Your Job is to Motivate: Fact or Fiction?

As a manager, I learned a long time ago that I couldn’t motivate anyone except me because motivation is internal and personal. I did learn, though, that the work environment can influence an employee’s motivation to achieve her own goals and that motivation positively affects performance and business results. Unfortunately, the wrong environment results in an equal and negative impact on motivation.

I just finished reading Dan Pink’s new book, Drive as well as a white paper published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) on motivation. These are good resources and I recommend them. Both sources agree that there are a number of things at work that can influence motivation including engagement, commitment and job satisfaction.

As a manager, what does all of this research and thought leadership mean to me? How am I going to apply it? Here is the “how” of influencing motivation from my perspective:

It Starts With Selection. Hiring people with the internal orientation, not just the skills, has to be Job #1. Asking interview questions that help you assess the level of motivation present in a candidate is invaluable. Examples:

• “What is it about XYZ Company that makes you think this is the right place for you?”
• “What kind of work makes you excited to be at your job every day?”
• “What do you want to know from me?” (I think this one is key. If the candidate doesn’t have a clue, that’s a clue for you).

It’s Not Always About the Money (or the t-shirt or mug). As Dan Pink pointed out in Drive, extrinsic motivators work in very limited circumstances but intrinsic motivators work in a high percentage of scenarios. This isn’t an issue of pay; if that is out of line, morale and engagement will suffer.

What kind of intrinsic motivators could work with your staff? You’ll have to ask them because motivation, like fingerprints, is unique to the individual. This is where asking relevant questions specific to your company on an employee survey can provide great insights, especially when linked to other employee data and financial results.

Sometimes It’s About You. People don’t often leave their jobs but they do leave their managers. Here are some of the issues I’ve read when analyzing clients' employee engagement studies:

• Showing favoritism
• Not communicating often enough – or at all
• Pointing out failures but not successes
• Managing every detail of my job
• Not listening to my ideas
• Not allowing the flow of information to trickle down from senior management and percolate up from me.

Thinking about your own performance as a manager, here are questions you can ask of yourself:

• Am I managing someone’s job or managing results?
• Do I play favorites or let my personal likes and dislikes influence how work is done?
• Is information my personal power base, accessible by only a chosen few in my team?
• Do I insist on making all of the decisions or do I share that with all team members?
• Am I onboarding my new team members or do I leave that strictly to the HR department?

That Vision Thing. This is a tune I will continue to sing. Talking about the company’s vision, strategy and plans for the future often and with a consistent message is critical for commitment and therefore motivation. What if your company doesn’t have a concrete vision or strategy? Ask yourself:

• What results am I accountable for?
• What is the mission of my department/team/unit? What does it exist to do?
• How does my team contribute to the company’s results?
• How do I communicate our mission and our team goals?

Measure Progress Toward Results. Spread the News. End of story.

As Gary Hamel, a leading thinker on strategy, often says, leaders are needed at every level of a company. Providing a working environment that positively influences employee motivation can start right in your office, no matter what your title.

I’d love to hear what you are doing to influence employee motivation at your organization.

Values Matter: Is Your Compass Pointing to True North?

I read an interview the other day with the CEO of a major retailer who talked extensively about the impact of the company's values, called Foundation Principles, on how the company is run. I consult with clients on strategy, so I'm interested in companies that 1) have actually thought about their Values; 2) have articulated them; and 3) lead by them. Values can be the compass that guides business decisions, large and small and in my view are necessary precursors of a well designed strategy.

There are seven Foundation Principles according to the web site and each one is articulated in detail. It is interesting that the CEO blogs on the site, so at some level, he models the Leadership=Communication Principle. Job postings on Careerbuilder.com described the company history and its Principles, a departure from the usual list of job requirements. That seemed to follow the 1=3 Principle whereby one great hire is better than 3 good ones. The posting would attract those who feel a fit with the culture.

There are a lot of leaders who truly believe that their companies are run according to established values so I decided to do some research to find out if employee and customer comments mirror the Principles. Customer comments and reviews that I found were full of high praise and good reviews so the Principles of Creating Mutually Beneficial Relationships and an "Air of Excitement" seemed to be part of the customer experience. Then I looked for employee feedback and found quite a few recent ones that unfortunately were not all positive. On a 5-point scale, employees rated the company a 3.1 and gave the CEO a 47% approval rating. Why the disconnect with the other data?

Extreme views generally get posted but as there were as many 5's as 2's, the scores were not negatively skewed. Not one negative comment was about pay. Many mentioned a new scheduling system; others talked about their manager or losing a benefit or lack of a career path. They talked about how things "used to be". It's easy to dismiss disgruntled employees' rants except that sometimes, they are leading indicators of something amiss internally. Unhappy employees today; unhappy customers next week.

The funny thing about values is that when you talk about them, institutionalize them and use them as key differentiators, people tend to take them seriously. Especially employees and customers. They think you'll really do what you say. This company's values don't need to change. That's the point of values: they are enduring. They guide and are the foundation of culture, strategy and engagement. They are a bulwark against lapses of judgment. A couple of thoughts:

• Listen to your employees. Let them talk and be involved. If they are involved in a dialogue internally, it's less likely they will be ranting externally.
• Walk the talk. At all levels. Middle managers are accountable, too.
• Clear, credible communication. Communicate the tough decisions in a way that employees understand the "why".
• When your employees describe your values as "Kool-Aid", it's time to take a long look at your culture. It could be broken and that is hard to fix on the fly.

Is your company built on a foundation of values? Can your customers sense them in their interactions with your employees? Do your employees believe that your values are more than a plaque on a wall?

What is This Engagement Thing?

For about a year, I've been receiving Google Alerts with tags that contain the word 'engagement'. Sometimes the articles or blogs have useful information; sometimes they are just sales pitches.

Nevertheless, the concept of engagement in the workplace is fascinating because, for me, it's a "Duh" kind of idea. Isn't it common sense that when people are engaged in what they do, they perform better; they are more attached to the organization and they contribute at a higher level than less engaged people? Ah, but common sense isn't common practice.

We are complex creatures, we humans. We tend to be engaged by an idea or a cause that is meaningful, maybe bigger than ourselves and which enriches our lives. Unfortuately, in a lot of workplaces, work has been reduced to activities and tasks. Senior mangement may not even be recognized (see Undercover Boss) or is the sender of an occasional email. Financial performance is not shared or discussed widely and the company's Mission is engraved on a plaque in the lobby. Maybe it's time to connect the dots and see that for an employee to be engaged, the organization must be engaging. It's easier to see how the concept works in a model:

Vision and Mission: They are foundational elements of an engaged company. People know what you stand for and why you exist. Decisions are based on these elements and behaviors are driven by them.

Strategy: Engagement starts here. People see the "big picture" and hear about organizational strategy because it's part of everyday activity. They are part of something bigger than the jobs they are paid for and can see how their work fits in.

Leadership: Listens actively and communicates frequently. Leaders are trustworthy and believe evangelically about the potential of the company, the people who work there and the customers they serve.

Culture: The way things really get done in an organization; the stories and the rituals; the practices and the collective tone. If Strategy is the Head of the organizational body, Culture should be the Heart. Culture can deliver or derail any leader's strategy if it isn't designed to support it. Cultivating an engaging environment is a key priority.

Employees: The lifeblood, the true asset of every company. Most of us WANT to be engaged but our companies often don't give us sufficient reason. I agree with Dan Pink in his new book, Drive. People are motivated by Purpose, Autonomy and Mastery, assuming basic needs are met (Thank you, Abraham Maslow).

Customers: The reason we get up every day and go to work, remember? As Peter Drucker said so often, management is about knowing what your Purpose is, who your customers are and how you're going to make a profit. Designing an engaging customer experience is an Outside-In job.

So, engagement is not a slogan, a program or a one-time initiative. Connecting the organizational dots is what engagement is all about. What do you think?

Reviving Our Resourcefulness

In a presentation I wrote late last year, I suggested that 2009 was the year of resilience. Companies that weathered the economic storm were flexible, prepared and displayed a spirit that carried them and their employees and customers over the waves that were crashing around them. Maybe we were battered but we were standing.

For 2010, I suggest that we and our businesses build on our resilience and harness our resourcefulness to be successful. In my blog a couple of weeks ago, I predicted that companies would be Bold or Bewildered this year. Bold companies will be resourceful. Americans and the businesses we've built have demonstrated for the past 234 years that we can be inventive and practical; optimistic and realistic. In 2009, we made do with less and hoped for the best. In 2010, we need to make better with the same and achieve greater results.

In a new book called Identity Economics, economists George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton suggest that an economy works well when people personally identify with it, so that their self-esteem is tied up with its activities. The military has known this and employed it with its mission-critical message. Few soldiers enlist for the pay, so why are they willing to sacrifice their lives? It's because they believe in the cause, in themselves and in one another.

While few jobs can match the cause of defending one's country, it's not a stretch to suggest that our businesses cannot be resourceful with a disinterested and insecure workforce. It's time to restore that faith in what we all are capable of doing in our organizations. Here are a few thoughts:

• Have a Mission that clearly articulates your Purpose. Leaders have to carry that banner wherever they are. They talk about it. They write about it. They act on it. Do it often enough and employees will believe it, your customers will feel it and your competition will worry about it.

• High Aspirations, Modest Resources: A phrase coined by Sir Richard Branson when asked how Virgin Airways took on British Airways and won the transatlantic air war. Keeping vision and strategy clearly in mind; conveying their importance and making decisions based on both creates an authenticity that people recognize and like. Branson said that his winning secret was creating a "we're all in this together" mindset by involving everyone who worked for him and their customers in the process of defining a fun, cost-effective and different flying experience.

• Make Better With the Same: Notice I didn't say do more with less. What have you got in your company that hasn't been used, deployed, exploited or improved in a long time? Employees' ideas? Loyal customers? Old procedures? Half-used technology? This is the time to harness the brainpower you have, the revenue you've acquired, the technology you've bought and the processes you've grown and take a critical look at how you can get more out of what you have.

What are your companies doing to make 2010 better than 2009? Are you hunkering down or rediscovering how resourceful you are?

Bold or Bewildered: Do You Have Momentum for Success in 2010?

I was in London for New Year's Eve, watching the fireworks over the Thames with Big Ben tolling and the London Eye outlined in brilliant colors. There was a palpable "something" that rippled through the crowd as we watched the end of one decade and the dawn of a new one. Maybe it was a sigh of relief or an inhale that signaled expectation. Did you feel it too?


I think what I experienced on January 1st was momentum: a sense of drive and energy to leave the past year and embark on the present. When I returned to the States, I did some mind mapping of the Economy, Consumers and Business Response. A great exercise. I recommend it.

So, based on the maps, I came up with quite a few root causes that drove my predictions for businesses in 2010. Here are a few in no particular order:

• Companies will be Bold or Bewildered.

• Customers will extract every penny of value from all purchases, especially discretionary ones.

• Bold companies will make growth decisions but not in a stupid way.

• There are two types of Bewildered companies: those that have many opportunties and/or are on the cusp of making quantum leaps and those that are stuck and don't know which way to go.

• Access to financial capital will continue to be limited.

• People are fed up with what they read and hear about Wall Street, government and less-than-stellar- leadership in both public and private sectors. Their emotions will drive significant changes in the way they think about all institutions.

• The temporary workforce is not just a cover story in BusinessWeek. I talked with a client recently who is already implementing a plan for a temporary workforce in a key functional area.

In future blogs, I'll be exploring these and other trends and how they impact our lives in and out of work.

I'd like to know from you: How are you creating success in 2010? What is your company doing to proactively respond to the shifting mood of the country? Do you have a strategy? What are some of your predictions for 2010?