I was talking to my husband about my goals. Telling him how I “think it’s working”, that “I’m pretty sure it’s going to work”.
He was encouraging in his good, consistent way. “It IS working, Julie.” “You ARE doing it.”
Then I told him that I had gotten some great feedback on a recent accomplishment.
And he said, with a note of desperation, “Julie! The only hurdle is you!”
So true.
My husband is an accidental Zen Master.
Wishing is for birthday cakes. Hoping is for scratch tickets.
There is the CEO who is exceedingly clear on what he needs his team to do differently and by when. The team is not.
There is the client who has been adamant that she’s not going to take it anymore. It’s been three years.
There is the sales person who is certain that things will uptick. Any time now.
Wishing and hoping are not good strategies for getting stuff done. Neither are they practical tools for making a difference.
What are you wishing and hoping for? That’s your goal. Write it down.
By when would you like to achieve that goal? That’s your deadline. Write it down.
What’s in your way of even wanting to THINK about getting started? These are your energy drainers. They are keeping you stuck. Get rid of them.
What will you ultimately gain when you’ve reached your goal? That’s your aspiration. Write that down too.
Now list all the options and resources you have to achieve your aspiration. Those are windows of opportunity. Pick one. Get it done.
Whether you are an HR leader influencing organizational change, a manager needing to boost performance or a business owner looking to grow, see those windows for what they are – wide open barn-door-sized opportunities to make a difference in your life and in the lives of others.
I work with business leaders who want to unlock intrinsic motivation for change and growth. Need a keynote? A management development program? A total team transformation? Let’s open some windows!
Last week I was interviewed by IDG Research Managing Director, Janet King, on the topic of employee engagement. Janet and I have worked together for many years but recently she reached out to me to help design an expanded employee engagement offering that her team was devising. I was so excited by her idea – to take employee engagement measurement to a new level by incorporating the latest research in intrinsic motivation – that I was more than happy to share everything I knew on the subject.
I thought I’d share some excerpts of our talk for you here. If you’re interested in learning more, consider joining me this Thursday, April 26th in Framingham, MA for a continental breakfast, an engaging workshop on this topic and great networking. Hope to see you there if you’re local!
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Janet: …You were able to help us understand the full picture of engagement in organizations – that we were missing a crucial piece.
Julie: Right. Of course, traditional engagement surveys have been measuring the impact of organizational and management aspects of the company environment – the external motivators – that contribute to employee engagement. This has led to great improvements in organizational health as it gives companies insight into organizational and management practices it can develop and improve. For instance, if performance management or employee development comes up low on a survey, a company can take action to improve those scores through management training or better processes.
Julie: But we’ve not had a good way of measuring and managing the individual aspect – the intrinsic motivation of the individuals and their own personal capability around getting and staying engaged in their work.
Janet: The concept of intrinsic motivation isn’t new though is it?
Julie: No, it’s not. We’ve known the importance of intrinsic motivation since the early 1900s from Herzberg’s work, Flow theory and more recently in the work by Daniel Pink. It was the research I saw from your organization that truly put a fine point on its importance though.
Janet: Yes, we were really excited to get those results.
Julie: I’ll tell you, with 20 years of experience in HR and leading employee engagement initiatives, I knew instinctively that it was important. But to see the hard numbers? That intrinsic motivation level and capability contributes to nearly half of the employee engagement question? This really speaks to the frustration many executives experience when they feel they’ve done all they can from an organizational and management standpoint and still find people disengaged.
Julie: My work at Uncommon Consulting is about building purposeful engagement in meaningful work. That means that the organization, the management and the individual are all accountable for their part of the equation.
The interview in full was designed to share the foundation behind IDGR’s new engagement survey solution. What I’m most excited about is the opportunity we now have to begin a different and more meaningful conversation about engagement.
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We’re participating in a new economy – the information, services and imagination economy. Most of the jobs my kids (11, 9, and 7) and their peers will hold, we can’t even imagine yet, never mind hear of. This requires a drastic change in our relationship with work: preparing for it, securing it and performing at it. And – since we’ve lost the umbrella (pensions), the net (job security) and the balance bar (stable environments and technology) – it requires a drastic change in our relationship with ourselves. Standing out there on the tight wire, relieved of centuries-old work paradigms, we need to ask: What do I have to offer? How can I articulate it? Where can I do my best work? When should I leave for something else? Who might benefit from my unique sort of contribution? Without all the traditional trappings, we’re more on our own, more responsible, more accountable for what happens to us.
Environments can support our best selves by putting in place those extrinsic motivators we’ve grown to love. But every single human being has a unique set of intrinsic motivators that only he or she can identify, articulate and leverage. We’ve trained the companies in motivation. We’ve trained the managers. Now it’s time to train ourselves. And build our foundation for the wild ride ahead.
Ever feel like you’re bent over backwards trying to get others to engage? Whether the goal is innovation, quality, better performance or more positive attitudes, the situation is the same – we’re trying to inspire others to move to a better (more productive, more lucrative, more healthy…) place.
As managers, HR and OD professionals, coaches and consultants we are tasked with the responsibility for motivating others to change.
So…what ARE we doing wrong?
Well, you can check out these perspectives for a few of the answers (from picking up trash to helping too much) but if I – personally – were to pick just one thing? It would be “mismanaged accountability”.
Our success as change agents is predicated on our ability to meet resistance, shake its paw, and help it see a brighter way. Understanding “threat response” is critical.
After 20 years as a human resources, organizational development and management best practice expert, I felt I knew all the techniques for getting people engaged in their work, motivated toward their goals. People told me I was uncommonly good at it and I had strong success in motivating individuals; turning around performance; building teams and repairing broken ones; and coaching managers and executives on the best ways to build engagement.
Of course no one can expect 100% success every time so I had come to believe that, simply, some people just refuse to be moved.
But I now know that’s not true.
Few people wake up in the morning and say “You know…I think I’ll be unreasonably obstinate today. I’m going to refuse to acknowledge plain facts and resist any attempts by others to help me succeed. Yeah…it’s going to be a great day!”
So why does it seem like so many people ACT that way in the face of change? Well, recent developments in brain science and neuropsychology have given us much greater insight into the motivation behind our behavior.
You’ve heard the sayings: “I’ve got a lot on my mind”. “I was scared silly” or “I was so mad I couldn’t think straight”. It turns out, those sayings are physiologically true.
We now know that:
1. Our working memory can only process so many things at once. Once it’s reached its limit it is literally not able to take in or process more information.
Example: You’re driving home with work on your mind, you notice a knocking in the engine as you pull into the driveway. Upon entering the house, you see the cat box needs to be cleaned and the kids haven’t finished their homework. You then realize you need to get take out for dinner. Do you remember where you left your car keys?
2. We can be cognitively crippled when our brain perceives a threat. When we are scared or mad, our cognitive ability – our ability to think rationally, be creative, take in new information or even understand what someone is telling us – is compromised. Further, when we are in threat mode, our adrenaline is triggered and can cause us to behave in ways we might otherwise not.
Example: You’re presenting in a meeting to your peers and you keep getting interrupted. People are second guessing your data and having side conversations while you try to maintain control of the room. You finally get the meeting back on track when the conference room door opens behind you. You let out an exasperated sigh, roll your eyes and shout “WHAT?” before you realize it’s the CEO stopping into to see your work. (Cringe)
What all this means is that a person may understand that they are being asked to change but be in some level of “threat response” and therefore be either unable to move forward effectively or, worse, be behaving in an unproductive way.
For those of us responsible for guiding individuals through change, it behooves us to understand this phenomenon and be prepared to facilitate through it. Here are some tips:
1. Don’t underestimate the power of venting. Venting actually helps calm the brain’s threat response by giving voice to or acknowledging the perceived threat(s) and its impact on the individual. Like a tea kettle, the key is to turn down the heat (provide some space and time) and let the steam out by venting until the pressure seems relieved.
2. There’s no need to debate the validity of the perceived threats. If an individual perceives a threat – then the threat exists as far as his or her brain’s threat response system is concerned. Acknowledge that it’s real for them and let them vent. Don’t try to “fix” at this point.
3. Once the threats are acknowledged. Ask what the individual would like instead. Success? Confidence? Comfort? Once the ideal end state for them personally is identified, work with them to generate some options for achieving that end state. It could be letting go, being okay with failure, getting help, quitting – anything goes. The idea here is to look to THEIR ideal future and generate choices for getting there.
Remember. It is not possible to directly motivate someone else. You can provide an environment conducive to being motivated and you can provide a framework for someone to use personally to get motivated. But in the end it’s up to them. And then it’s up to you to decide what the consequences are.
The Mass Bay Organizational Development Leadership Group is a smart, generous, vibrant community that I have the honor of presenting to on February 16th. I’m a guest blogger on their website this week. Check it out!
And, of course, I’d love to see you at the program. You can read more about it and register here.
I’ve always disliked the term “business partner” in the HR field. You don’t hear about marketing business partners or finance business partners. It’s understood that these functions are PART OF the business, as in NECESSARY.
I also dislike the concept of “educating the business about the value of HR”. That’s like telling diners about the dinner you COULD serve them.
You want a seat at the table? Bring an entree.
Here are some tips for doing that:
1. Know your business. I don’t mean HR business. I mean the business you are employed in (or want to be employed in). Attend industry events, read up on market trends, know your competitors and your position in the market. Who are your customers and why do they choose you? What are the biggest opportunities and threats developing on the horizon? What’s your revenue, profit margin, and market strategy? Which revenue streams are over- or under-performing? Where in the life cycle are those products? To what extent is technology impacting your products or processes?
2. Know your organization. Understand each function, what it contributes and how it interfaces with the other functions in the organization. What is the strategy and how are you organized (or not) to support that strategy? What kind of culture is best to support the organizational goals and do you have that culture? Who are both the official and the unofficial decision makers? What kind of legacy systems, ideas and relationships exist? How strong is the leadership team? To what extent is there a shared definition of success and how do they help each other reach it? How would each department head answer the question: “What one thing if changed would make the biggest positive difference in our department’s ability to be successful?”
3. Know your talent. What are the key talent drivers given your industry and your organizational strategy and structure? Where is this talent? Can you grow it or do you buy it? How do you keep it? What’s its value in terms of total rewards (compensation, benefits, environment). Where is it going when it leaves you and why? What kind of management talent does your organization require? How do you ensure that it is in place?
4. Deliver the basics. The HR devil is in the HR details and if people’s paychecks, leaves, benefits or perquisites aren’t handled correctly, HR gets a black eye. If leaders and peers don’t see quick response and accurate execution, ditto. What are the basics in your organization? Are your processes efficient? Is your HR team clear on priorities and are you staffed to deliver?
5. Align your role with the business. It’s not just speaking the language. It’s understanding the business you are in so that you can support that businesses goals with sound HR planning and practices. It’s being able to responsibly and expertly advocate for your strategy with a clear connection to current organizational challenges.
6. Preserve integrity. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Honor confidentiality at all levels. Role model transparent and direct communication.
7. Say no. Say no to those activities that do not align solidly with clear and present business goals. Say no to anything that conflicts with the first six laws.
Would you add or change any?
You can rail against reality. You can tear your hair out in frustration. You can suffer in silence.
Or you can choose.
You can choose to change your situation. You can choose to refuse the status quo. You can choose to speak up and speak out. You can choose to leave.
Or you can choose.
You can choose to accept what is. You can choose to see the positive. You can choose to change your expectations. You can choose to stay.
Or you can choose.
You can choose to remain in pain. Which is damaging. To you. To those around you. And it’s kind of a silly choice when you think about it.
If I woke you in the middle of the night and asked you to name your team members, could you?
If I then woke those people and asked them to name their team members, would they name the same group?
Would each of those people (after waking up just a bit more) be able to clearly articulate each person’s role and contribution to the objective you are all working so hard to achieve?
The following are a few True Stories:
Story 1: CEO and newly hired VP discuss a change in corporate strategy which significantly alters another VP’s role. They consider not telling the other VP.
Story 2: Your organization is struggling with expense management. The HR Director keeps offering to help investigate the problem but is dismissed as helpful but unqualified. The management team does not know she has a background in finance and is a current CPA.
Story 3: As the leader of a senior team, you’ve hired a consultant to facilitate a team development process. Six of the seven members of the group express puzzlement and surprise that the group is being referred to as a team. They report that they don’t all work together.
Tips:
1. Know your objective
2. Know your team, the people on the team and the skills and qualities they each have to offer
3. Gather your team together in person and come up with a shared definition of success (This is an excellent opportunity to introduce the concept that they ARE a team. See #3 above.)
4. Hold every team member accountable for measurable results in support of the team’s work toward the objective.
5. Respect the team and each member with open, straightforward and transparent communication.
Calm. Clear. Creative. That’s what you can be when your brain is happy.
When we are stressed and feeling overwhelmed, our brain is in threat response. When we’re in threat response, our ability to think rationally and be creative is compromised.
Here are five things you can do to make your brain happy in 2012:
1. Constructive Venting: Something bothering you? Vent it! Those of you familiar with Motivation Factor know that we use this technique as part of our Energy Drainer exercise to help calm the brain’s threat response and prepare us to generate forward-looking options and actions. In order to think rationally and creatively about a problem, you’ve got to get out of fight/flight mode. Take a few moments to list all the ways the problem is affecting you or causing you frustration. Who or what is letting you down? What are you putting up with? Write until you run out of steam. That’s a sign that your amygdala is getting calm and you’re more ready to think.
2. Password Protect Your Hot Buttons: My phone had a habit of reaching out and touching someone on its own before I password protected it. Our hot buttons do the same thing sometimes. When someone inadvertently presses one, before we know it, we’re lashing out at them for some perceived offense – without any rational intent on our part. Much like unintentionally dialing a client at 3am in their time zone, our hot-button-fueled, knee jerk reactions put our brain into threat response. To avoid hot button mayhem (and to keep relationships healthy), practice the half-sec-pause. It takes just a half second to name the offense (disrespected, embarrassed, dishonest, disorganized, etc.) – like a password – to have a positive and calming effect on the brain’s stress response mechanism. Then, you can respond just a tad more rationally.
3. Zone Out: “Meditation” can sound too heady and unattainable. Relax. Seriously, just relax. That’s all your brain wants. You know the difference between wearing a tight belt and being in sweat pants? Picture your brain taking off that tight belt and putting on a nice pair of fleece sweats. Aaaahhhhh. That’s it. Just get comfy and zone out for 5 minutes or more. Recent studies show that insights (those “aha” moments) only happen when the brain is quiet. Maybe you’ll have more of them.
4. Do What You Love: Did you know your brain lights up when you do what you’re best at? Doing what you love also triggers feel good hormones, putting us in better moods and states of mind. Are you creative? Bring more creativity into your work and life. Love winning? Compete more. Enjoy communing with nature? Get the heck outside. Doing more of what you love is restorative. It’s good for the soul – and the brain.
5. Ask (and Answer) “Why?”: Why do you do what you do? The best cocktail for the brain is made by combining equal part skill and challenge (shake, garnish with purpose and serve). The brain is most balanced and alert when we are doing something that a. we have some skill at (ie we’re not totally overwhelmed or in over our heads); b. challenges us to learn or stretch (ie we’re not totally bored) and c. has some meaning to us. Whether that meaning is in the doing itself (“I help save lives”) or an indirect result of the doing (“this awful job feeds my precious family”). Whatever you do, are you doing it purposefully? Your brain likes that best.
What do YOU do to keep YOUR brain healthy?