Category Archives: Motivation

Appreciaton Feels Goofy

“But I am not the kind of person who is all warm and fuzzy,” explained Justin. “If someone does a good job, that is what they get paid for. Why do I have to get all blubbery? It just feels goofy.” We were talking about the difference between positive and negative reinforcement.

“As a manager, when someone makes a mistake, do you have to correct them?” I asked.

“Well, yes. That’s what a manager does.”

“And when you correct them, do they do it right, or do they just do it well enough not to get yelled at?” I prodded.

“It’s strange, in the short run, they do better, but it doesn’t take long for them to backslide, take a short cut on a process, skip a step. It keeps me pretty busy, checking their work.” Justin wasn’t being defensive, just very matter of fact.

“So, it feels funny, giving honest and sincere appreciation, but it feels okay providing a little negative feedback?”

Justin grimaced. He didn’t like the way that sounded. “I suppose you are right,” he agreed. “But that is just the way I am.” In a way, he felt justified, even sat up straighter when he said it.

“I appreciate your honesty, Justin.” I smiled.

Justin couldn’t help it and cracked a smile back. “I thought you were going to tell me I was politically incorrect.”

“I am looking for something much more than political correctness. Being politically correct won’t make you a better manager. That’s why I focused on something more powerful, your honesty. Honesty will make you a better manager. Honest and sincere appreciation. Meet me here tomorrow and we will make that connection.” -TF

Sensitive and Straight

“I didn’t mean to raise my voice, but I guess things just escalated.” Karyn was describing this latest blowup with one of her team members. “I am only her supervisor on the weekend, so I feel a little helpless. Her weekday supervisor lets her get away with leaving early. I talked to Rick about it. He just doesn’t want to confront her.”

“And when you stopped her from leaving early, the conversation turned grisly and she left anyway?”

Karyn nodded her head slowly. “And next Saturday, I don’t know what to do or say. I can’t just pretend nothing happened?”

“Oh, you could. Hope is a strategy. You could hope she doesn’t blow up again. You could hope she doesn’t leave early again. You could hope she gets all of her work done. But if hope doesn’t work, what are you going to say and when are you going to say it?”

Karyn scrunched her face, “I don’t want to wait until she tries to walk out the door again. Then it will be Groundhog Day all over again.”

“So, when would be a better time to talk to her?”

“I think early in the day, perhaps at the very beginning.”

“Good, then there won’t be the drama of her trying to leave at that moment. Now, what are you going to say?” Karyn struggled with this question. No response.

“Karyn, I want you think about this. You cannot stumble into this conversation. You have to be prepared. Think about this and we will talk again. Think along these lines. I want you to be both sensitive and straight. What will you say?” -TF

Green Shirt Day

I was walking the floor. The drone of the saws was dampened by my ear protection. The conversation with Lloyd could barely be heard above the din.

“What’s with all the green shirts?” I yelled.

Lloyd looked around. “It’s green shirt day.”

I nodded as we ducked around a corner where the noise wasn’t so bad. I popped out my earplugs. “What’s green shirt day?”

Lloyd smiled. “It’s like the difference between a light bulb and a laser light. 100 watts from a light bulb will light up a room, but with all the light beams focused together, a 100 watts of laser light will drill a hole in the wall. Same thing works with my team.”

Enthusiasm and Discretionary Effort

From the Ask Tom Mailbox

Question:

How can I, as a co-worker, get more attention to detail and productive effort from this new person in my department. She doesn’t report to me, but I request a number of projects from her each day.

Response:

This is a follow-up to the last couple of days. Tuesday, we talked about authority and power. Yesterday, we talked about authority and its inability to influence things like energy, enthusiasm and discretionary effort.

Repeated desired behavior only comes from positive reinforcement. You have the power (notice I said power, not authority) to create those conditions of positive reinforcement. However, here is the important insight. This positive reinforcement must be meaningful. My guess is, no manager has taken the time to find out what is important to this new team member. No manager has ever sat down to discover her interests, hobbies, passions or pursuits. It is only when those connections get made, that progress toward discretionary efforts will occur.

So, what to do? If you want to see productive effort, you have to discover these things. I suggest a Mineral Rights conversation . Take this person to lunch and find out what makes her tick. It is only with this information that you will be able to create a meaningful environment to gain that discretionary effort. -TF

Smile

“Positive reinforcement isn’t money. Don’t think that they only element you have as a manager is to give someone a bonus, or a spiff, or a raise. Don’t get me wrong, money is important, but it is not the only touch you have, nor is it the most powerful.”

Travis and I had been talking about shaping behavior using positive reinforcement. Shaping behavior, as in training, as in getting team members to follow a process or sequence.

“See that production line over there,” I asked, pointing toward three lone workers alongside a bank of automated machine presses. Travis looked; he was familiar with that work area.

“Did you ever wonder why those three workstations still exist?” Travis knew that seven other stations in the line had been replaced with the automated presses.

“Yeah, sometimes, it’s like why do we still have people doing that?”

“Initially, that’s what we thought, but when we benchmarked the automated production with the manual production, we found one worker not only kept up, but exceeded the output of the automated machine. We started asking questions. How could this be?

“Turns out the workstation on the end, Rochelle’s station, is right by her supervisor’s office. Every time the supervisor comes out, he stops, looks at Rochelle’s production and smiles at her. It’s the only station he stops at. He never says a word to Rochelle, yet she has the highest production rate.

“Do you think she has the highest production rate because she thinks she is going to get a bonus? I don’t think so.” -TF

Visibility

“Why do you think we spent the time and money on the t-shirt program, using different colors and all?” Travis was beginning to understand the underlying dynamics. “I mean, we could have just made notes in the personnel file, or instituted some incentive bonus program and spiffed the supervisors.”

Travis was stumped. He had always believed that money was the prime motivator for employees, especially for entry level jobs.

“Travis, when you look out across the floor, do you see the colors? Can you tell who is who and where they are in their on-the-job training?”

“Well, sure. We have three new guys, two forklift certifications, two people certified to close out loading tickets and two guys who can handle shift meetings.”

“This whole program is designed to reinforce desirable behaviors in a way that is visible to everyone. The visibility helps to sustain the positive reinforcement even when the buddy or the supervisor isn’t around.

“And right now, even you or I could walk out on the dock and make a meaningful positive comment about their progression, based on the design of the system.” -TF

Blue Shirts

“But the game goes deeper.” Travis and I continued to discuss the colored t-shirt program on the loading dock.

“For this program to really be effective, we have to think upline. We have to get the supervisor involved as well. Think about the colored shirts. For a supervisor, what’s the goal?”

It didn’t take Travis long. “To get all of his guys into blue shirts. That’s five levels of certifications for the guys on the dock.”

“And what is life like for the supervisor who has an entire crew in blue shirts?” I asked.

“Life must be great. They are all experienced, cross trained, able to handle complicated truck loads and tie downs, without a lot of supervision.”

“Take it one step further,” I prompted.

“Now, the supervisor has to figure out a way to keep the crew together.”

“And, we call that retention.” -TF

The Buddy System

“Oh, it’s more than just a simple game with colored t-shirts,” I said. Travis was just beginning to understand the depth of the game. This was a system designed to positively reinforce desired behavior.

“Each new person on the loading dock gets teamed up with a buddy. What color shirt do you have to have before you can be assigned a buddy?”

Travis was remembering the meeting a couple of weeks before. “Before you get a buddy, you have to earn the blue shirt with the black trim. And whenever your buddy gets forklift certified, you get a ball cap with a patch on it. For every guy you get into a green shirt, you get another patch. Five patches and you get a dinner for two at Outback. Oh, and your wife gets a dozen red roses.”

“So, tell me, Travis, how hard is it get these guys on the loading dock to volunteer to train the newbies?” Travis smiled and nodded. -TF

Most Important First Behavior

“So, how does that work around here?” Travis asked. Using the analogy of video games and expert levels made the reinforcement process understandable, but we were running a loading dock, not playing a video game.

“Travis, the guys loading the trucks, have you noticed the different colored t-shirts they wear, the ones with the company logo on the front?”

“Yeah, I noticed. We started that about three weeks ago. The new guys get a white t-shirt to start. We had a meeting about it.”

“And when does the new guy get his white t-shirt?”

“The first day,” Travis smiled.

“No, the first day he punches the timeclock reporting for work on-time,” I clarified. “What is the most important first behavior?”

“Showing up for work on time,” Travis said.

“And when does he get his second white t-shirt?”

Travis was catching on. “The second day he punches in for work on time.”

“And when does he get a yellow shirt?” I continued.

“Five days on time, consecutive days on time.”

“And when does he get a green shirt?”

“When he passes forklift training.” Travis stopped. “I think I get it.” -TF

The Reinforcement Changes

“Sustained, discretionary effort. That’s what we are after,” I said. “The training period requires more attention and focus from the manager. But as time passes and new behaviors become competent skills, the reinforcement changes.” Travis and I were exploring the role of the manager in all this, specifically looking at the role of positive reinforcement.

“In the beginning, the manager has to overcome pushback and fear of failure. But, as the new behavior turns to competence, the issues change.”

“So, what does the manager do differently?” asked Travis.

“Lots of things, but let’s start with the easy stuff. In the beginning, the manager may reinforce good old fashioned effort. But as time goes by and the effort becomes accomplished, the manager changes to reinforce a specific sequence. As the specific sequence becomes accomplished, the manager may reinforce speed or efficiency.

“Let’s go back to our example of the video game. Modern game designers structure training sequences into the lower levels of the game. Leveling up requires certain fundamental skills be demonstrated. Once accomplished, the player is introduced to more complex scenarios where mastery of the fundamentals must already exist. Each level becomes increasingly complex. The schedules of reinforcement change, but the principle remains the same. What gets reinforced gets repeated.” -TF