Jamie met me in the break room, where I was trying to make an executive decision between the hazelnut or European blend coffees.

“I have been thinking about what you said,” Jamie started. We had been discussing how teenagers can sit for hours in front of a computer game, maintain an aggressive level of interest, solve complex problems and achieve a high level of achievement, without the traditional elements of motivation we think about at work.

“At first, I thought about how I could make work more like a game,” she said, “but I stopped, because work isn’t a game. It is real, with real accountabilities and real consequences. And that is when it hit me.

“As a manager, I try to do all this up-front stuff trying to get my team motivated to get the work done. But it’s not the stuff I do up-front. It’s more in the consequences. I need to focus more on the consequences. I need to focus more on what happens after the behavior, than what happens before the behavior.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like noticing that they show up on time. Making a fuss about their work area when it is straight and orderly. Celebrating the small successes in the day, when we get an order out the door. Making progress visible as we work through the day. Having the team do some of their own quality inspections and taking corrective action before the QC department gets involved. Making sure we take note when we hit certain levels of competence. And recognizing the big stuff when we master it.”

“What do you think the big difference is?” I asked.

“All the stuff we do before is external. It’s outside the person. The stuff we do after, works internal, it works inside the person.”

Jamie was quiet for a minute. Then, she slowly repeated herself. “In the mind of my son, he is part of something bigger than himself, trying to achieve certain levels in the game. As he makes progress, he gets real-time feedback (automatically), so he can adjust his play. When he makes the level, there is a small electronic celebration on the screen.”

“And, how does your son feel about himself when he is playing this computer game?” I asked.

“It must feel good. As silly as it may seem, he has a sense of accomplishment.”

“Is there any time when he feels frustrated or challenged?”

“Oh, yes, sometimes he won’t even come down for dinner, because he is working through something so intently. He has to try and try and try until he finally gets it.”

“And then he comes to dinner?”

Jamie smiled. “Yes, then he comes to dinner. He says it’s okay, now. He has reached a certain level in the game and he can take a breather. Sometimes, he will stay away from the game for a couple of days.”

“Jamie, I want you to think about your son and his motivation and see how you could apply that at work, with your team. I want you to think about challenge, real time feedback, personal control and correction, achievement of goals, competence and mastery. Let’s meet tomorrow and talk about your ideas.” -TF

“What is it that this game has, that is so attractive to your son, that he will go without food, water and sleep, in spite of discouragement from his mom (manager)?” I asked. Her son had achieved a high level of competence in this video game without the traditional trappings of learning, without the traditional trappings of inducement. Yet he continues to play hard.

“Well, for one thing, it must be fun, it’s play, not work,” Jamie explained.

“And, as a manager, what can we take from that, when we think about our teams and their behavior?”

“Yes, but work isn’t all that much fun,” Jamie protested. “People don’t like work. They like play, but they don’t like work.”

“Jamie, I have looked at your son playing a video game and it doesn’t look all that different than what some of your people do at work. They both sit at a keyboard, staring at a computer screen. As they touch the keys, things move on the screen.”

“I don’t see your comparison, they are two different things.”

“But if you could see the comparison, what would you see?”

Jamie had to think, but she finally spoke. “In the mind of my son, he is part of something bigger than himself, trying to achieve certain levels in the game. As he makes progress, he gets real-time feedback (automatically), so he can adjust his play. When he makes the level, there is a small electronic celebration on the screen.”

The conversation had gotten personal. We were talking about Jamie’s son and his behavior related to a video game. We had firmly established that he had never been to a training program, never read a training manual, had been discouraged from learning the game by his manager (Jamie, his mom). Furthermore, that in spite of all these front end adverse conditions, he nevertheless achieved a high level of mastery in playing the game.

“So, Jamie, you are also telling me that you did not pay your son a bonus when he achieved certain levels within the game?”

Jamie started with a chuckle, but it quickly turned to an outright laugh. “You clearly don’t know my son. Paying him to play a video game is not part of our family culture. That would be a bit over the top. As his mom (manager), I would have to be crazy. He doesn’t play the game for money.”

“What? Teenagers don’t have expenses?” I asked.

“That’s not the point,” Jamie explained. “He doesn’t play for money.”

“So, what does he play for? What does he get from the game that has caused him to spend hours achieving a high level of competence, without external inducements for his performance?”

“Well, he must be getting some internal reward for it.” Jamie guessed.

“And how would describe that internal reward? What is it?”

“Motivation?”

I nodded. “Yes, motivation, and here is where the conversation gets interesting.” -TF

“So, what gives?” Jamie asked. “Our company spends a lot of its resources on training, planning, development programs. Why do they always seem to run out of gas? You suggest we are missing something on the back end.”

“When I look at behavior, I think we, as managers, truly miss the boat. We are always looking at the front end of the behavior instead of the back end. And the back end, the consequences of behavior, are much more powerful drivers than the front end.”

“I am not sure what you mean,” Jamie responded.

“Jamie, you have a teenager at home, right?”

“Oh, yeah, somewhere in his room, beneath the glow of some Realm vs Realm computer game, I think there is a teenager in there somewhere.”

“Tell me, how complicated is that video game?”

“Oh, boy, I can’t make heads or tails of it. When I look at that screen, there is so much stuff going on, including multiple chat channels, voice over the Internet, status panels, swords, animals, shields, walking, running, flying, transporting, vaporizing.”

“So, to learn how to play that game, you must have sent your son to an expensive training class?” I asked.

Jamie started to laugh. “Are you kidding? He just sat in there for hours and hours, without eating or sleeping. I don’t know how he learned it, but it wasn’t from a training class.”

“You mean, you didn’t encourage him. You didn’t bring in a motivational speaker. You didn’t make him practice?”

“No way, quite the opposite. We discourage him from playing the game, sometimes we even ground him from playing.”

“So, let me get this straight,” I began, “your son has learned to play a computer game at an extremely high level of competence, without going to a single training program. Sometimes he skips meals and sleep to continue playing this game. He does it in spite of his manager’s (mom’s) discouragement. Everything that has been done, up front, violates everything we know about competence and mastery. So, what’s happening?” -TF

“So, what do you think was missing?” I asked.

Jamie was retracing the steps of her company’s Quality Circles program. There was nothing wrong with the program. It was clearly designed to bring out the best in her people. It had short term results, but, in spite of a great deal of up-front planning and expense, the program experienced an early death.

“You are suggesting,” Jamie began, “that we did our front end work well, but we were missing something on the back end?”

I nodded. “One primary function of a manager is to influence behavior. Indeed, to influence behavior, we spend a lot of time in meetings, developing programs, teaching, training, writing manuals. We spend a lot of time up front, trying to influence behavior.”

It was Jamie’s turn to nod. I continued. “While those things we do up front do have an influence, most behavior is not prompted by what comes before but by the consequences that happen after. As Managers, we spend a lot of time training. We see the behavior performed well in the training room, but a week later, nothing has changed on the floor. The fire has been put out, the behavior has been extinguished.” -TF

“So, if, for the moment, we put aside bonus and incentives, tell me, how do you bring out the best in people?” asked Jamie.

“You tell me,” I replied. “What kinds of things have you tried, besides bonus and incentives?”

Jamie had to stop and think. Slowly she retrieved an idea her company had tried in the past. “Quality Circles,” she floated. “A couple of years ago, we tried Quality Circles.”

“And how did that work out?”

“Well, it seemed okay, for a while. Everyone got pumped up, we had some meetings. Some of the meetings generated some quality improvements. Is that bringing out the best in people?” she asked.

“It’s a start. What happened to the program?”

“I don’t know. It just sort of died. We got busy, skipped a couple of meetings, before you knew it, we were off the wagon.”
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In the past, what kind of programs has your company tried, to bring out the best in people? Over the long haul, how did they work out? -TF