Five questions on motivation with a fellow Millenial

This week's readings dealt with employee motivation, and how to maximize the potential and output of your workers.  As a young person just starting out in their career, I have a lot of strong opinions about what an organization should be able to provide me in terms of rewards, feedback, and career development.  I feel an organization should reward based on performance, and should promote those who are putting forth the best work regardless of age or stature within the company.  But do all Millenials feel the same?  I sat down with a fellow young professional this week to talk about their experiences in the working world, and what motivates them to succeed in their work.  Because I work in a very small organization myself, I wanted to interview someone who works for a bigger company in the hopes of getting a different perspective, and this Millenial works for a Fortune 500 company.  To protect their identity, I have dubbed them "ZZ" for this post.

AM:  Thanks for sitting down with me today, ZZ.  We are both young people, just starting out in the working world.  But the organizations we work in could not be any more different.  What types of incentives and rewards does your company have in place to help keep their employees motivated?

ZZ:  Every month we have a contest to see which team of employees can post the best sales numbers.  The contest resets every month, so each month you get a chance to win.  The prizes are always changing: Sometimes it's a gift certificate that the group uses to go out to dinner, other times its a monetary bonus.  But there is always a prize attached at the end.  Also, there is 'Employee of the Month' and a few other awards handed out, but there isn't really any prize for that.  It's more for the recognition.

AM:  Do you feel these incentives help to motivate you to reach the benchmarks set by the organization? Or do you feel as though the incentives and rewards you receive as a young employee should be more diversified and curtailed to you as an individual (Meister and Willyard, 2010, pp. 3)?

ZZ:  I think they're ok, but they don't really get me fired up.  I don't know, I guess I just think it's all for show.  Like it's there to dangle a carrot in front of you, but is that why you should want to do your work? There has to be more to it then that, right?

AM:  I agree with you.  People in our age group are classified as "Millenials" and there is actually literature out there on how to motivate us.  One of my class's readings this week deals with this exact topic.  Do you feel a customizable benefits/incentives package would motivate you (Meister and Willyard, 2010, pp. 3)?  Or are you looking merely for a promotion/recognition?

ZZ:  Honestly, I haven't really given it a whole lot of thought until right now.  I've been so concerned with keeping my job and hitting my numbers that I haven't really stopped to think about what the company was doing to make sure I'm growing as a worker.  I don't really see much in terms of professional development opportunities being advertised around the office, but it's something I feel should be offered.  I think my company is a little behind the times when it comes to this stuff, and it's unfortunate because a lot of people end up leaving here and going to work at other organizations.  There's definitely a lot of turnover, and that might be a reason why.  I think people our age want to feel like they belong, like their opinion matters and that people care about what they turn out to be.  If the place you work at shows you they genuinely care, that's a great feeling.

AM:  Again, agreed.  Our readings said we are motivated by two types of motivational forces:  Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation.  They define intrinsic motivation as "the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence (Ryan and Deci, 2000, pp. 56), while extrinsic motivation refers to outside sources in your environment that cause you to complete a task, when the task itself is not enough (pp. 60).  Which do you think drives young employees like ourselves?

ZZ:  I think it's a pretty good combination of both, especially if you're a hungry, young person striving to succeed.  I know myself, I am extremely motivated to succeed at what I do.  I have a lot of pride in what I'm doing, being able to support myself, being able to stand on my own and work and do something that I love.  But at the same time, I want to know that that work means something to somebody.  I want to know it is appreciated.  So yes, some recognition, no matter what type it is, has to happen sometimes for you to not think you're just spinning your wheels.  You work hard because you have pride in doing that, but it's nice to see it's noticed, too.  I think outside motivation is necessary in some cases, but I think it's most important because you need to know what you do is valued in order to maintain that level of pride in where you work.

AM:  Last question for you.  Do you feel that what our readings this week call, "Live-Fire Rolls" (Martin and Schmidt, 2010, pp. 1) in which young talent is thrust into greater rolls and forced to "learn by doing" are a good thing for young workers like ourselves?  Or do you think it can be a very negative tactic?

ZZ:  I've seen this tried a few times with coworkers of mine, and it almost never ended well.  Most of the time the person wasn't ready for the responsibility, and it ended up becoming a disaster.  I just feel like, if you make that move, and it's a terrible one, where do you go from there?  Your confidence is totally shot, at such a young age.  I think doing those types of things with a mentor/supervisor to monitor the process is a much better idea, because this way you can learn on the job, but still have the security blanket you need in the beginning of a new role or responsibility.  I think that would make those types of things go a lot smoother then I've seen them go in the past. By having a mentor or a supervisor there, you get to ask questions, seek guidance, and ultimately learn more in my opinion then just by figuring it out on your own.

Conclusions:

I agreed with a lot of what my fellow Millenial had to say, and it was interesting to see how our views generally did not differ even though we are in organizations of drastically varying size.  I found it intriguing that he felt Live-Fire rolls had not been successful, and that it can become a serious confidence blow if it doesn't pan out the way you envision it.  For a young professional, the repercussions of that could be damaging for a long period of time.

What stuck out to me the most, though, was how they viewed recognition, and what motivates them to do their job well.  I feel that when you enter the working world for the first time following college or high school, you have a lot of pride in what you do, and want to become successful.  I know that personally, the idea of becoming successful has been my primary motivation since I began my career.  But I have also felt beaten down at times, as though the contributions I was making were going totally unnoticed.  As young employees we want to feel like we have a voice, and that we can make a legitimate contribution to our organizations.  But most of all, we want to know those contributions are noticed, and valued by the company.  Some type of recognition, whether it be incentives or otherwise, is essential for us to remain engaged.  Otherwise, we can become quickly disenchanted.

It's up to our managers to understand who we are as employees, and how we thrive in an environment where rewards, incentives, and recognition are curtailed to the individual, and not just a carrot dangled out on a line.  It's the organizations who make us young employees feel valued, feel like we are truly a part of the positive things that are happening, that reap the benefits of our intrinsic drive and determination.

References:

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B. and Lee, L. (2008). Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model. Harvard Business Review, pp. 1-7.

Meister, J. and Willyerd, K. (2010). Mentoring Millenials. Harvard Business Review, pp. 17-20.

Ryan, R. and Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions.  Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, pp. 54-67.

"Gesundheit." Silence.

In the car driving back from our weekend-long Easter festivities at my family ranch, my husband sneezed. “Gesundheit,” I said. Silence. No "thank you?!" It made me think about the day we gave out our annual year-end gifts. Out of about 300 people who came through my line to pick up their new phone, probably less than 10 told me thank you. Is it a cultural thing? Is it an age thing? Or do people just not say it anymore? How important is it to say and hear those two little words?

A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way: Explaining why Gratitude Expressions Motivate Prosocial Behavior, explores the positive benefits saying thank you has in the workplace. It argues that when people feel gratitude for something they do, they are more likely to show gratitude – a prosocial behavior – toward someone else (Grant & Gino, 2010). Think of the Liberty Mutual TV commercial: Person A picks up a toy for a kid who threw it out of his stroller; person B sees this, gets inspired and helps an old lady cross the street. Person C sees this act of gratitude and then assists someone in backing up from a tricky parking spot. It’s the same concept, only in the workplace.

The authors conducted three experiments; in each experiment they found that saying “thank you” made people feel they are part of the group, and their willingness to trust the group and cooperate increased (Grant & Gino, 2010). This ties back into what Nohria et al (2008) say are the four drivers people seek: acquire, bond, comprehend, defend.

While something as simple as saying “thank you” doesn’t seem like a very big deal, it is. It shows your gratitude for your coworkers, and who knows, maybe your coworker will be more likely to do something nice for you after hearing those magic words.

References:

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., and Lee, L. (2008). Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model, Harvard Business Review, pp. 1-7

Grant, A. and Gino, F. (2010). A little thanks goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior, Journal of personality and social psychology, 98 (6).

The Biggest Mistake You (Probably) Make with Teams - Tammy Erickson - Harvard Business Review

The Biggest Mistake You (Probably) Make with Teams - Tammy Erickson - Harvard Business Review

FYI -- I just saw this in my inbox (I get a Harvard Daily Business Alert; I'm a couple of days behind) and saw Tammy Erickson's name (She is the Tamara J. Erickson who authored "The Leaders We Need Now" in this week's reading). One interesting conclusion she found in her research on teams is a team is "more likely to collaborate if the path to achieving the goal is somewhat ambiguous." 

Are you an “Engaged Workaholic”? On Marriage, Michael Clayton and Your Workplace

Are you an “Engaged Workaholic”?  On Marriage, Michael Clayton and Your Workplace

[Popular press/personal example] 

I’m not referring to workers and their marital status.  Like marriage, however, in the workplace there are joyful moments and compromises.  To begin, let’s look at one example, albeit a fictitious one.   

I’m reminded of the film Michael Clayton, where actress Tilda Swinton, plays Karen Crowder, a newly anointed legal counsel for a large multinational.  In an early scene from the film, Crowder is preparing for an interview (the scene cuts back and forth from her home and her office’s conference room interview).

_____________________________________________________________________

Interviewer: So, with all that pressure and workload, how do you keep a balance between work and life?

Karen Crowder:  Balance?

[Laughs]

Karen Crowder:  I think that's, um, that's something that you search for your whole life, isn't it? Um,

[Scene cuts to Karen getting ready]

Karen Crowder:  It's a shifting balance, really. It's, um, you know. You try to, um...

[She stops, rubs her temples, then the scene cuts again to when she's more fully dressed, looking in the mirror]

Karen Crowder:  When you really are enjoying what it is you do, who needs balance? There's your balance! There's your balance. When you're really enjoying what it is you do, there's your balance.

______________________________________________________________________

Do you feel like Karen Crowder and have that type of balance in your job? Or are you pushing through the weekend’s leftover work from last week just to stay above water? 

If you are like the latter, maybe there is hope. Karen Crowder, however, exemplifies what has been coined as an “engaged workaholic.

A recent Los Angeles Times article by Kathleen Doheny reports on research where experts point to these engaged workaholics as different from the typically categorized “workaholics” who are single-minded in their pursuit to working through breaks, lunches, dinners, weekends until their lives resemble a 70-80 hour workweek carousel, with very little in the way of balance or relaxation (mental and physical) (Doheny, 2012).

Nohria, Groysberg & Lee (2008) point to four drives people seek  (acquire, bond, comprehend and defend) as people and employees.  These same drives are what successful companies seek to provide to their employees to improve and maintain their effectiveness, productivity, high morale and strong organizational culture (Nohria et al., 2008).

But these four words can be challenging to achieve amid economic cuts and real-life workplace issues as well as personal dynamics – finding innovative ways to engage employees is a full-time job for human resource experts, especially the in-house variety (Heymann & Barrera, 2007).

Engagement, say some experts, is basically a result of how one is treated in the work environment. (Doheny, 2012)  Demands in the office, warehouse floor or other workplace fit two patterns:   great demand, but a lot of control, and great demand but very little control.  The second pattern increases stress and cardiovascular disease risk factors. The conclusion is there are unfavorable health consequences  related to an imbalance of effort and reward systems (Ryan & Deci, 200) ; Heymann & Barrera, 2007)

Doheny (2012) provides a short Likert-Scale infobox quiz, adapted from the researchers’ experiment design,that allows the reader to determine whether he or she is an engaged workaholic or a “classic” workaholic.   The results can be depressing … or illuminating, depending if you are Karen Crowder or not.

References

Heymann, J., Barrera, M. (2007) Engaging Employees in the Company's

 Profits and Their Own, Harvard Business School, 1-28

Clayton Productions LLC, (2012).  Michael Clayton.  Retrieved from

 http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0465538/quotes

Doheny, K. (2012, February 13).  When It’s All Work; Getting too wound up in your job

 can be bad for you, physically and psychologically. Unless of course you love it

that way.  Retrieved from www.latimes.com

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B.,& Lee, L. (2008) Employee Motivation:

A Powerful New Model, Harvard Business Review, 1-7

Ryan, R., & Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic

Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational

Psychology, (25), 54-67.

Martin, J., & Schmidt, C. (2010). How to Keep Your Top Talent. Harvard

Business Review, 3-9.

New Regime, New Approach

My Email Interview with Our New Sales Vice President

Recently my company, MAI, permanently promoted ‘SB’ to the role of National Vice President (NVP), Sales and Customer Success.  Steve reports directly to the company president and is responsible for the entire field sales organization, including our sales representatives, specialists, and customer care teams. 

SB replaced a fairly unpopular, yet successful, NVP (we’ll call him, MW) who promoted a bureaucratic (Wren, 2009) and hierarchical (Daft, 2007) chain of command.  Despite his reputation, MW was great at extrinsically (Ryan & Deci, 2000) motivating his sales reps with added financial incentives and fear.

In his two months of interim leadership, SB has already made significant changes to the culture on the strength of his affable personality and energetic personality.

SB is a pretty busy guy, so I sent him an email asking a few questions related to this week’s readings.

Me – SB, one of the themes of our readings for this week is the collectivism versus individualism paradox.  One particular company (Great Little Box Company) had success in promoting collectivism (Heyman & Barrera, 2010), or a spirit of togetherness.  What are your thoughts on this paradox and what role does collectivism and/or individualism play in MAI’s sales success?

SB – Casey, as you’ve probably noticed so far, I am very team oriented.  I was a rugby player in England and my father was a coach so I’ve taken this team approach in my leadership style.  Much of my strategy and style is intended to build this feeling of “togetherness.”  I think this is especially important considering the tough year we’ve had. 

My commentary – Similar to the Great Little Box Company’s management team (Heyman & Barerra, 2010), SB, is an active communicator who is very transparent in his approach.  We’ve already had (3) national sales calls in the past three months, whereas we probably had (2) of these calls in the entire 12 months of the previous year.  On the calls, SB outlines recent sales victories, challenges, marketing efforts, and a state of our business.  These calls have been well-received.

Me - Another theme of our readings is the importance of employee motivation.  In one of our readings (Norhria et al., 2008) the authors speak of motivating employees with 4 organizational levers – Reward System, Culture, Job Design, and Performance Management &  Resource Allocation Processes.  How do you intend to motivate the sales force to achieve company goals?

SB – Sales professionals need to feel supported and excited about what they are doing and what they are selling.  I want each person in our sales team to feel proud of the team they are on, and the McKesson name on their business cards.  Sales “brings the rain” to keep the lights on for the entire company, so it’s important that each person knows how critical their efforts are to our company’s survival.  Since I’ve taken over, we’ve worked with Kraig [our new company President] to change the reward system so it reflects the importance of our continued efforts.

My Commentary – SB has placed accelerators (higher incentive compensation) on our existing sales IC contracts for the second half of the fiscal year (which just ended).  These accelerators are a device used to extrinsically (Ryan & Deci, 2000) motivate the sales representatives, with the separable outcome being ‘higher pay.’  Interestingly enough, in sales, often extrinsic motivation is connected to intrinsic motivation because many sales representatives get a ‘high’ from winning deals, being rewarded, and getting recognition.

Me – SB, how do you keep top talent after a difficult year?

SB – Sales is all about relationship building; with customers and within your company.  It’s critical for me to have a personal relationship with as many of our representatives as possible.  It’s important that I’m able to communicate our company’s direction with people via conference calls, emails and meetings.  If our company has the right strategy and I do my job of communicating, I think we have great things ahead.

My commentary – SB has a full plate right now but I’ve still been able to see some similarities between our readings and his approach to leadership.  Regarding keeping talent, SB  had probably sensed some disengagement when he started his interim term, and he has done his best to build engagement.  I think Martin & Schmidt (2010) would agree with some of his tactics.

References

Daft, R. (2007) "Fundamentals of Organizational Structure." Organization Theory and Design (9th ed.), pp. 88-125 (Chapter 3)

Heymann, J., Barrera, M. (2010) Engaging Employees in the Company's Profits and Their Own, Harvard Business School, pp. 1-28 (full article)

Martin, J., and Schmidt, C. (2010). How to Keep Your Top Talent. Harvard Business Review, pp. 3-9 (full article)

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., and Lee, L. (2008) Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model, Harvard Business Review, pp. 1-7 (full article)

Ryan, R., and Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology. No. 25, pp. 54-67 (full article)

Wren, D. (2009).  The Evolution of Management Thought.  Chapter 10, The Emergence of the Management Process and Organization Theory, pp. 212-234.

Keeping the good ones

This week I had the privilege of speaking to one of my former colleagues.  We both worked for an employer for 10-plus years, and were witness to some major changes within the structures and culture of the company.  While I worked in online marketing and content management, he was a director-level manager of a highly technical group.  Part of my position’s primary responsibility was to be the liaison between our creative groups and his technical group.  He is currently employed by this company, therefore he will remain anonymous.  In the narrative, he will be referred to as DC.  Our discussion focused on some of the ways the company has tried to change the process of engaging and motivating employees whose tasks were hybrid (creative/technical) and highly technical.

DT:  DC, thanks for letting me take some time to talk about one of our favorite topics – old-line management seemingly not knowing which way is up when it comes to keeping star players on the team.

DC: (laughter) Oh yeah, some things change and some things just stay the same.

DT:  Funny you make that statement because it opens the door to get to the heart of what I wanted to talk about.  The company has tried many times to implement new programs to get the tech folks to stay longer.  They implement and then seem to get cold feet before any results can be measured.  And then it’s back to the old way.  What gives with that?

DC:  Honestly I don’t really understand the thinking but my gut feeling is they can’t see immediate results and think that its broke.  They then retreat back to what they think they can measure.  This causes two problems for me.  One is that I come off looking like a fool for getting the department excited, then dash their expectations.  The other problem is our most talented coders see this as us being unstable and then they go off to greener pastures.  I spend more time filling those jobs than I care to and I know my managers get tired of wasting their time training them into our system.  It’s like constantly going back to square one.  Oh, and let us not forget that the word gets out about all this and it just makes it harder for us to get the level of expertise in the door for just an interview.  Frustrating.

DT:  Yeah, and I know that the same thing had happened with the engineers in product development and testing.  They could make much more money going elsewhere without all the back and forth going on.  There is a disconnect somewhere.  While we look at it from a cause and effect angle from the management team, do you think any of the attitudes of the newer employees have anything to do with hanging onto what you do get in the door?

DC:  Hmmm, yeah in some ways I guess.  You and I both worked for the company for a long time, comparatively speaking anyway.  I was here when you arrived and you made 10, so that puts me at 13 years.  I personally have had no burning desire to leave because I’ve got so much invested here.  The kids we have coming in here now would have to string four or five jobs together to get close to 10 years.  I don’t really know why, but the tech people now seem to hang around for a year or two and move on.  Maybe they just get bored. Maybe its money.  Maybe its me!  I just don’t know.

DT:  I can understand that it is really hard to find the best way to handle the situation from your end.  The old-school ways of engaging them and motivating them don’t seem to apply.  In my management class reading this week, we read about some of the concepts and challenges to motivation.  One of the articles talked about motivation that comes from within and another that is what I would call “forced,” or you do what you have to do the keep the boss happy, regardless if it makes you feel good.  From those perspective, what do you think younger developers are looking for when they come in?

DC:  Well, most of these guys are what I would call hyper-competitive and they are really driven to take a project to the point that the other developers will bow down to their greatness.  Seriously, I have always seen lot of natural competition going on between our team members.  But sometimes the productivity gains I get out of them get trampled on by some that don’t have a clue as to what they do.  They (sr. mgrs.) don’t know how to quantify their work.  And I have to balance the feedback I get from that level that’s like “yeah, so what have you done for me, and why isn’t this other project done” with the direction I give to them.  I try to re-frame all of my feedback to try to keep the developers from getting into a day to day rut. 

DT:  What would help you to solve this problem and that of trying to get talented people in and keep them?

DC:  It’s a real challenge.  I can’t throw money at them because they can always make as much or more working for someone else.  I think if we could get a CIO-level person who is totally familiar with the space that we are working in to find some creative ways to recognize these guys, that would be a big help.  The biggest obstacle in all of what I am trying to do is not having a true champion for us on the senior team who could help to guide us, but also to help communicate my groups needs and accomplishments to the senior managers.

DT:  You are right, that would take some of the stress off of you, plus maybe get some type of system going that would help make it a place that folks are beating your door down to get into.

DC:  That’s what I’d really love to do.  I’m gonna die trying that’s for sure.

DT.  Thank you so much for your time and your honesty.

DC: No worries, thank you.

It would appear from my conversation and my own personal experience that the company is dealing with a clash of management style of the long-time senior management team and the real-world needs of the employees in an area that they likely do not grasp.  This is very similar to the issues of “boomers versus Gen Xers that Erickson discusses.  I think the disconnect that exists is likely a concrete example of the of the life, cultural and professional differences that exits between management and the developer group.   

Most of the senior managers are “boomers,” who have been with the company for many years.  Their management styles and therefore rewards and motivation systems are devised from their own experience; things that they are most comfortable with and can manage and measure.  That thinking is total opposite that of the Gen Xers.  According to Erickson, the Gen Xers have been brought up in an era where there has been rapid technological changes and deep commitments to their employers do not match with their goals.  The leadership activities proposed by Erickson might be successful in this organization. 

I feel of more consequence and higher priority is an examination of how the company is meeting the needs of Gen Xers and Gen Yers.  They would likely find that they are not meeting those needs.  Ryan & Deci present an excellent set of “levers” that could be implemented to start to get to know these types of employees on a deeper level.  A progressive study of each fo the primary levers and the related drives could help the company design jobs, recognition and rewards that would really feed off of the individuals intrinsic motivations.  I would propose that if a company can really plug into the intrinsic level, they would be able to use an employee’s natural and internal motivational elements to not only help build satisfaction and value for the individuals, but help build productivity, innovation and profitability for  the company.

References

Ryan, R., & Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.

Erickson, T. (2010). The leaders we need now. Harvard Business Review, 11-15.

Motivating employees in spite of budget constraints

Whenever I tell someone that I work for a state agency it inevitably comes up, even when I mention that the job is perhaps not the best fit for me, that at least there are great holidays and benefits. This is true. I don’t pay for health insurance and I get to take days like Texas Independence Day off from work. From what I’ve seen, though, this isn’t really leading to a motivated workforce. At least not in my agency; but then, I’ve only worked for the state for a couple of years.

I decided that I might get a better perspective from someone who has been working for the state a little longer that I have. So, I turned to a manager at a larger agency who has worked for the state of Texas for about 25 years. Our conversation was centered around three questions: I asked about the importance of having motivated employees, whether or not the reward systems at state agencies were set up to promote employee motivation, and what changes mangers might make to increase motivation.

In the interest of anonymity, I will call the manager I interviewed, MD; here’s what he had to say on the subject of motivation. MD agrees that motivation is an essential element to an organization’s productivity (Heymann & Barrera, 2010). MD stated his belief was, “the better the morale, the higher the production for any company” (personal communication).

However, MD also agrees with Nohira, Groysberg and Lee (2008) that motivating employees can be challenging. This is especially true at state agencies, he said, given the current economic climate (personal communication). MD explains, “Unfortunately, working for the state in these budgetary times, it is nearly impossible to reward all employees who deserve pay bonuses or pay raises” (personal communication). While he recognizes that money is not the main motivator for some employees, that “there are others that rank higher,” he clarifies that because of budget constraints imposed on state agencies it has been several years since his agency has been able to provide merit raises of any kind (personal communication).  

MD believes that this is leading to a high level of dissatisfaction in agencies, which, in turn, is negatively impacting morale. Martin & Schmidt (2010) propose that negativity felt by some employees may be due to the high, unmet expectations they hold and the fact that there are many employment opportunities available to them. It appears that this may be true for the employees at MD’s agency. In fact, MD states that within the past year, two of his top performing employees left his agency (personal communication). Both of these employees stated in their exit interviews that their main reason for leaving was because they could get a higher salary elsewhere.

With this in mind, MD says that managers at state agencies must turn to other means, such as praise for a job well done and giving recognition in front of peers, to motivate employees (personal communication). This idea is supported by Heymann & Barrera (2010) who give examples of successful organizations utilizing similar nonmonetary to motivate employees.

It’s clear that state agencies are facing many challenges. In MD’s opinion much of this comes as a result of the budget cuts and having to “[do] more with less” (personal communication). MD maintains that the issue of salaries has gone too long without being addressed and this makes it difficult to motivate employees year after year (personal communication). Still, MD believes that managers can do in spite of the limitations of the state budget. Mainly, he says, agencies need to foster better communication with employees and set realistic expectations (personal communication).

Although the suggestions of increasing transparency and managing expectations may seem obvious, I can attest that they are lacking in my own agency. From this interview, I think state agencies would do well to start by following MD’s suggestion. Perhaps this would help agencies that are limited in their ability to change reward systems to focus on other elements that promote employee satisfaction. The question is, would be enough to help agencies retain their talented employees in spite of their inability to offer competitive salaries?

References

Heymann, J., Barrera, M. (2010). Engaging employees in the company's profits and their own. Harvard Business School, 1-28.

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., and Lee, L. (2008). Employee motivation: A powerful new model. Harvard Business Review, 1-7.

Martin, J., and Schmidt, C. (2010). How to keep your top talent. Harvard Business Review, 3-9.

Non-Profit Organizations Are Concerned About Costs

Interview: Talk to someone in an organization about what you read about. Ask them whether their experiences are consistent with the ideas presented in the readings, how the ideas might be useful in their work, etc. (This modality should include your own assessment of what you learned in the interview in addition to reporting the contents of the interview.)

This week’s readings made me think about the psyche of the employee. The readings also made me realize the many ways of motivating, innovating, and engaging employees to make an organization stronger. It is not that hard to retain your employees, while recruiting new ones, if an organization delivers incentives and rewards.

As a class, we have become immersed in organizational culture and the core components of a positive culture, which includes shared beliefs and values. Now, I am more inclined to learn about employee benefits, retention, motivation, and innovation. For this interview, I reached out to a friend who works for a non-profit organization. His organization draws a lot of talented individuals who are mostly right out of undergrad. Unfortunately, they often look to move forward in their professional lives by changing jobs more frequently than he would like. As a result, he finds it hard to keep his employees for the long haul.

I asked him these questions after describing this week’s readings to him:

Interviewer:
Organizations have seen a falloff of leadership from baby boomer employees (Erickson, 2010; Meister & Willyerd, 2010). How do you think the Generation X and Y workforce has impacted the non-profit industry? Are younger generations more involved with non-profit work than baby boomers?

Participant:
The boomer employee is important to a non-profit. An experienced fundraiser is a thing of joy! The ups and downs of bringing cash in and managing the droughts is a job for a seasoned employee. The generation X and Y workforce brings mad information technology skill sets. These are the skills that propel a company forward and upward in these cash strapped days. Boomers don’t always understand the potential of social media and if so, get out of the way. Generation X and Y—you’re hired!


Interviewer:
It has been said that baby boomers lack encouragement to do their jobs well today because they instill an old mindset (Erickson, 2010; Meister & Willyerd, 2010). Do you think younger employees bring an enhanced energy and newfound drive to your organization?

Participant:
Sure they bring energy and it’s refreshing. Younger employees want to do things their way. Younger employees take shortcuts that decrease their efficiency. For example, they are updating the website on the admin panel, they think they have completed the work, but don’t check the actual website to see if the update is appearing correctly. These young people are really smart and have minds for entrepreneurship; but they have to combine real work experience with their book sense.

Interviewer:
Motivating employees can be incredibly intricate (Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee, 2008). How do you keep the younger employees happy? Do you publicly recognize, incentivize, or reward their achievements (Nohria et al., 2008)?

Participant:
Happy? Are you kidding me? What universe does this question come from? The work is challenging and is its own reward. It is an honor to work for us. If I have to keep you happy, get the heck out of here.

Interviewer:
Your organization has quite a few unpaid interns. You hope to make them full-time employees once space becomes available, but how do keep them productive when they aren’t paid? “Studies have similarly shown that greater employee involvement leads to higher productivity and quality” (Heymann & Barrera, 2010, p. 2). Is this true for you?

Participant:
Having quite a few unpaid interns is a recipe for disaster. We wouldn’t have interns waiting for full-time work. Either we can afford them or we can’t. We don’t believe in having people work and not get paid; except for volunteers at conference time.

Interviewer:
Motivated individuals are moved by inspiring leaders to perform better at work (Ryan & Deci, 2000). How would you respond if you acknowledge an employee who seems unmotivated?

Participant:
If an employee seems unmotivated, he/she doesn’t belong in our organization. Motivation comes from within. If you want to work in our company, be an asset! Are you aware that we are in a recession and jobs are in short supply? That employee should find a way to motivate him or herself.

Interviewer:
In closing, how do you motivate your young employees to become leaders when research shows that at least 25% of top earners in organizations plan to leave their jobs for better ones (Martin & Schmidt, 2010)? Would a talent-development program work? (Martin & Schmidt, 2010)?


Participant:
If a young employee wants to become a leader one thing they can do is emulate me. Do what I do. If talent-development programs mean having a mentor; then I do believe in this. It is important to have someone to show you the ropes and how to climb. A mentor will prevent you from making costly mistakes and speed your rise.

The contents of the interview suggest that the participant does not agree with this week’s readings. Further, the participant believes that organizational culture is not as important as research suggests. Organizational culture does not exist within the participant’s organization. It is understood that if an employee does not want to be a part of the non-profit, then the employee should either deal with the existing environment or leave.

The organization does not bend to accommodate the employee, especially when the employee is not viewed of as a permanent fixture. One thing that stands out, however, is that the participant thinks baby boomers are better employees than generation x or y, with exception to new technology like social media skills. Baby boomers are thought of as employees who do not care about the direction of the organization and just want their paycheck (Erickson, 2010; Meister & Willyerd, 2010). Young employees today look for notches on their resume belt. This organization prefers to do anything to keep costs down.


References

Erickson, T. (2010). The leaders we need now. Harvard Business Review, 11-15.
Heymann, J., & Barrera, M. (2010). Engaging employees in the company's profits and their own. Harvard Business School, 1-28.
Martin, J., & Schmidt, C. (2010). How to keep your top talent. Harvard Business
Review, 3-9.
Meister, J., & Willyerd, K. (2010). Mentoring millennials. Harvard Business
Review, 17-20.
Nohria, N., Groysberg, B. & Lee, L. (2008). Employee motivation: A powerful new model. Harvard Business Review, 1-7.
Ryan, R. & Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.

How to Destroy an Employee's Work Life

Amabile and Kramer (2012) wrote a tongue-in-cheek article for the Washington Post on how to ensure your employees are miserable at work. The article is illustrated with a photo from the movie “The Devil Wears Prada,” which features quite possibly the most villainous boss ever to be portrayed on screen.

The authors collected confidential electronic diaries from 238 employees in seven companies over the period of several months. The diaries were used to determine what events at work made a day difficult. The four points on how to ensure employee dissatisfaction are: never allow pride of accomplishment, miss no opportunity to block progress on employees’ projects, give yourself some credit, and kill the messengers.

These points correlate to the four drives managers can use to increase motivation (Nohria et al). The advice from Amabile and Kramer annihilates these drives. Setbacks were the number one thing that the employees noted as a source of frustration in their diaries. This corresponds with the drive to acquire and the lever of rewards systems noted by Nohria et al (2008).

The article’s second piece of advice it to block the employee’s progress, specifically through issuing conflicting goals regarding the project (Amabile & Kramer, 2012). The authors suggest that if the conflicting goals are issued correctly, the effect on morale can be dramatic (Amabile & Kramer, 2012). This correlates with the drive to comprehend and the lever of designing jobs that are meaningful (Nohria et al, 2008).

The third piece of advice is to give yourself some credit (Amabile & Kramer, 2012). The articles goes on to say that the bad work environment should be attributed to the employee’s work ethic (Amabile & Kramer, 2012). This correlates with the drive to bond and the lever of culture.

The final piece of advice is to kill the messengers – deny problems and strike back (Amabile & Kramer, 2012). This corresponds with the drive to defend and the lever of transparent processes for performance (Nohria et al, 2008). Nohria et al (2008) state that when is comes to the lever for the drive to defend it is important for the employee to understand why decisions are made. Following the advice from Amabile & Kramer (2012) fosters an environment that does not allow for these conversations to take place.

All in all, the article definitely provides a succinct synopsis of everything a manager should do to encourage high turnover among employees and is backed by the science behind Nohria et al (2008).

References

Amabile, T. & Kramer, S. (2012, March 6). How to completely, utterly destroy an employee’s work life. The Washington Post.

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., and Lee, L. (2008) Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model, Harvard Business Review, pp. 1-7

Culture and Motivation

I interviewed an H.R. director of a national software company.  She asked that I keep her name and the name of the company confidential.  She will be referred to as the Unnamed One, or U.O., for this discussion.  U.O. has been with this organizion for five years and has been in human resources for twelve.

LD:  Hi U.O. thanks for taking time out of your weekend to chat with me.

UO:  Not a problem.  I hope I can helpful.

LD: How do you identify top talent when recruiting?

UO:  Software engineers as an example – education is a strong indicator of success.  I look at past companies they’ve worked for and career progression.  I look for technical language terms and very specific computer languages.  I also look for an element of creativity.  For example, one engineer used a pictorial representation of his success and I had to play a game to get to his actual CV.  This told me he was innovative and not afraid to take risks. 

LD: What qualities do you look for in a top-performer?

UO:  I look for individuals who will exemplify the culture and DNA culture of this company.  They need to be, bright, active, engaged, self-starters, motivated and kind.  Kindness is very important.  They need to set an example and take on leadership roles without necessarily being put in a leadership position.

LD: What strategies have you found to be most effective in keeping top performers at your organization?

UO:  Well, using the criteria I mentioned to identify them is the first step.  We want to provide opportunities for growth and career development for these employees.   Engaging them in their own advancement is also important.  Offering them interaction with upper management is another way, of showing them they’re truly valued.  Rewards and acknowledgement also go a long way.

LD:  What ways would you engage, reward them and show them how valuable they are?

UO:  A trip to Silicon Valley to interact with or shadow upper management is one way, if the employee is not already based here.  Recognition during company meetings and bonuses are other ways.  Top performers are also given company shares.

LD:  What have you found best motivates an employee?

UO:  Compensation always motivates but it’s not always the best thing.  I think providing a healthy working environment with people who truly like each other and are talented is a good motivator.  Also, growth opportunities and providing ongoing training can be motivating.  The overall culture of the organization has to be positive and one that the employee believes in.  Take Google, for example. People at Google now are not as motivated as they were nine years ago because the culture as shifted.  People are not getting fulfillment like they used.  We just recruited someone out of Google who was dissatisfied with the new culture there. 

LD:  Have you ever been surprised when a rising star has left you organization?

UO:  Yes, but that person was offered an opportunity that they felt was a better fit for their career path. 

LD:  Would you have done differently to keep that individual?

UO:  No, I’m not sure we could’ve changed their mind.   This person was enticed by something they thought was bigger, better.  Our voluntary turnover has been very low compared to other organizations I’ve worked for.  This has made for a stronger team.  Overall people generally tend to stay, and we do our best to make sure we keep top talent.

LD:  Do you think there is value in engaging top performers to all levels of company goals and asking for their input when trying to solve big company issues (Martin & Schmidt)? 

LD:  Yes, it is a huge element of success, but it their input needs to be very measured.  There is danger in asking without giving the full picture, however.  We want to avoid a bunch of “yes” men and women here.  It’s okay to disagree with upper management, but we also want to make sure an employee has the whole picture before providing input.  We’re very fortunate to have a CEO that actually cares about the health of the organization and the culture. 

LD:  Do you equate current high performance with future potential (Martin & Schmidt, 2010)? 

UO:  Yes, we look to them to be the future leaders of the organization.  We want to identify top performers and put them on a path for success.

LD:  If you were to ask your current employees this question, “What would cause you to take a job with another company tomorrow?”  What do you think the top three reasons would be? 

UO:  That’s a tough one.  I think a more attractive title or position might cause someone to take a position elsewhere.  A better or different comp plan may also be a reason.  Perhaps, there are life changes, like having a baby, getting married, a spouse taking a job in another state or country.

LD:  In assessing top performers for growth, does senior management in your current organization drill down to discover what true potential lies in these performers or is the assessment based on feedback only from their direct supervisor?

UO:  We do regular checkups on employees.   It is a process though.  We get feedback form managers, yes, but there is a more in-depth process.  There are annual reviews and we encourage employees to use a direct line of communication to my department, upper management and even to the CEO.

LD:  Psychologically speaking, there are four attributes, or drives, that are attached to everything we as humans do.  They are: to acquire, to bond, to comprehend and to defend (Nohria, Boris, Groysberg & Lee, 2008).  Research shows that by satisfying these drivers, employers can better motivate employees.  Do you think your organization effectively motivates by utilizing these?  

UO:  I would say, yes.  We provide competitive salaries and benefits along with stock options for stellar employees.   I believe that will satisfy the acquire need.  As for bonding, we want employees to know that they are part of something bigger than themselves.  Since kindness is a big part of our culture, we want people to know that we care about them and want them to be emotionally invested in our company.   I hope that we create an environment of learning and growing here and that employees understand what we do and why we do it.  Providing ongoing training and seminars hopefully keep people mentally engaged and stimulated.  I think we do reach this by taking away mystery and communicating changes effectively.  We just bought a company in Europe.  We announced this acquisition as soon as possible to take away any fear or mystery around the event.

LD:  In addition to the afore mentioned drivers, do you think your organization supports the innate human needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness to feel connected, effective and agentic (Ryan & Deci, 2000)?

UO:  I certainly hope so.  We are a very large company, so it’s simply not possible to say that we’re meeting all of these human needs.  Consistently, though, I think we do a good job.  My department very rarely hears of any dissatisfaction that could be attributed to these needs or the drivers we talked about.  I think based on the almost non-existent issues of this kind; we’re doing a good job.

LD:  Does your organization have an open book management style (Heyman & Barrera, 2010)? 

UO:  We certainly are more transparent on where our financials are and what the strategy is than other companies I’ve worked for.  It’s up to individual managers to transfer this into goals for their team, but it is also up to the employee to be engaged.  So, what I’m saying is the information is there.  The door is open for conversation at all levels, and it’s up to management to make info available, but it is up to the employee to gather, process and participate.

Through this interview I surmised that this organization has a healthy culture and good pulse on employee satisfaction.  They seem to encourage employee engagement and have motivated well by satisfying the four drivers of acquisition, bonding, comprehension and defense (Nohria, Groysberg & Lee, 2008) and keeping employees engaged by meeting the human needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

The very low turnover rate at this organization tells me that they are effectively motivating and rewarding their employees (Martin & Schmidt, 2010). It would seem that the direct lines of communication and open environment have proven to be effective methods for motivation and retention (Heyman & Barrera, 2010).  The compensation package, incentives and rewards system also appear to in line with Heyman & Barrera's (2010) theory.

I do happen to know that this company is run by Generation X CEO (Erickson, 2010) and many of the employees are Generation Y (Meister & Willyerd, 2010), so it is not surprising that it has an open feeling and a more progressive, less bureaucratic culture.  The younger employees are pushing for more engagement (Meister & Willyerd, 2010) and the CEO is open to change and diversity (Erickson, 2010).

Erickson, T. J. (2010). The leaders we need now. Harvard Business Review, 1-5.

Heyman, J., & Barrera, M. (2010).  Engaging employees in the company’s profits and their own. Profit at the bottom of the ladder: Creating value by investing in your workforce (pp. 1-28).  Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

Martin, J. & Schmidt, C. (2010). How to keep your top talent. Harvard Business Review, 1-8.

Meister, J. C., & Willyerd, K. (2010). Mentoring milennials.  Harvard Business Review, 1-4.

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B. & Lee, L. (2008).  Employee motivation.  Harvard Business Review, 1-8.

Ryan, R. & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.