What is the Most Powerful Workplace Motivator

Is this a rhetorical question? Is there really a definitive answer to the most powerful motivator for workers?  Thousands of employee satisfaction surveys have been conducted partly to uncover the answer.  Some lists derived from these surveys rank what employees want, but none have been definitive.

A while back, Ian Larkin, Assistant Professor UCLA Anderson School of Management, said that most powerful workplace motivator is our natural tendency to measure our own performance against the performance of others.  He does seem to have some credibility in this belief based on the work of David Rock and his book “Your Brain at Work”

In which he explains that the balance of how we feel amongst others is actually dictated by our perception of status.  Your brain maintains and continuously updates complex maps of the "Pecking Order" of the people around you.

Any parent can tell you that a surefire way to start a fight among siblings is to major fight is to offer one child a treat and offer another child an even bigger one.  Suddenly, a special treat turns into a great injustice.

In the workplace it is an employee’s natural tendency to measure their performance against the performance of others.  Traditional economics has held the very

rational view that simply having financial incentives causes people to work harder. 

But Larkin’s research suggests that in deciding how hard we work and how well we think we're performing, social comparisons matter just as much.

The sales incentive industry has known for years the value of peer recognition. Salespeople often forego the opportunity of large future commissions to achieve the status as member of a special sales club. At some point, incremental commissions are outweighed by the desire to be the best.  Research also showed that salespeople who are right on the margin of club induction are actually willing to pay to get over the margin and into the club.  In these instances the status of club membership is a very powerful motivator.

So, what is the best motivator in the workplace?  We don’t think the work by these behavioral completely answer the question, but they certainly give us room for thought when we plan our next incentive or recognition program. 

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Do You Measure the Effectiveness of Your Recognition Program?

It still amazes us that many companies invest millions on employee recognition programs, yet a huge percentage fail to measure the effectiveness of these programs. 

With the added emphasis lately on importance of employee recognition in an overall employee engagement effort, analysis and measurement should be a given…but it isn’t.

When you effectively measure the outcomes of your recognition programs you stand to benefit tremendously, as recognition efforts are increasingly being viewed as a powerful strategy to boost employee morale and productivity levels.  Higher engaged employees have higher productivity and lower turnover. 

If you are not measuring your recognition efforts, here are five basic to start with:

1. Determine the Metrics of Recognition Success - The success of any program requires a clear understanding of what defines success prior to program launch.

2. Establish a Performance Baseline for Recognition - Once the metrics for success have been established, the next critical step is to determine a baseline of current performance.

3. Measure Regularly and Consistently - After the baseline has been established, the program should be measured regularly and consistently to ensure the effort stays on target.

4. Analyze Results and Look for Trends - When recognition outcomes are available through the program itself and from employee surveys, the results need to be compared and analyzed to uncover important trends. 

5. Report Results Back to Employees, Managers and Executives in a Meaningful Way - Significant results should be reported back to key audiences, including employees, managers and executives with outcomes that are most meaningful to each audience.

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Can Negative Feedback Be Effective?

No one likes to hear bad things about themselves in a performance review.  From a behavioral perspective this negative consequence can fuel feelings of shame, frustration and helplessness. Fear is one of the most powerful motivators and when you fear losing your job, either a quick change in performance can be apparent or a malaise that spins downward to eventual dismissal.  Either way, negative feedback is effective.

From a more positive view researchers at Columbia Business School found a strong link between social rejection coming from a negative review and a temporary boost in creativity.  While it may seem counterintuitive, we often do our best creative work when we are backed into a corner.  This is not unlike people who would prefer working under the pressure of a deadline.  Aftershocks of negative feedback can help clear the way for sharper inner focus and more determination.  This is just what managers would like to see when they give negative feedback. 

Actually a survey done by Zenger Folkman, a leadership development firm, supported the idea of receiving negative feedback at work. They found that being alerted to mistakes did more to raise performance than positive feedback and praise.

Another upside to negative feedback is that experienced workers want to hear it. They appreciate useful bits of information that fine-tune their performance. 

So the next time you enter into a performance review, remember that negative feedback delivered in a constructive way can motivate positive future performance.  In fact, because employees tend to ignore advice given with positive feedback as much as 70% of the time, negative feedback can take on an added sense of urgency that can drive positive performance.

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Having Total Choice is Bad in Reward Selection

Having been in the incentive industry for over forty years, we were always under the belief that if you wanted motivate someone with awards, you needed to give them a wide choice of options to choose from.  The greater the choice, the more successful the program, or so it went. 

Now it appears that a study by Ashley Williams, assistant Professor of Negotiations, Organizations & Markets at Harvard Business School may have a different answer to the question of choice.  She says that the answer to a simple question of…”What would you choose between time and money to determine the best way to design a reward program?”...says a lot about what will motivate you. 

She feels the answer is critical to understanding in general how to engage anyone in business or life…as well as how to select rewards.  She recently completed her dissertation for a Doctorate degree in Social Psychology entitled “Exchanging Cents for Seconds: The Happiness Benefits of Choosing Time Over Money.” Her research focuses on “understanding how people invest their time and money to promote health, well-being and happiness.” The choice between time and money, she asserts, helps predict how people will spend money to maximize their own sense of well-being and in this spectrum helps determine the right types of awards to use for incentive programs.

After studies with thousands of thousands of people representing almost all demographic groups, her takeaways are that…

“People who have a general orientation in their lives focusing on time over money generally experience greater happiness, greater social connections and greater meaning in life.”

Knowing whether people value time or money will help determine how they respond to your organization’s offers to them in terms of incentives, recognition, rewards, and promotions or, for employees, scheduling changes, career advancement or more.”

According to Whillans companies should limit choice of awards because people will make suboptimal choices, and the program will not have the impact for which it was designed. While we can certainly understand why you would want to know if an employee valued time over money we look forward to more conclusive evidence that less choice within the two main alternatives has the negative impact mentioned. 

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net