Dan Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, says organizations not using Motivation 3.0 are headed to irrelevance. Motivation 1.0 was about survival and outrunning the hunter. Motivation 2.0 was about reward and punishment, carrots and sticks. Motivation 3.0 is about autonomy, mastery and purpose. Watch Pink's presentation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc.
Isn't
the common organization mantra, "People are our most important
asset?" Aren't organizations continuously trying to tap into their most
important asset? Installing Motivation 3.0 in the workplace culture will get you employee engagement, which can yield faster, better, less expensive and safer solutions to problems. Employee engagement has shown to improve morale and reduce turnover. Productivity is increased.
But before you install Motivation 3.0, it might be wise to check the “work culture operating system.” What is the work culture and who impacts the work culture? What behaviors create engagement versus disengagement? It boils down to two practices, good etiquette and vulnerability-based trust.
Who is the “customer?" The "customer" is anyone who relies on our work. The way internal customers are treated impacts external customers. Be responsive to questions or requests. This is work etiquette 101. When an employee asks a question or makes a request, don’t ignore it until they have to ask again. Respond the same day if possible, within 24 hours at the latest.
Walk-your-talk. Set a positive example. “Do as I say, not as I do,” kills respect, hurts integrity and lowers morale. Be a role model, not a hypocrite. If you want respect, give respect, including:
- Don’t be late to meetings. This is bad etiquette.
- Turn off your cell phone in meetings. To look at your cell phone, or worse, take a phone call during a meeting is bad etiquette.
- Take notes on paper, not on iPads or laptops. Even if you are truly taking notes on an electronic device, it creates suspicion. The only person who should take notes on a electronic device in a meeting is the designated recorder or secretary.
- Don’t be a workaholic. Sending emails and texts late at night or on weekends and expecting a reply, says you don’t respect cohorts' life outside of work.
If you are not actively listening to others in face-to-face encounters or in meetings, you are hurting employee engagement. Multitasking during face-to-face meetings is bad etiquette and a relationship killer. When your eyes drop to your lap, you are hurting your credibility.
Remember what you ask team members to do. Leaders forget now and then. When you do forget, it sends the message that what you asked them to do may not really be that important.
Be aware of your Leadership Privilege. Do not be ashamed of Leadership Privilege, but do be aware of it and do not use it to take advantage of followers. Leadership Privilege looks like:
- Always having reliable transportation to get to work on time. It may include having a company car.
- Special parking which is great especially in bad weather.
- An office with good lighting, an ergonomic chair, the latest computer and privacy.
- Always having a seat at the meeting table and usually in a key location.
- Having knowledge that followers do not have. Knowledge is power. Be mindful of impact of withholding or not being transparent. Misusing your power is a form of bullying.
Take a lesson from the Marines. Officers always eat last!
Be aware of disloyalty, betrayal and brutality. These three behaviors destroy employee engagement and kill trust.
- Disloyalty. An employee shares an idea and the leader doesn’t acknowledge it. This is treating the employee like a stranger.
- Betrayal. An employee shares an idea and the leader shares it with higher ups and takes credit. This is treating the employee like a competitor or an enemy.
- Brutality. You are in a meeting and you share a thought or idea. The leader responds: you are stupid; that is the worst idea ever; asks, 'why you can’t be more like ______?' This is treating the employee as if he/she is sub-human and unworthy. This is a form of bullying.
Be sensitive to overworked employees. The leader, manager or supervisor that ignores or is oblivious that an employee is overloaded will not get engagement. How many times have you heard “My boss has no idea of what I do or how hard I work!”? Bosses need to take time to shadow their staff, do ride-alongs and go to where their staff works. Open door policy should be replaced with “let-me-walk-a-mile-in-your-shoes” policy.
Is there ROJ (Retired on the Job) in the workplace? ROJ makes it harder on everyone else. If you supervise someone who has ROJ, don’t ignore it. This sends a negative message to those who are still working. Guess what it does for employee engagement?
Do not over-promise and under deliver. Do not make promises you cannot keep. This not only hurts credibility, it creates distrust and unwillingness to go the extra mile.
Micromanagement is not only an employee engagement killer, a huge trust killer.
Here are a couple of other Employee Engagement Killer apps:
- Playing favorites.
- Indecisiveness, waffling, avoiding a decision creates stress, bottlenecks and disengagement.
- Continuously changing the company org chart sends a signal of indecisiveness especially when there is little information on the reason for the changes.
- Betraying confidences kills relationships and employee engagement.
- Unwillingness to admit when wrong or own a mistake. Furthermore, to blame someone else for your mistake brings down employee engagement.
- The right way is my way on getting things done. This is a sign of a big ego.
- Unpredictable moods. Mood swings are disturbing and cause avoidance behavior.
- Don’t be a helicopter leader or ghost leader. In other words be available. Make time to meet one-on-one with staff.
As Tom Rath and Barry Conchie point out in their bestselling, Strengths Based Leadership, followers want leaders whom they trust, who have compassion, who build stability and who give hope. Live into these four behaviors and you will get employee engagement.
Recently, I spent money with an organization. It was a good experience and one I would recommend to others.
Then I got home and received an email asking me to fill out a survey.
I can't do it! I've got survey-fatigue. Filling out surveys maybe good for the organization, but they aren't a good use of my time.
I understand that in today's world, best experience wins, but the request for my time to fill out a survey actually hurts my experience with the organization. Furthermore, I know that the longer the survey and the more personal information requested, the business is actually gleaning more information about me for marketing to me. The trust factor takes a hit.
If I have had a negative experience with an organization, they will hear from me. How they respond will determine if I return or how I share my experience with others including via social media.
If the business really wants me to return as a customer, forget SurveyMonkey, eServ or Murvey. I suggest asking no more than three open ended questions about my experience before I leave the premises.
Finally, reward me for taking my time to answer the questions. After all I just spent money with you! Give me a coupon for a discount to entice my return.
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The second greatest commandment of the Christian faith is “‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’” Matthew 22: 37-40 (MSG)
I have always found this as THE MOST CHALLENGING COMMANDMENT because at the heart of this commandment, I have to look in the mirror and ask, “How much do I love this imperfect, scared, flawed, hurtful person so I can truly love others?” Can I love this person who at times seems unlovable? Can I own this who seems unworthy or does my greed, selfishness, pride and fear own me?
Hard to believe that what I see in the mirror, God says is worthy! I am like the father who asked Jesus to heal his sick child. Jesus asked the father if he believed? The father replied, “I believe. Help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 (MSG)
To add to this challenge, Jesus turned it up another notch. “Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.” John 15:13 (MSG)
I’m always looking for role models. I visited one this past weekend. My cousin, Jim, was in need of a kidney transplant. His oldest daughter, Carrie, didn’t hesitate to find out if she could give her father one of her healthy kidneys. They were a match! Here is a living example: Her body didn’t own her, but she owned her body. Not only was pride and selfishness ignored, but fear was looked in the eye and love won! Some call it grace, others call it an act of the Holy Spirit. No matter what you call it, it was the love Jesus spoke of in John 15:13.
There is some incredible support to enable this act of love. There is the love of Carrie’s mother for her father and for her. There is the love of family and friends for them. There is the love of the doctors and caregivers. Love connects! Love heals. Love wins! As I write this, both father and daughter are healing! Their healing heals my doubt!
Can you love yourself to to break the chains of selfishness, greed and fear to give your life to another? I believe. Help my unbelief.
The article, 'Forget Myers-Briggs: To Build a Great Team, Focus on Something Called 'Factor C,' showed up in my LinkedIn email. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/forget-myers-briggs-build-great-team-focus-factor-c-cass-sunstein
This excerpt comes from authors Sunstein and Hastie, Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter. Turns out they mention Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) on pages 205-207 of their book. I am not sure why! "A lot of companies take the test (MBTI) seriously." From my experience, if you take MBTI, DiSC or any other numerous assessments seriously, a be-all-to-end-all, you are leaning towards absolute certainty and problems. MBTI and other assessments are a starting point for better understanding.
The MBTI was never meant a be-all-to-end-all or to pigeon-hole people, but an aid to celebrate
another aspect of diversity - personality - to better understand and
self-manage oneself especially in problem-solving, communication and conflict resolution.
One
thing that was drilled into me when I got qualified for MBTI; NEVER USE
MBTI FOR HIRING AND PLACEMENT! This article seems to make the
assumption that MBTI can be and is used for this. "By some reports,
almost 90 percent of the major US companies use the
Myers-Briggs test for employee selection, placement, or counseling." I know professionals who use MBTI for counseling.
I use MBTI with individuals, co-workers in conflict, new teams or re-organized
teams for insight and understanding. (I recently facilitated an MBTI workshop for a team. They have a
new leader and two new team
members. I used two reports from Consulting Psychology Press -
Interpretive Report and Team
Report to help them understand how the 'team' preferred to solve
problems, communicate and deal with conflict versus how they individually
preferred to tackle these challenges. They had several AHA moments!) MBTI exposes the diversity of personality within groups, teams and communities. That is good and needed!
The article emphasizes MBTI is used to predict behavior. I disagree. I tell participants in MBTI workshops that as an ENTJ, I am just like all other ENTJs except that I'm a little bit different from other ENTJs and actually all ENTJ's are different from all other ENTJs! MBTI is merely a starting point to understand how one's preferences affect behavior.
According to the article, 'Factor C' is the collective IQ of team members. They sight a recent study that this seems to indicate 'Factor C' enables predictability. We seem to be wired to need predictability. Look at how much we pay attention to the weatherperson, yet we know how unpredictable the weather can be! We crave certainty and knowing what is coming around the next bend. All of life is full of volatility, uncertainty, chaos, complexity and ambiguity. Learn to deal with it!
From my experience, emotional intelligence (EQ), trumps IQ. You can Google EQ versus IQ to come to your own conclusions. Personally, I'd rather be a part of strong EQ team than a high IQ team. EQ is about significance - people and legacy rather than success - things and rewards. EQ impacts diversity as a strategic initiative more than IQ.
I see this over and over when I use tools with groups, teams and communities like Joel Barker's Implication Wheel, Edward DeBono's Six Thinking Hats or Harrison Owen's Open Space Technology. While IQ is a factor in the outcomes of using these tools, it is EQ that creates flow and synergy. MBTI helps with EQ and has no connection to IQ.
My recommendation: Continuously work at being relational. Stay curious rather than judgmental. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
I recently played Cards Against Humanity (CAH) for the first time. I have to admit, I laughed to tears.
People liken CAH to the game Apples to Apples… for horrible people! It is the number one best seller at Amazon in the toys and games category. (As I write this, this is the only source you can purchase the game.) CAH came out in 2011. It has repeatedly sold out.
Having played the game has lead me to talk with others about their experience as well as do some personal research.
CAH is problematic and satirical. If you’ve not played it, be prepared for awkwardness. (I’d suggest you know those with whom you are sharing CAH well!)
CAH is a metaphor for the times we live in. Living without really thinking, without really reflecting on not only what is important but who this game touches. IMHO, the game lacks soul and grace. It reflects our media, social media, and the ugly, dark side of humanity including our continuing desensitivity towards shock value.
This game is an equal opportunity offender. This game rails against political correctness. It is a huge, ‘your mother raised you to be better than this.’
“I think the game perpetuates a pretty nasty culture: ‘Hey, look how enlightened I am because I'm beyond race/religion and can make nasty jokes about it!’” said Adrienne Ciskey, a game designer. “It comes across as a game for overly privileged hipsters who believe they are entitled to this lifestyle where everyone worships them to feel ‘in’ on the joke.”
I do believe CAH has the potential to start some much needed serious dialogue among people. It challenges humor, prejudice and our continuing inability to live the Golden Rule. I believe the game has the potential to challenge our confirmation bias* - our minds default mode to attend selectively to information that supports already existing beliefs, and to discount information that goes against our beliefs.
If you are willing to have a ‘face-in-the-mirror’ moment to explore your bias, known and unknown, check out the Implicit Project at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html The website offers a whole series of tests to examine bias, diversity and inclusion.
Got bias? Game on!
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
I began the 2014 New Year without a resolution but with a focus on a single word. The word I selected, or I believe selected me, was gratitude. I began researching gratitude and its power. I've watched Louie Schwartzberg’s YouTube video on gratitude at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj2ofrX7jAk many times. Each time I've come away with a new revelation on gratitude through his camera lens. (Schwartzberg also has TED Talk on gratitude at http://www.ted.com/talks/louie_schwartzberg_nature_beauty_gratitude.)
I’d begin my morning with a meditation on gratitude. Here are a couple of my gratitude meditations in green from this past year.
I am grateful for speed bumps, toll gates and radar signs that tell me how fast I am going. They require me to slow down, to look around, to be mindful. It’s a gift rather than a problem!
I made some huge discoveries about gratitude and its power this past year. I came to believe gratitude may be the “secret sauce” to being significant rather than successful, the key to exemplary leadership and living a good life. I was grateful to find a book by Ira Byock, M.D., The Four Things That Matter Most: A Book About Living. Byock suggests there are four conversations we need to have with the key people in our lives including the conversation of gratitude for them and the impact they have had and continue to have upon our lives.
I am grateful for balloons, those thin membranes that trap air or helium. Balloons are like me - fragile, stretched, spontaneous, colorful, yet sagging over time. Some balloons are big and strong enough to lift people. Some balloons, like rafts, carry people down rivers. I am grateful for their gift as well as the distraction!
In rereading psychologist Dr. Timothy Miller’s How to Want What You Have: Discovering the Magic and Grandeur of Ordinary Existence,
I rediscovered the three behaviors he tries to get his patients to
lean into, including gratitude and the healing impact it can make on
their lives. Developing a habit of gratitude this past year
helped me learn more about myself, including how to connect my heart to emotions rather
than to symptoms.
I am grateful for headaches. The dull ache in the front of my head and behind my eyes. I take my health for granted. A headache causes me to examine how it came to be and to determine what I might do in the future to prevent it. It’s a gift to focus and be present. A headache reminds me of those who are suffering and in a far worse state. I need to keep them in my prayers.
Here is what I learned about gratitude. To be grateful requires becoming mindful and fully present. It is not enough to think, “I am grateful for a nice home.” Gratitude requires curiosity and thinking about how, who, what, where and when it created this blossom in your life. Allowing your mind to focus on gratitude takes you back to the source and helps you explore the symphony of possibilities to reach this moment. Gratitude requires slowing down and connecting your mind with your heart. Gratitude creates the AHA! moment when life intersects with opportunity. In that moment of truly being grateful, you become connected and vulnerable. Suddenly you recognize it's not about you, it’s about others. What about all those who have touched you to reach this moment? Humility kicks in. Groundedness takes place and vulnerability gets your attention. This thin place creates a feeling of really being alive.
I am grateful for rear view mirrors. “Objects may be closer than they appear”
…could be that unsettled business of asking for forgiveness.
…shame and guilt I’m carrying
…ignoring a poor lifestyle
The gift of a rear view mirror reminds me not to focus on the past, and to be present.
We all want to be happier. David Steindl-Rast's TED Talk offers insight into the gratitude-happiness connection. Watch his Want to be happy? Be grateful! at http://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful.
Even though I picked a new word to explore and to live into for 2015, I’m going to keep on living into gratitude!
I am grateful for a new year of new possibilities!
If you choose to listen to irrational, heartless, non-compassionate, non-expert pundits from politicians and talking heads, you might hear…
Christian radio broadcaster Rick Wiles, said, “Ebola may be the great attitude adjustment that I believe is coming," according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
“Ebola could solve America's problems with atheism, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, pornography and abortion," Wiles said on his Trunews program, according to the Colorado Independent.
Radio talk show host Michael Savage said, President Barack Obama wants to infect America with Ebola. "There is not a sane reason to take three- or four-thousand troops and send them into a hot Ebola zone without expecting at least one of them to come back with Ebola, unless you want to infect the nation with Ebola.”
Obama sent U.S. troops to West African nations with Ebola as part of an international effort to help eradicate -- not spread -- the disease.
Check out the comments from Rep. Phil Gringrey, former Republican Senator Scott Brown and Senator Rand Paul. Donald Trump apparently sees himself as as an expert in human behavior and disease transmission.
As of October 15, 2014, 5 Americans have gotten Ebola. None of them have died from Ebola and continue to be treated.
Approximately 8,900 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone have contracted Ebola. 4,400 have died from Ebola.
Here is what we need to fear…
- Flu
season is here. Did you get your flu shot? Flu is the seventh leading
cause of death in the United States. Are you washing your hands after
using the bathroom? I am appalled at the number of men I encounter in
the men’s restroom who by-pass the sink after using toilets and urinals.
- Nearly
80 million Americans are obese due to poor diets and lack of exercise
leading to heart disease and diabetes. If you are overweight, you can
choose to do something about this including cutting the burgers and
fries and all the sugary “foods.” Check out this article in Salon on 5 Shocking Reasons Why Americans Are Getting Fatter.
- Wear your seat belt even if it is uncomfortable. Car accidents are the fifth leading cause of death.
- Nearly 25% of our fellow Americans continue to smoke cigarettes, which is the leading cause of cancer and heart disease. If you smoke, you can choose to do something about this!
- 76,000 people will get the skin cancer, Melanoma, in 2014 due to a lack of using sunblock and using tanning beds. If you go outside, you can choose to use protection!
- Nearly 90,000 deaths in the U.S. are alcohol related to binge drinking. And then there are deaths related to DUI! It’s a choice.
- We don’t currently have a U.S. Surgeon General because President Obama’s choice for U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, is being thwarted by conservative politicians who are supported by the N.R.A. Over 11,000 Americans will die this year from firearms. Seems Dr. Murthy sees guns as a serious health care issue.
My suggestions…
- Choose to get information from credible sources who know what they are talking about and are experts in their field. Choose to trust them over people like Donald Trump.
- Choose to get your priorities straight, including what you are doing to prevent heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Wear sunblock and seat belts. Find another way to have fun or ease your pain than binge drinking. If you own a gun, be incredibly, over-the-top, responsible.
- If you are of the Christian faith, really ask, “What would Jesus do?” Would He talk and act like Rick Wiles and some of the other non-compassionate, unjust and heartless people whose voices have gotten our attention?
NOTE: In my original post, I quoted Ann Coulter making disparaging remarks about Ebola and immigrant children to Sean Hannity on August 6th. It turns out those remarks were untrue and written as "satire." See Bad Satire Today.
