Yesterday’s Oldie was a reminder that there are very view motivators that can beat VSI (vested self-interest) when it comes to engaging your team.

Some people respond to money, but many more respond to intangible rewards.

How do you know what works?

How can you tailor motivators individually for each person?

I’ve heard from bosses at every level that they’re already stretched, they need to focus on the deliverables and their team and just don’t have the time to deal with individuals.

Which is laughable, since the team is comprised of individuals and the bosses job is to engage and motivate them, so the deliverables are delivered on time.

Great managers have no fear of using one of the most efficient approaches, i.e., ask your current team and each new hire.

Don’t suggest or use multiple choice, just ask.

• What makes you eager to come to work?
• If you could choose just one thing, other than compensation, that would light your work fire what would if be?

Don’t ask in a group situation if you want real answers, honest answers.

In fact, don’t ask in person, since you may not be able to control your initial reaction. If that happens it will break trust with that person and it is unlikely to be rebuilt any time soon.

Remember, this isn’t about what motivates you, nor is it any business of yours to judge what motivates someone else.

Hand the questions out in hard copy with each person’s name already on it.

Tell them you are using hardcopy to avoid the chance of accidental leaks and promise their responses won’t be shared with anybody.

It is extremely important that you don’t share them, even anonymously, with anyone, especially inside the company. Doing so for any reason, with anyone is betrayal, pure and simple.

Explain that because all humans are different you want to understand what really matters to each of them and that once you do you’ll do your best to provide it.

Finally, don’t kid yourself, if you don’t honor your promise it is betrayal, the equivalent to sleeping around when in a committed relationship.

If you don’t know how to be faithful, you’re better off just forgetting about this post.

Image credit: Auckland Photo News

When I’m writing for a client I lose track of time; I don’t even notice when someone walks into my office.

It’s called being “in the zone” and it happens when you are seriously interested and deeply engaged with what you are doing.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist at the Claremont Graduate University, has been studying this latter phenomenon for decades. He calls it flow: the experience we have when we’re “in the zone.” During a flow state, people are fully absorbed and highly focused; they lose themselves in the activity.

It’s a proven fact that self-control is mentally fatiguing, but new research shows that high interest results in lower mental fatigue.

Bosses who use contests and gamification to drive interest are missing a good understanding of today’s workforce—and it’s not about age or even self-interest.

People get interested because a project is meaningful and they can see how their work contributes to the larger picture.

Even on minor projects they can see how what they did helped achieve the outcome.

No busy work; no incomplete information and no doing [whatever] for the sake of doing it.

In short, if you want to generate interest in a task it must be meaningful and provide an opportunity for the worker to add value.

Flickr image credit: Beverley Goodwin

I have exciting news for all the creep bosses out there who miss the days when they could grope and talk dirty to their subordinates, without fear of lawsuits, reprisal or losing their jobs.

All they have to do is hire an unpaid intern, because they have no legal recourse.

“…unpaid interns are not “employees” under the Civil Rights Act — and thus, they’re not protected.”

Unpaid internships may be under siege, the courts siding with the interns and social media blasting Sheryl Sanberg’s Lean In Foundation for offering one, but they’re still around and perfect for all the bosses bent in that direction.

And while I doubt any of them are reading my blog, you probably know at least one person who, if only in fantasy, fits the bill and to whom you might forward this post—not that it will change them.

More importantly, forward it to anyone you know who is considering an unpaid internship in the hope they will take a second and third look at the manager, team and company that’s offering it.

Hat tip to KG Charles-Harris for sending the harassment article.

Flickr image credit: quinn.anya

I have to laugh every time I see a reference to Management-By-Walking-Around (MBWA) that creates the impression that it’s a hot new management tool.

Hot, yes; new, no.

MBWA dates to 1940 and is a management technique instituted by Dave Packard at the founding of HP; it’s “marked by personal involvement, good listening skills and the recognition that “everyone in an organization wants to do a good job.””

I’ve written about it before and when I looked at that post I found little that needed changing, go here it is again.

Remember Management-By-Walking-Around? It’s an oldie, but a goodie.

Great managers work to spend at least 25% of their time wandering around chatting and building trust with their people.

Don’t have time? Maybe that’s because you never really thought abut the benefits. Getting to know your people this way helps you to

• spot high-potential workers;
• raise your trust quotient with employees;
• improve retention;
• attract talent;
• discover molehills before they’re mountains, and, most importantly, it’s the best, if not only, way to
• know what’s really going on.

But to work it must be the norm—that means it needs to be done constantly, not just when there’s a problem.

Consistent, casual visits make people feel comfortable and encourages them to chat—saying what they are thinking without editing it. To pass on information, rumors, and the like without wondering or worrying that it will boomerang and hurt them.

While wandering, you’ll hear enough to validate or repudiate what you heard from somewhere else. It lets you protect your sources—which means they’ll continue to pass on information—and it helps you avoid acting on erroneous information.

The higher you rise in the organization the more important this intelligence becomes.

One of the greatest dangers for any manager is getting isolated and hearing only a sanitized or slanted version of what’s going on within the group, department or company. This is especially true for the CEO and senior staff.

Bottom-line—get off your duff, out of your office, wander around, say hi, listen, be a sponge and soak it all up.

Invest the time—that’s what managers do—and it will pay off handsomely!

MBWA works best when it is embedded in your MAP, as well as part of your organization’s cultural DNA.

Flickr image credit: HikingArtist.com

Office politics has many definitions, but one characteristic remains constant—your ‘voice’ is positional. In other words, your ability to be heard is based on your position in the pecking order. Ideas below X level are ignored, between X and Y are acknowledged, Y to Z are heard and sometimes implemented.

But to have a full voice you either need to be part of the C suite or a “star” (stars below the Y level are scarce as hen’s teeth). Some argue that star systems are merit-based, but that argument falls flat if only those at a certain level are heard.

Few people like office politics and its presence has always been responsible for a large percentage of turnover.

One way to substantially reduce office politics in your organization by making sure that everyone has a voice.

Even in highly political corporations individual managers can improve their team’s performance and retention by making sure ideas receive a fair hearing no matter who thinks of them.

It’s easier when you are a first line manager, because you have only yourself to blame if a pecking order establishes itself in your group. If it does happen have a candid talk with the mirror and decide what’s important to you and what you want your ‘management brand’ to be known for.

As you move up, with one or more layers of management below you, it becomes more difficult because you are working to propagate an attitude that may not be wholly shared by those who report to you.

Your success depends partly on how consistent your own actions are and partly on what procedures you create to reinforce the desired behavior.

One of the most successful approaches is to tie bonus compensation to measurable results for soliciting suggestions from all levels and let VSI do the rest.

Of course, as with health, it is better route to prevent office politics than it is to cure it once it gets a toe-hold.

Simply put, that means not hiring managers at any level whose past behavior reflects the wrong attitude. You have two methods to accomplishing this. Obviously, it is something to discuss when doing reference checks.

But more importantly, if you make it clear during interviews that part of the candidate’s compensation depends upon it. It’s amazing how quickly a candidate will withdraw when her pay depends on a behavior with which she doesn’t agree.

Image credit: Svadilfari on flickr

Is your company fair? Is fairness part of your MAP? Are you fair to your people? How often have you heard (or said), “That’s not fair!”

People accept that life isn’t fair—more or less. Whereas you can’t walk away from life, but it’s relatively easy to walk away from a company or manager you perceive as unfair.

What do people expect within the business world in terms of fairness?

The obvious is that they don’t want to be shafted a la Enron. However, fairness refers to more than the obvious, most often to the company/manager doing what they said they would do, i.e., walking their talk.

Fairness is what people want and fairness is what most companies/managers promise—but frequently don’t provide. For example:

Fairness excludes politics

• Official – people will be promoted based on what they do
• De facto – people are promoted based on who they know

Fairness is egalitarian

• Official – everybody will fly economy class when traveling
• De facto – senior management flies first class

Fairness includes parity

• Official – similar skills are compensated similarly with any differences the result of merit
• De facto – compensation differences result from expediency, prejudice, or favoritism

Besides doing ‘the right thing’, why be fair? What’s in it for you?

Quite a lot, actually.

Fairness reduces turnover (and its associated costs), increases productivity, and fuels innovation, all of which makes you look good as a manager and gives your company a good street rep. Yes, companies have street reps, too, and those reputations have a major impact on the caliber of people applying; a rep that is positive for fairness makes it easier to higher great people.

All this means better reviews, increased compensation, a reputation that’s pure gold and a great night’s sleep.

What’s not to like? And all you have to do is do as you say you will.

Please join me Monday to learn why fairness is monkey business.

Your comments—priceless

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Image credit: RachelH on flickr

The common word is that people hate change; then there’s the school that says it’s not change, but how change is presented and implemented.

Personally, I agree with both statements.

Change must be presented intelligently, i.e., in ways that the people involved see the change as positive (for themselves).

This is the overt side of change that at its best addresses both the right and left side of your brain.

But what about the covert side of your brain—the part ruled by habit?

Anybody who has ended a habit, such as smoking, or modified an unconscious characteristic, such as rapid speaking, knows just how difficult it is to change/modify things of which you’re not even aware.

It is this covert side that makes change so difficult.

Any major action or situation has dozens of tiny associated habits and every one of them needs to change or, at least, be modified, because habits are never really broken—they are replaced.

For example, it is the hundreds of covert habits that make changing jobs so traumatic. On top of all the biggies—new company/culture/job/boss/colleagues—are the minutiae of functioning—route to work/parking/mass transit/restrooms/eating/etc.—this list is far longer than the overt list—and far more ignored.

Whether you are leading change or changing yourself, ignoring the covert side will always imperil success.

What’s your approach to the convert side of change?

Your comments—priceless

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Image credit: claudmey  CC license