Bottom-line: There is no cast-iron guaranteed way to make others care. They are called "intrinsic motivations" for a reason.
Here are a few things that won't help:
- Beating people up a lot. Some research I saw on the front of someone else's newspaper on train last week stated that negative evaluations have 4 times as much impact as positive ones (can someone confirm whether I just made that up please?). Which means that you have to be nice to people at least 80% of the time or else they will think that you think they suck. And hate you for it.
- Not caring that much yourself. If my boss doesn't care then why should I? And not just saying that you care but showing it by offering time & resources to it. Words are cheap, actions are a bit less cheap. Attention is the scarcest resource for most executives & therefore the resource most appreciated.
- Making people do stuff they hate. Everyone has to do a bit of something they don't like. It's good for us (in a Victorian school marmish kinda way - you eat that soggy, overboiled veg now). I may be unusual but I like doing stuff I am good at and am often good at doing stuff I like. Not always (I am fond of male catwalk modelling but that career is still on hold) but often. If people are put in the wrong roles then do not expect them to get passionate about them without a super-human effort of will.
- Motivational speakers. Now these words aren't cheap. I have seen & heard many truly inspiring people. Wonderful, wonderful people. Have they all changed my life? No. Because a depressing environment (the things I have just written about) will squash all that post-talk inspiration as flat as a little flightless bird under the remorseless tracks of a tank.
- Bribery. Shawn Callahan recently quoted Alfie Kohn - who has spent years indicating why the uses of rewards as motivational tools have limited value.
So what can you do? Well, David Maister gives a wonderful example of inspirational management here.
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6 comments:
I think Alfie would suggest that rewards have a detrimental impact because they erode intrinsic motivation. Interestingly, this includes praise.
Good point Shawn. But is there a difference between praise & feedback?
Compare & contrast the two statements:
1. "Your report was well received by the customer."
2. "What a good little report writer you are! Do more of those and I will continue to like you."
Now I am exaggerating for effect but I think people need the former (feedback). The have less need of the latter (praise). But of course, secretly, we all crave a bit of it because everyone is a little insecure.
Does praise have a role? Be interested to hear your thoughts...
Matt,
I have to say that the undoubted expert in this field has to be Karen Pryor.
I thoroughly recommend "Don't shoot the dog" as one of the most insightful books on training and conditioning animals (two legged as well as four legged) I've ever read.
..in fact I gave a little animal training story on my blog that links in with this quote really nicely!
Positive reinforcement... which is what we are really talking about here is easy to get wrong, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work (or apply to people). It just takes some mastery.
I do agree that most companies are clueless at using rewards effectively: timing, consistancy, having an idea of how you want people to behave, variable reinforcement, micro-rewards, jackpots... the variables are many.. but when people 'get it' boy they achieve amazing results, and intrinsic motivation!!
I suppose the question that comes to mind is how Alfie thinks that intrinsic motivation comes into existance in the first place?
First time at your blog!
I'll be back ;o)
Regards,
Jason Bates
Jason - Thanks for visiting. Like the linking of KM system incentives to dog training.
How about this: When managers think about "reinforcement" it tends to be about behaviours rather than people. And I don't know about you but I don't see any behaviours on my org chart. Rewards should be about supporting an individual who is doing well and helping them do even better.
E.g. Someone has done a fantastic job knowledge-sharing. Why not send them off (e.g. a conference somewhere cool on a relevant topic) so they can then share those experiences with others? Someone has spent hours arranging & unloading key project documentation? Give them that time back in another way that might be more fun for them so they feel recharged. Or give them a fun environment to do the boring job in (e.g. you can work on this from home, you don't have to wear a suit, etc).
And say thank you. Regardless of Mr Kohn, people need to be told they dun good & why what they have done is important.
Matt,
I agree that 'reinforcement' has a bad rep. The concept de-humanize's the people who work for us, and as you say there are no 'behaviours' in the office next door... just real people with real feelings.
But look beneath the surface and I think that you'll find that those real people are being 'reinforced' every moment of everyday. We are a species largely driven by emotions, (which we hide with rational confabulation at every opportunity)... and as one of my favourite quotes from Theodore Dreiser points out...
“Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason”
but I digress ;o)
I thought that your examples of the effective use of rewards were very interesting... and they made me think.
As you might have seen from my website / blog, I work with organizations to improve the results they achieve with large projects & programmes by helping them develop better 'project leadership' (as opposed to the ubiquitous 'project management')
...hence my special interest in this topic of rewards, behaviours, and engaging teams.
I've found that the best teams will crawl over broken glass to get something done on their project. They rarely need their task 'sugar coating' because they attach such meaning to making the project and the team they work with succeed.
Their worldview is different.
So what about this: A ball bearing sits on an uneven wooden board that has lots of hills and hollows. It naturally rolls to closest lowest point on the board.
If you want the ball bearing to move to another spot on the board you have to give it a push (or a pull with a magnet?) you can be quite effective moving the ball bearing around the board... (and thus wearing new tracks into the wood) but it takes a bit of effort, concentration, and timing, and with lots of ball bearings in play it's difficult!
There is another way though.. you tilt the board. All the ball bearings on the board find new hollows further down the board, in the direction you want. Every(thing/one) is effected.
Good leaders are handy with their magnets, great leaders tilt the whole board. Sublime leaders do both!
Mr Kohn's quote (to me) denies the effectiveness of magnets in moving ball bearings... and making new tracks for the ball bearings in the wooden board.
...but is there something useful in the quote? When you get too handy with magnets do you you ever think about tilting the board? Is there a place for both?
This reply is a lot longer than I intended ;o) but drinking a nice cup of coffee on a lazy saturday morning in my favourite London cafe... I can get carried away.
Regards,
Jason
"I've found that the best teams will crawl over broken glass to get something done on their project"
Yes they will. But that's because the people in team believe in what they are doing and/or trust each other deeply (so will not let the team fail).
Your ball bearings metaphor makes me nervous - because it implies that leaders simply manipulate others into following their will like, well, ball bearings. And the simple fact of the matter there is nothing that will 100% guarantee people will do what you want. Even if you stick a gun in their face, they may choose to die rather than obey.
You can select people who believe in your aims & methods. You can encourage & inspire them. You can provide feedback on what works & what doesn't. But you also have to recognise that the only person are in control of you is yourself.
If you look at the post above on "Herd" then you'll find a book that confirms you comment that we influence each other every day. But also challenges a simplistic cause-and-effect model of communication & leadership.
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