I had an interesting email from a reader recently, asking if there was something wrong with her!

She said she worked in a positive environment, where she was often getting positive reinforcement for what she was doing. Her boss was continuously praising her for being on time with her attendance or project inputs or meeting minutes. Yet, this lady didn’t feel as great as she thought she should. Something she said in her email hit home to me: “I feel that I am being manipulated, as if my manager had been on a course that told him to keep on praising people and this would motivate everyone. But I don’t feel good when he does it all the time. Am I wrong to feel this way, Sean?”

Interesting, eh? This lady was in a positive environment, but not feeling positive. Why?

Well, it may have something to do with our third myth of management; the fact that positive reinforcement practices often fail because they are dealing with behaviours, not performance optimisation.

Behaviour modification was popularised by psychologist B.F. Skinner in the 1930′s. His basic ideas revolved around the facts that when employees received positive reinforcement, they are more likely to repeat the behaviour that gained the praise in the first place. And negative reinforcement would force the employee to engage in that particular behaviour less often.

However, this often feels fake and manipulative. The lady quoted above could subconsciously see that the praise wasn’t really genuine. If it was, she would have accepted it for what it was. Positive reinforcement often affects the employee’s extrinsic motivation, but rarely their intrinsic motivation.

Coming to work on time because you know that if you don’t you will be reprimanded is an example of extrinsic motivation – you are motivated to do something because of what will result at the end of it.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within and is based on a personally-held belief.

Extrinsic motivation is compliance-based; intrinsic motivation is interest-based. Positive reinforcement systems encourage and improve extrinsic motivation, but not intrinsic.

As a manager, you need to find ways to create environments that improve people’s intrinsic motivation, things that will drive them from the inside, so their passion, drive, ingenuity, creativity and energy are tapped into. Manipulating by continuous praise won’t accomplish this.

Remember to mix the two, and you should get better results.

Thanks again

Sean

One of your main activities as a manager is to get your people performing to their best abilities. Unless you’re a one-man-band, you need people to contribute to the overall effectiveness of the business. After all, that’s what you pay them for.

But how can you drive that quality performance? How can you create the conditions so their performance is as good as it possibly can be?

Firstly, build a compelling, shared vision and direction. Challenging and clear objectives build energy into people, and engage them into sharing their abilities and energies on the team. Talk to them about why and what you are trying to achieve, but let them consider the how.

Then, put an enabling structure together. This means allowing people’s strengths to shine through. Build those strengths around each other, so you have complimentary ideas running parallel to each other.

Then, set up a reward system that will drive motivation. Give information that will encourage participation and help them accept responsibility. Only when they feel they know what’s going on will they accept the responsibility to achieve the goals you are aiming for.

Finally, show empowering leadership. Encourage synergy in the team. None of us is as smart as all of us, so identify how the performance strategies can be changed so that the invention of new processes can drive innovation between team members. Determine which members can be encourages to take on more responsibility, allowing them to feel empowered and keen to share forward-thinking ideas.

All this will encourage people to accept their role in driving performance forward, with your encouragement and support.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

Listening to managers at the recent Sales Conference in Coventry, I was struck by how many suffer from poor performance by their team members. This can be demotivating and frustrating for all concerned, so I’ve listed 10 ways that you can get better performance, not only from your team, but also yourself.

1) Set Expectations

One of the most significant blocks to effective performance is a lack of clarity about ‘what is expected of me’. It is crucial to check understandings and challenge assumptions about roles, objectives, responsibilities and standards.

 2) Understand how you need to approach them

Different members of your team will respond to different approaches. Consequently, in order to get the best out of everyone you will need to take a different approach with different people.

3) Continuous Approval

Let people know that you approve of the direction they take when they make decisions. If you have to correct someone, make sure you help them understand it’s the behaviour you are critical of, not the person. That leads onto…

4) Emphasise the Good Points

To get the best from your team, maximise the use of praise and positive reinforcement – catch them doing something right. Focus on what you want your team members to achieve rather than what you don’t want them to do.

5) Offer Support while Challenging Them

Ensure that you provide an appropriate level of challenge and support for each member of your team. Underperformers often report being too stressed – i.e. too much challenge or not enough support, or they are too bored – i.e. too much support and not enough challenge.

 6) How we keep them Involved

Maximise the involvement of your team members in all aspects of managing their performance. This is particularly important in objective/ target-setting, monitoring their own level of performance, creating their own measures of performance and giving each other feedback.

7) Maintain High Visibility

Wherever and whenever possible, create visible and visual records of targets and progress towards them. This will retain focus on team members’ achievements.

 8 ) Create Quality Feedback

This is the principle tool used every day by successful performance managers. Take advantage of every opportunity informally (and occasionally even formally) to give feedback to your team members as to how they are doing. Remember the first rule of performance management – no surprises!

9) Celebrate the Successes

Find ways to celebrate individual and team successes. Milestones towards a longer-term goal could provide a means of doing this (e.g. monthly/quarterly targets as well as for individual events). Ensure that the reward is proportionate to the achievement.

10) Maintain Simplicity

Use simple processes that everyone will understand, simple measures that are clear to all, simple language when giving feedback, simple pictures to illustrate performance against targets. Simplicity breeds clarity.

Pretty simple, eh? Yea, up to a point. But if you don’t continually and consistently keep these principles to the fore, you run the risk of demotivating the team and decreasing their performance.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

If you are an empathetic and thoughtful manager, chances are that at times your staff will approach you with their personal problems that might be affecting their work, or home life, or both.

Here are some ideas to help you in these sometimes awkward situations;

* Make sure your team member sees that you take such problems seriously. This means you may have to leave the office and go somewhere quiet. Constant interruptions from phone, emails, other employees, etc. show that you aren’t really concerned. If it’s really not a good time for you, say so, and immediately set aside a specific time to discuss it with them

* Encourage your team member to talk by listening actively. Be re-assuring by not judging, and by rephrasing and summarising. Ask questions to clarify, if necessary. Your behaviour is the key to a successful session. Try to be empathetic and supportive

* Note any hidden meanings, like blame or over-sensitivity. Listen to expressions and mannerisms and especially watch body-language

* Isolate the problem. Having got through the web of detail and emotions, identify the core problem and its probable cause. Analyse the true problem, not just the symptoms

* Work towards solutions. Remember that the aim is for your team member to solve the problem for themselves. Ask what options they see. If necessary, make tentative suggestions, like ‘how about this for an idea…’ or ‘one option might be….’. Decide what the pros and cons might be

* Encourage them in whatever decision they make. Naturally, there will be many areas where you simply aren’t able to offer advice, and you may have to suggest they see a professional to sort out some of the deeper problems they may be experiencing

* Finally, never betray a trust. Your team member will appreciate it if the discussions are kept private, unless they agree to having someone else help out. Remember your purpose in all of this…to help the team member through the situation.

Sometimes, all they want is a hearing ear, someone to bounce their problems around with. Resist the temptation to give advice in areas you are unfamiliar with. Just asking the right questions can sometimes help. When you’ve done the best you can, your team mate may be able to solve it themselves, or at least find a way forward. And you might gain yourself a high-performing employee again.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

We had an interesting question on one of our open management courses recently. The activity was about staff motivation, and a delegate asked what she could do when she had no money for bonuses to recognise the input from high-performing staff.

She noted that praise and recognition was a good motivator for some, but she didn’t know how to use it effectively, beyond the usual ‘thanks for a good job’. Could any of the delegates help her, please?

The comments were backed up by other delegates, so we came up with a checklist that would support this very important leadership aspect of motivation within the workplace.

We all know that affirmation is a key principle in our self-worth. We all like to feel we have made a difference in some way, and when our efforts are recognised by our peers and management, it boosts our self-esteem and our self confidence.

Here’s a quick checklist to ensure your praise and recognition of your team’s efforts is carried out correctly and effectively:

Find something to praise in every team member: This will help you focus on looking for the good, rather than always looking to find fault.

Do it spontaneously, but only if it is deserved: You have to maintain credibility with staff. Praising them for getting back from lunch on time is seldom seen as boosting self-esteem; praise has to be a reward for success or accomplishment. You lose respect and credibility if praise is seen as patronising.

Praise specifically: Tell people what you liked about the job they did. Rather than ‘Well done for that’, say ‘I thought they way you handled that call was excellent. You really kept your cool under pressure’.

Praise for skill development: If you are looking for the team member to improve in a particular skill, look out for opportunities to praise that skill. A small amount, given often, will subliminally affect the team member for the positive.

Praise effort, not just achievement: This will help people see that their efforts are being noted, even if they don’t always succeed.

Praise individually and in public: Letting others know how well someone did will encourage the team to support the individual and drive them to higher levels of effort. Be careful, though, that the reasons are given for the praise, so jealousy doesn’t set in with some.

Show praise in a variety of ways: A quick hand-written note, a non-verbal nod and smile, a mention in the newsletter or on the intranet are also ways that praise can be shown.

Don’t use praise to cover over a criticism: ‘Well done on that call, Phil, but watch out for raising your voice when you’re frustrated’. Phil will only remember the criticism there. So don’t try and soften any critical remarks with praise; separate them out, or your team member will become suspicious of any praise you give in the future.

Praising, then, is a skill that is simple, inexpensive and inexhaustible. It can have a ripple effect on people, who subconsciously look for other ways of creatively carrying out the work that was noticed. Remember, praise needs to be given in the right way, at the right time and for the right reasons.

Thanks again
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”