Internal Reward

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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

In Spite of Discouragement

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“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

The Fire Has Been Put Out

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“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

Ran Out of Gas

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“Why do you think your Quality Circles program eventually ran out of gas?” I asked. Jamie and I had been talking about how to bring people to perform at their highest level of capability.

“I don’t know,” Jamie explained, “people just sort of lost interest, I guess.”

“And why did they lose interest?”

“Well, at first, there was this gung-ho enthusiasm, you know. It was new, but eventually the newness wore off.”

“When you look at the Quality Circles program that your company developed, what did you design in to sustain the program?”

Jamie almost chortled. “Designed? We figured if it got started, it would just keep going.”

“Jamie, if you could, think back. Exactly how long did it take for the Quality Circles behavior to die off?”

“I remember, pretty clearly, we started right after the new year, but by Saint Patrick’s Day, it was over.”

“So, it took two and half months for the behavior to die off.” Jamie nodded. “And you spent a bunch of money on a consultant to show you how to do this?”

“Oh, yeah, we had a couple of books that we had to read, and we had meetings, planning sessions. It was a big production, right down to the costumes.”

“Costumes?”

“Well, yeah, we all had these shirts we were supposed to wear. It was okay, at first, but after a while, people started making fun of the people who wore the shirts.”

“So, there was all kind of activity and planning and thinking about this beforehand, but not much thinking about what happened after. Jamie, I want you to think long and hard about this sequence. A lot of activity before the behavior, then the behavior, then the behavior died off.”

Jamie squinted her eyes, clearly imagining the sequence. “So, we did a lot of stuff up front, but didn’t do much on the back end.”

“Yes, so what do you think was missing?” -TF

Everyone Got Pumped Up

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“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.”
___
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

Bringing Out the Best in People

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For the past two weeks, we have been talking about bonus and incentive systems, how they work, how they don’t work, issues of accountability. I have had more questions, emails and posted comments than any other time since we started this blog.

But we’re done. Change the subject. Because all these histrionics about bonus and incentive systems all scream at the following question. When all is said and all is done,

How do we bring out the best in people?

Next week, we will re-focus the discussion on that central question. Meanwhile, how do you bring out the best in your people? -TF

We still have three seats left in our Leadership program that begins next Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale. If you are thinking about putting someone into that program, please reply to this email or visit www.workingleadership.com. -TF

As Things Grow More Complicated

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“And where do you want accountability, solely on your shoulders, as the manager, or do you want the entire group accountable for their own performance?” I repeated.

“I want my whole team accountable,” Reggie replied.

“You see, Reggie, in the beginning, as a manager of a small team, you can take the brunt of the responsibility, because the responsibility is small. As time goes by, if you want to step up to larger responsibility, you will find that strategy will fail you. You, as the manager, can no longer solve all the problems, catch every package that falls off a forklift, fix every little discrepancy that comes roaring at you. If you try to do it all, by yourself, you will fail.

“So, you have managers who know they have to get their teams involved, to get their teams to hold themselves accountable. But they don’t know how. So, some consultant recommends a bonus program to get buy in. And you have seen, first hand, what that does to accountability.”

Reggie took a deep breath. “So, it was okay when things were small and times were good. But now that we are growing, more and more people are trying to game the bonus system.”

“And, lord help you, when times go bad, and they will. A bonus system during bad times is a sure-fire morale killer.”

“I think, the biggest lesson, for me,” Reggie replied, “is that, as things grow bigger and more complicated, I have to learn how to hold my people accountable to the performance standards that we set. And a bonus system doesn’t substitute for that skill.”

Where Do You Want Accountability?

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“Of course, no one is happy,” Reggie quickly responded. “The performance standard is not accomplished. I don’t care, as the manager, whether or not I pay the bonus. What I care about is the performance standard.”

“But, implicit in your agreement to pay a bonus for achieving a specific standard, was not paying the bonus if the standard was not achieved, so you cannot be angry, you cannot be upset and you certainly cannot hold them accountable for the underperformance. By agreeing to the bonus, you have told your team, it is okay for you to do less than your best. Accountability is out the window.”

Reggie was not happy. He did not like to hear this.

“Now, let’s go back to the conversation. You remember the conversation where you got your team talking about the performance standards instead of you?”

Reggie remembered. “This is where, instead of me telling them, I ask them questions, begin a discussion and together, we set the performance standard?”

“Yes, and what happens to accountability in this circumstance? Remember, there is no bonus, only you and your team. Where does accountability land in this conversation?”

Reggie was thinking through the conversation. Finally, he concluded, “If the group sets the performance standard, then accountability rests with the group.”

“And where do you want accountability, solely on your shoulders as the manager, or do you want the entire group accountable for their own performance?” -TF

Who is Accountable?

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Quick reminder. We still have space available in two of our Leadership programs. The program is six weeks (six sessions) in length, one program to be held in Fort Lauderdale FL (kicks off Wednesday, September 12), the other in Orlando FL (kicks off Monday, September 24). For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com.

Reggie and I kicked around his bonus system last week. Moving away from bonus as motivation requires a different mindthink on the part of the manager. Last Friday, we talked about the first shift, moving performance talk from the manager to the team. We talked about how the manager creates that conversation.

“Reggie, when you are barking all the orders, and telling people, if they will just perform to this standard or that standard, they will get an extra bump in their paycheck, where does that place accountability?”

Reggie looked at me for a minute, shook his head, “I’m not sure what you mean, where does that place accountability?”

“Reggie, the reason this is a difficult concept, is that most managers rarely talk about accountability. Back to the question. Where does a bonus system place accountability for performance?”

“I still don’t know what you mean?”

“The manager says, if you perform to this standard, you get an extra $100 in your paycheck this week. What happens to accountability for performance to the standard?”

Reggie was working through this in his head. “Well, the manager has done his job. He defined the performance standard and calculated the bonus, so it’s now on the team member?”

“Not quite,” I said. “The team member now has the choice to perform, or not perform and understands the consequences. If the team member underperforms, $100 of their promised pay will be withheld.

“So, the team member underperforms and does not receive the bonus. They’re okay with it, because, in the end, they didn’t have to work that hard after all. And the manager must be okay with it, because he doesn’t have to pay the $100.

“So the performance standard is not achieved. Who is accountable for the underperformance? Is everybody happy?” -TF

Mission Accomplished

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“Yes, but if people are afraid to participate, afraid to contribute their ideas in a meeting, how do you deal with that?” Reggie asked.

“Do your team members have ideas?” I responded.

“Well, yes, some sort of an ideas.”

“So, the problem is, to get the idea out of their head, with zero possibility that it might be rejected by the group? How would you do that?” I stared at Reggie while I reached over and pulled a pen out of my pocket and set it on the table.

“Get them to write their idea down?” Reggie guessed. I nodded. “But still, how do you get them to share their ideas with each other, with the group?”

“It’s too late, the idea is already out of their head. By the way, what happens to the quality of any idea as it moves from the mind to a piece of paper?”

“Well, it improves.”

“So, now, each person owns a much improved idea on a piece of paper in front of them. Divide the group into teams of two or three and have them share their idea with that small group. I guarantee, there will be no hesitation in that small group.

“The next step is to have the small groups report their ideas to the large group. The quality of ideas will be very high and everyone will have participated. Remember, the purpose of this meeting was simply to get your people discussing ideas with each other.” -TF