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”…
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?”
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.
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!
As some of you might know, I am working on my PhD in I/O Psychology and have been for many years. Too many years actually – which is why I think my wife insisted that I attend a five day Dissertation Writers Retreat held by Capella University just outside of Chicago. So for the last five days I’ve been working on Chapter 4 of my dissertation which is the results section. I’ve been having a blast inputting data, crunching numbers, running statistical tests and analyzing the results and what I found out is surprising…at least it was for me.
Celebrations mark important milestone in organizations from project completions to recognizing employees for the number of years employed by the organization.
Like motivation, the process and appreciation of celebrating can vary from individual to individual.
Are you the type of person who loves or loathes the public display of celebrating your birthday at a chain restaurant? Come on, you know you want to try on the big sombrero and have your picture taken with 8 strange restaurant employees while you blow out a birthday candle on a sweet treat. You may have guessed from my past blog articles that I would be in the “love” column for public birthday celebrations. I love enrolling others in the restaurant to join in the celebration! The noisier, more obnoxious, and joyous the celebration the more I light up like a big bright star and shine with happiness.
But alas, not everyone enjoys what I like. Despite how much I try and enroll others in a little Happy Birthday dance I understand that this type of celebration is not for everyone. Remember that everyone is different and some may LOVE or LOATHE your company celebrations and there rarely is an in-between emotion. I encourage you to take a look at how your organization celebrates: does it come off as something that needs to be done to check it off some master celebration to do list or is it genuine and personalized to the intended recipients?
Celebrations can be as simple as a meaningful phone call to congratulate an employee on something they did well that week or they can be full organization wide productions. Regardless of how big or small the celebration is keep in mind that celebrations are like motivation in that every person has individual preferences and will react and appreciate the act of celebrating in a different manner.
Celebrating is natural and when done right can leave lasting, positive impressions on your organization and employees.
Susan
If you know someone that might benefit from this article pay it forward and pass it along.
Susan and I just had the wonderful pleasure of spending a day interviewing 11 people at Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center to try to uncover their secret – because they have gotten the formula right on employee motivation. Anyone who has ever stepped into their facility outside of Minneapolis can attest to the customer service mentality that every employee exhibits – from the front desk, to housekeeping, to the chefs, groundskeepers, and even in accounting. There is a definite difference in how the majority of these employees “show up” at their job everyday and how they view and take care of their “guests”. They are truly a company that is doing something right. While we haven’t had time to fully analyze the interviews (we will in the upcoming weeks), there are a few things that I can say definitively:
1. Leadership counts – the one overriding conclusion that hit us in the face was how important leadership is in this process – they need to be present, genuine, and focused on the right things.
2. Its not about the money – I was a little surprise to hear (actually to NOT hear) about bonus plans or contests or other recognition that had a big dollar value. It wasn’t important. It didn’t drive their day-to-day activities or play an integral part in their motivation.
3. It is about the team – teamwork was an overriding theme in all of the interviews that we did. It wasn’t ever about “my job” but instead about serving the customer. If that means that top managers have to change sheets, then that is what happens.
4. Genuine recognition rejuvenates – real, honest recognition that is done on a regular basis, in public, helps reinvigorate and help drive the culture. Knowing that their work is important and recognized keeps people engaged.
5. Its about people – employees were seen as people first. Management spent time getting to know them, getting to understand who they were, spending time finding out about their families and interests. They care and it shows.
Over the next few weeks we will let you know more about our findings and get in depth with some analysis. Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center has been kind enough to give us access to their people and allow us to share our insights with you. There is something to learn here if you are interested in creating a workforce that is motivated and engaged. Stay tuned!
Kurt
The end of the game
So Amazon is leaving the incentive market which they just entered three years ago. From all reports it isn’t because the venture isn’t profitable, but instead it is about ensuring that their brand and their customer service reputation are not sullied. Paul Hebert in his blog wrote, “the decision was made to drop fulfillment through incentive programs due to customer service issues. Specifically, the recipient, if they had problems with their order, would call Amazon for resolution but Amazon would have to refer them back to the incentive company – who in turn would do the due diligence to fix the problem. From Amazon’s point of view this created a negative impression of their customer service.” In a nutshell, they are taking a hit on millions of $ to make sure there is no negative impact on the billions of $ that they do in their non-incentive business. In my mind, that is a pretty smart move (one that you wouldn’t see a lot of businesses making). Now I’m sure there are other factors (i.e., tax issues, not controlling the customer relationship, etc…). Nothing is ever quite as black and white as it seems.
In the short time that Amazon was in the market, they shook it up. They offered a new way of fulfilling incentive program offerings. With their great number of items, their back end processing and handling, drop ship expertise, and their low price points, Amazon was able to provide even the smallest incentive companies with a very sophisticated e-catalog of incentive goods. No longer did an incentive house need to have the large capital expense of a warehouse and stocking products. Amazon was able to provide the back-end seamlessly for a price that couldn’t be beat.
Playing against Amazon
I was part of a large pitch (as a partner with a traditional incentive house) last fall to a company that loved what we did, trusted our customer service, thought that our creative approach was the best and liked the way we brought behavioral science into the process (i.e., The Lantern Group) – but, ended up going with a different company because they could offer more merchandise at a lower cost point. How did that other company do it – they used Amazon as their fulfillment partner. At that point, I thought I saw the writing on the wall – that the days of making large margins on merchandise were all but over. How could the traditional companies compete, when smaller, more nimble and aggressive firms could come in and under-price while having a larger item selection and great fulfillment services. In the debrief with the company about why we lost the business, the purchasing agent said, “…this is the wave of the future, all [incentive] companies should be doing this.” It was going to be a new world – and I was excited!
Changing the game
For years the pricing model used by incentive companies has been margin based. While there is nothing wrong with this conceptually, it does create an interesting dynamic. Merchandise is the cash cow for these companies. Without this, many of the companies will fail. There is an underlying need to get people “into the warehouse.” When I started my career (many eons ago) I was naive enough to think that when I was hired on at one of these incentive companies that I was going to work for a consulting firm that was trying to find the best way to motivate and engage employees. What I found out was they were all for that – as long as the way to do motivate and engage led through the warehouse (I’m exaggerating a little here for emphasis, but there was an underlying culture of this).
While that culture has shifted slightly over the years, it is still present in the industry. If Amazon was going to be able to undercut prices because of their buying power – then incentive companies were going to be forced to change their model. This would mean finding other ways to make money – which would lead them to finding other ways to increase motivation. The benefit would have been that these companies would have created a larger toolbox with more tools and thus not fall to the old idiom “when you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” This would mean better solutions to motivation problems.
The next competitor
While Amazon might be leaving, they showed that there was a desire in the marketplace for something like this. I don’t think there is another company right now that could fill that role, but that doesn’t mean in the future there couldn’t be. So, with that in mind, it is important to think about the next game. What will this mean for the traditional incentive houses, for the mid or small sized performance improvement firms? Will someone take that bold step to change the game and bring in a different set of plays and players or will they exhale a deep breathe, thankful the other team forfeited, and go back to their old ways of playing? Right now, we’ll just have to wait and see…
Please share your thoughts and rants on this…would love to get a nice dialogue going.
Kurt
If you know someone that might benefit from this article pay it forward and pass it along.
What motivates one person to take lemons and make lemonade and another person just sees lemons? I recently came across a movie trailer for the movie, “Lemonade – It’s not a pink slip. It’s a blank page.”
Erik Proulx had the idea to document and share the stories of several individuals in the advertising industry who had been let go from their jobs. It is a story of how each one looked at the lay off as an opportunity to pursue something else, possibly a forgotten dream. It is a fascinating take on what motivates different individuals.
The lemonade community all share a common thread of being laid off which has a ripple effect of bonding together a group of individuals from all over the world. They support each other, share their stories, and provide a safe space for dormant dreams to be re-ignited and acted upon.
Enjoy the movie trailer!
Susan
If you know someone that might benefit from this article pay it forward and pass it along.
Airplane they wouldn't let me board
Recently I was in Dallas conducting focus groups. After two long days of travel and facilitating, I raced back to DFW airport with the intent of trying to get on an earlier flight that I knew left at 3:15 PM. Admittedly, this was a crapshoot and I would be cutting it close. I was scheduled for the 5:55 PM flight, but the 3:15 PM flight would get me home in time to see my family before my two young children were in bed (which is pretty important to me). As luck would have it, I was able to return the rental car, run to catch the bus to the terminal, get my ticket, and get through security and arrive at the gate at 2:55 PM – a good 20 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. Here is an approximation of the exchange that occurred between me and the gate agent who we will call Mr. No.
Dallas, March 24th, 2:55 PM
Kurt standing at the counter said, “Hi. How’s it going? I’m on the 5:55 flight but was hoping there might be a seat open that I could fly standby on this one.”
“Are you a gold or platinum member?” Mr. No replied.
“Not anymore.” said Kurt, wondering why that mattered, “Is there a seat available?”
“I can’t help you if you’re not a gold or platinum medallion member.”
“So there’s a seat but you can’t help me?” Kurt asks with some despondency.
“I can’t get you on now. If you had been here ten minutes earlier I might have gotten you on.” said Mr. No.
“I don’t have any checked bags and will sit down right away. I promise.” Kurt says hoping a little levity might help:
“I’m sorry. I can’t have you go down there – they are getting ready to leave.”
“So you won’t help me? There is 20 minutes before the flight leaves!”
“You’ll just have to take your original flight.”
“I’ll pay. What would it cost to change?” Kurt said
“$50. But I can’t do that now.” Mr. No says right before turning his back on me and checking some paper coming out of the printer.
“Ok?” Kurt said, while pulling out his i-phone to start Twittering about this horrible experience with Delta.
Motivation Observation
It appeared to me that the agent was concerned about the on-time status of the flight, the extra work it would cause to put me on the flight, and the fact that I wasn’t a premium status customer more than he was concerned about responding to my needs. I could go on and on about the motivation (or lack thereof) of the gate agent for Delta, but I do not know that agent, or the procedural rules or incentives that Delta employs to drive motivation – so any insight would be conjecture.
What interests me was my response to this situation and the motivation that drove that response. My first inclination having been denied appropriate customer service was not to ask for a manager or send an e-mail to Delta’s customer service – it was to get on Twitter and to tell over 700 people about my “horrible” experience. I ended up tweeting about this over 15 times in the next 3 hours either directly about the experience or responding to other people’s tweets about this. Here are my first 4 tweets (typos and all):
“Delta airlines won’t let me board plane on standby because it leaves in 20 minutes – horrible cust service!”
“I understand why airlines get such a bad rap – counter agent too concerned about on time deptarture and not cust service”
“Delta #fail here is plane that I can’t board http://twitpic.com/1aoaj7”
“Flight leaves at 3:15 I was here at 2:52 – agent couldn’t accomodate me ( not gold or platinum) even if I paid! http://twitpic.com/1aob2q”
In terms of the four drives, which drives were activated? Clearly, my Defend drive was kicked into high gear. The fact that I felt that my goals were being hindered by a Delta kicked that Defense Drive into overdrive! I felt I needed to get payback and the idea of Twittering about this provided a means of vindication. I would make Delta pay by announcing how horrible they were to the world. Hundreds of people would hear me venting in real time and who knows, it could be passed on to hundreds or thousands more through retweeting.
Therein lies a potential second drive – the drive to Acquire. While this sounds contrary since I wasn’t going to the manager or to customer service to ask for money or a free ticket, what I was doing was looking for recognition. Recognition from others on how I had been wronged. I wanted the world to know about what I was going through and to recognize me for that fact. There was a challenge to this as well. Could I write a tweet that was compelling enough to get retweeted and forwarded on – this was a challenge. How many people could this vent be exposed to? Thus a third drive, the Challenge Drive, was also engaged.
A fourth drive was also activated – the drive to Bond. By tweeting about this I was engaging in a conversation with other people about my experience. I was commensurating with others about my experience and theirs. We were sharing stories and experiences and building relationships. By tweeting, I had a group of individuals whom I could talk to about this experience and feel a bond with them. It was a way of venting without having to do it in person to the people in the airport (who would probably thought me a demented maniac).
When all four drives are activated, it is a very powerful motivator. I did not hesitate in writing my tweets. I still feel that it was a good thing to do. While the Defense drive was the main motivator, the other drives played a significant part in my overall motivation. This is a very real insight for me – how all four drives together are much more powerful than any one alone.
Moving On
I would love to hear about any customer service failures that you’ve experienced and see if you see how the four drives impacted your response (or not). Please add a comment and join the discussion.
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