You think you know what motivates you – but you really don’t

Unclear Motivators Impact the Bottom Line

Teambuilding: More Than just Teamwork

As I observed and worked with the teams, four things stood out:

An Inside Look at Employee Motivation

So what have we accomplished in the past four months, here is a sampling:

Employee Motivation – 9 simple tips for Managers

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