“Thinking about your team, what is it that you think people really want out of their job?” I asked.

Caitland was looking for the trick in the question, but her answer jumped out, shaking her head, “It’s money. Just ask them. Especially today.”

“So, you think money is the prime motivator?” I followed.

“You mean, it’s not,” Caitland baited.

I smiled. “Have you ever heard of Encyclopedia Britannica?”

Caitland nodded. “My parents owned a set. When I was a kid, we used to copy out of it, for our homework assignments. We had a special heavy duty bookshelf. Those books weighed a lot.”

“And what happened to that company?”

“I’m not sure. When CDs came out, there was a company called Encarta. A whole encyclopedia on a CD.”

“And what happened to that company?”

Caitland stopped. “I’m guessing they are out of business, too. Now, I just use Wikipedia.”

“And how much money are the writer’s paid to work for Wikipedia?”

Caitland smiled.

“Caitland, you have been a manager for a while in this company. I know you have received awards, plaques and certificates for things you have done. But I only see a couple up on your wall,” I observed.

“You’re right,” she said, leaning over to open a long file drawer. “Look at these. I actually think it’s company policy to only give out awards that fit in file drawers.”

“But, aren’t you proud of the recognition?”

“You, know, it’s nice. But after a while, the plaques are all the same.”

“How so?” I asked.

“You want to know what really makes me feel a part of the team, I mean the management team. Every Wednesday, the three top executives in the company go to lunch. Two months ago, they asked me to go with them. In that lunch, they shared some exciting news about a new product launch. It made me feel an important part of what’s going on around here. I would trade all of my plaques for more of those conversations.”

“Someone wrote you a note of appreciation seven years ago, and you still have it. Was it written on some special expensive stationery?” I asked.

“No, just a short note written on a piece of plain paper,” Caitland replied.

“Then, how did you know to keep it?”

“I didn’t know I should keep it, I just did. It wasn’t much, but it was about me, something I had done. It made me feel like I had made a genuine contribution to a project.”

“So, it changed the way you felt, on the inside?” I followed.

“Yes, it changed the way I felt, on the inside, about myself.”

“You want me to write a note, a handwritten note of appreciation to a member of my team? Sounds kind of corny to me,” Caitland resisted. “If you are really serious, can’t I just send her an email?”

“You could, but what would be the point?” I asked. “As long as we have been working together, my purpose has always been, leverage and impact. I am not trying to make you out to your team, as some warm and fuzzy person. In fact, this conversation isn’t about you. It’s about your team. It’s about leverage and impact.”

“I am not saying, I won’t write the note, I am saying I don’t know if it will make any difference.”

“Caitland, I want you to think, back through your life. Has anyone every written you a note of appreciation?”

Caitland’s face turned from resistance to a smile. She didn’t respond immediately. “Okay, I’m busted. Yes, I have one of those notes.”

“You mean, you still have the note?” I guessed.

“Yes. From seven years ago. I haven’t looked at it in a while, but I know exactly where it is.”

Victoria was stumped. She had always thought the only way to motivate people was to create a bonus or incentive program.

“So, if a bonus is off the table,” I started, “what could you create as a positive consequence?”

“I suppose, if I am around and notice something good, I could give them an attaboy,” she floated.

“And if you are not around?”

“That’s the problem, when I’m not around, things grind to a halt.”

“Have you ever heard, What gets measured, gets done?” I asked. “Why do you think that happens?”

“I don’t know. I suppose it’s because people think they are being watched even when they aren’t being watched.”

“Don’t be naive. People know exactly when they are being observed and when they’re not. Here’s why What gets measured gets done. Knowing that something was done correctly, one unit completed to the quality standard creates a positive consequence. But only if it was measured. If no one notices, then there is no positive consequence. If it gets measured, there is a positive consequence.”

“So, then I would still have to be there to count all the completed units?” Victoria resisted.

“No, they’re adults. They can count their own completed units, and post the number on the white board by their work station.”

“What white board?” Victoria asked.

“The one you are going to purchase and put up tomorrow.”

“Maybe, I will have to give them some more training. That might perk them up,” Victoria replied. “The J-curve says that productivity on anything new will decline before it gets better, but more training might be the ticket.”

“And what else?” I prodded. Victoria was getting push back as her team took on more responsibilities.

“I guess I could talk to them, as a group, let them know how much I was counting on them,” she added.

“Those are both things that you could do, probably won’t hurt, but probably won’t have the impact you are interested in,” I explained. Victoria’s face twitched. She was looking for more approval than I was giving.

“Both things you suggest,” I continued, “occur before you get the behavior you want. Most managers go there. It’s not that it’s bad, just not very powerful. The power is not in what you set up before the behavior, but what you set up after the behavior. Consequences. And the most powerful consequence is a positive consequence.”

“You mean like a bonus?” Victoria guessed.

“A bonus is a reward, not a consequence. An immediate positive consequence is more powerful than a reward. Rewards are always delayed, can get taken away, the qualifications may change. Immediate reinforcement is more powerful than an uncertain reward.”

“I don’t know. If I can’t ply them with money, what can I do?” Victoria cringed.

I was meeting with the production team, and they were a bit disgruntled. Actually, they were pissed.

“We had this big meeting last month. The theme was WHATEVER IT TAKES,” Barbara explained. “And they offered a bonus if we met our goals every day this month.”

I nodded, listening. All the faces were quiet, stone quiet, intense.

“We were up to the last day,” she continued. “As we were counting the last batch, on the last day, we discovered a defect, not just one, the whole batch was bad. We had to scrap everything. We pulled the morning’s production run. Same thing. A whole day’s work had to be re-done, and if we were going to get our bonus, we were going to have to stay on past our shift.”

“Did you tell your supervisor?” I asked.

“No, way. He doesn’t have a bonus on the line, we do. So we pulled another batch of material off the shelf. We had to use every last piece. And the team agreed we would stay over until we finished. You see, they won’t pay the bonus if we have to go into overtime, so everybody punched out while we worked.”

“And?”

“And we got it done. Made the quota. Quality passed. High fives all around. At least that’s what we thought. Next morning, though, you would have thought we had set fire to the place. We all got yelled at, and now we hear they are re-thinking our bonus.”

“We lost our best salesperson,” Krista explained. “I don’t know what happened. She had been with us for four years, was making good money, won salesperson of the year last December. I am confused.”

“Were you able to talk to her, before she left, to find out the story?” I asked.

“She had a de-brief with HR, but I don’t know if we ever get the truth out of those exit interviews.”

“They why do you think she quit?”

“I think she had been promised a crack at some of our bigger accounts,” Krista started. “But our Director of Sales and Marketing decided to hold back. Instead, he re-assigned a bunch of smaller accounts to her. He kept the big accounts for himself, even though he doesn’t make commission on them.”

“How do you think that made her feel?” I prompted, knowing the answer.

“You could tell it was a big let-down. I guess the money and the awards weren’t good enough for her.”

“What do you think she was looking for in her job?”

“Funny, she said she didn’t feel like she was growing. I think she was bored. My opinion, she wanted more challenge.”

“First of all, who’s goal is it?” I asked. Gordon was perplexed. His memo to the team fell flat and he needed their cooperation to complete the project.

“Well, it’s my goal, but it’s their goal. I gave it to them,” he explained.

I sat still. Gordon finally broke the silence. “Okay, it’s my goal.”

“And your job is to get your team engaged to achieve your goal. How can you do that? I gotta tell you. I looked at the project specs and the deliverables and the milestones aren’t that exciting.”

“Well, yes, but when the project is finished, overall, it will be quite an accomplishment. That’s how I described the vision in my memo,” Gordon continued.

“And you think a memo is the best way to engage your team? This is not Mission Impossible. Your memo is not as exciting as a tape that self-destructs.” I stopped and let Gordon stew for a bit. “No one listens to you, no one reads your memos. Yet, you need them to cooperate to achieve your goal. How are you going to do that?” -TF