There is no better way to start out the New Year than to be invited to CNN. I had the pleasure of sharing some tips for kick starting your career for the New Year. Whether you are looking for advancement or still seeking employment in this difficult business climate, I hope this CNN video offers you some ideas for making the most of your career and finding the positives in your work environment.
‘Motivation’ Articles
How to Kick Start Your Career
New Year’s Resolutions: Beware!
The origin of New Year’s Resolutions can be linked to pre-Christian times in Rome, thousands of years ago. So every year about this time, I ask audiences where I speak how many made New Year’s Resolutions. What I have noticed is that fewer and fewer have gone through the ritual. Does that mean that fewer people are interested in carrying on this ancient tradition? I think not. In fact, it’s been reported that more than half of those that proclaim resolutions fail at realizing them. The reality is that most people who make resolutions don’t keep them – many don’t keep them even for a day.
The primary mistake people make in making resolutions is that they think that changing some personal behavior or habit is simply a matter of will power or “making up your mind.” It is as if people who fail don’t grunt enough, don’t have enough resolve (how do you get more of that?), are not really serious (How can you increase your “really seriousness?).
The real mistake lies in not planning or managing consequences well. It is easy to resolve to quit drinking, lose weight, start exercising, etc. but it is harder to plan consequences that you will actually be able to self-administer to get the behavior change you seek. Therefore, the resolution is nothing more than a goal, and goals aren’t reached by grunting, wishing or talking; they are reached when you have consequences that support the behavior change.
Here are some practical suggestions to help you be successful should you want to carry on the New Year’s Resolution tradition.
- Plan consequences for behavior change. Allow yourself to do things that you like contingent on a certain accomplishment. In other words, if you resolve to do some project in your house, commit to getting it done before you sit down to watch your favorite TV program.
- Set very small sub-goals. The more, the better. If weight loss is a target, set a goal of no more than one pound a week. The trick is to set a goal that you are almost sure to reach. Less than a pound is ok if you can reliably measure it on your scales. Smoke one cigarette less per day; walk around the block. No goal can be too small at the beginning.
- Post a graph of your progress at home or in the office where everyone can see it. Set the parameters so that progress is easy to see. Tell family and co-workers what you are doing. Use social media to show results. Put the graph on Facebook, Twitter, etc. The more people who see your progress will reinforce you for it and in return you will be more motivated to keep at it.
- Celebrate every success (every goal accomplishment), no matter how small. Reward yourself. Publicize your small accomplishments. “I am one step closer to finishing that big report.”
- In addition to rewards that cost money (buying something for yourself, dinner at a fancy restaurant, a movie, some new software for your computer, an iPad, etc.) think of rewards that have a low cost or have no financial cost. Use the “IF I do X, then I will do Y” contingency. Or, “when I do X, then I will do Y.” If your resolution is to clean the attic, basement or garage, simply say, “When I put something in the trash, I will watch T.V, answer my email, play a computer game or go to McDonalds for breakfast.” You will be surprised how quickly you finish the task with this simple start as long as you maintain the contingency “When…then.”
By the way don’t do it in reverse which most people are tempted to do, that is, “I will work in the attic after I come home from McDonalds.” I call that bribery since it reinforces the wrong behavior. You get the reward for promising to do the behavior, not for actually doing it. Not a good plan.
Most failures to reach personal or work goals result from poor goal setting and from failure to plan positive reinforcers for success. If you start the New Year with small goals and a multitude of reinforcement, 2012 may be your best year yet!
Performance Management Isn’t What You Think
You may not want to miss my latest Talent Management Blog where I challenge readers on their definition of Performance Management and recommend that we rename Performance Appraisals to something that more clearly encompasses its original intent. Click over to find out what I think it ought to be called.
Also, don’t miss this month’s special report on Performance Management where you can read more from me and other leaders in the strategic HR arena.
Personal Responsibility within a Behavioral Approach
Guest post by
Judy Agnew
We have received much positive feedback on our book Safe by Accident and we are delighted that so many people find it helpful. There is one issue that some people are struggling with so we want to take this opportunity to clarify. Some readers are having trouble reconciling our discussion of the influence of organizational/management systems on at-risk behavior and the concept of personal responsibility for safety. The question is: if at-risk behavior is found to be influenced by management-controlled organizational systems, does that let the frontline performer off the hook?
To some extent this is a philosophical issue. The notion of personal responsibility is embedded in our culture. It is present in our judicial, political and social systems and has served us well in many respects. In a work setting, telling employees that they are “responsible for their personal safety” at work is helpful as a broad antecedent. It sets the expectation that each person must do what they can to protect themselves and others. The question is what specifically are they responsible for? Telling miners they are responsible for their own safety and then sending them into a mine that is poorly ventilated and structurally unsound is absurd. They cannot be responsible for their own safety under those conditions because they do not control them. We think everyone will agree with this extreme example. The difficulty comes with less extreme examples. Workers who are trained in procedures but don’t follow them consistently, for example. Our position is that there is shared responsibility in most cases. Our concern with the notion of “personal responsibility” is that it sounds like an easy solution to a very complex problem. We are sure that some of you have told employees in your organization that they are responsible for their personal safety. We assume since you are reading this, that hasn’t solved all your safety problems. Antecedents rarely do.
So where does personal responsibility fit in?
Let’s back up. The goal in safety is to prevent injury and illness. If we say that people are responsible for their own safety, then it follows that if they are not safe, they are to blame. Our point is that blaming people for things that are, at least to some extent, outside of their control does not accomplish the goal. If it did more organizations would be perfectly safe by now. But let us be very clear: we are not suggesting that accountability (a synonym of responsibility) is bad. Accountability is essential in safety. However, it is critical that organizations first determine WHO should be accountable for WHAT. The word, accountability, is often code for whom to punish. The issue is not who should be punished but what actions will correct the situation so that it will not recur. Although punishment is appropriate under certain circumstances, we see too often that organizations punish only the person at the point of the accident without fully understanding the systemic issues that have contributed. This is not only unjust, but it fails to rectify the situation.
Systems are designed and maintained by people. Therefore, there should be accountability for those who control the systems to change the systems if they are faulty. Once the systems are changed then everyone who works in those systems should be held accountable (positively reinforced for engaging in safe behaviors and corrected when they are not). This is not about absolving personal responsibility–quite the opposite. It is about establishing accountability, at all levels, that will lead to true improvement. Frontline performers need to be held accountable for those things under their control. They should be responsible for reporting hazards, providing feedback to keep peers safe, participating in safety meetings, talking to management when systems make working safely more difficult, offering solutions, and working to improve their own safe behaviors. Frontline performers will be more successful in “taking personal responsibility for their safety” if they work in partnership with management and those who control the organizational systems within which they work.
Just do it!
Guest post by Christina Simms
Understanding why we procrastinate and how to beat it.
Having trouble whittling down your To-Do list? Do you find yourself saying (albeit with confidence) “I’ll get to that tomorrow.”? You aren’t alone. Procrastination seems to be the one thing you can almost always count on people getting done. But why do we seem to keep putting off for tomorrow what we could do today?
Every week I go through the same routine. I make a to-do list with the good intention of crossing everything off. I do the easiest, quickest things first; mark them off with a wonderful feeling of satisfaction and typically leave the more complex, challenging to-do’s for tomorrow. Before I know it, two weeks have passed and my list is that much longer.
People procrastinate on all sorts of things. We put off taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, doing our taxes, mailing Christmas cards. Most of the time, we find ourselves avoiding tasks because something about doing them is tedious, unpleasant, time consuming, or in some way negative. The science of behavior, specifically behavior analysis, provides not only the answers to ‘why’ but also how we can overcome our own procrastination.
The science of behavior tells us that it is consequences that determine whether or not we will do something again in the future. If you receive a negative consequence as a result of something you did (ie. a behavior) then you are less likely to do that behavior again in the future. Alternatively, if there are positive consequences associated with something you have done, then you are more likely to repeat that behavior in the future.
Many years ago, Aubrey developed a tool to examine consequences called the PIC/NIC Analysis®. Again, the science tells us that consequences can be positive or negative, immediate or future, and certain or uncertain. The most powerful consequences are the positive/immediate/certain and negative/immediate/certain ones. In this age of instant gratification, procrastination has become even more prevalent. Lots of things are competing for our attention and the ones that win are the PICs because, frankly, they are more reinforcing to us. College students turn to Facebook instead of starting their 20 page papers, kids spend hours hooked on video games instead of cleaning their rooms, and 9-5 workers choose catching up on their favorite TV shows over an evening work-out.
This may sound like common sense, but if we all understood so well how behavior works, we wouldn’t be in danger of becoming Procrastination Nation. I turned to Dr. Aubrey Daniels for some wise advice about how to beat procrastination and get things done.
It is tempting to start by picking the low hanging fruit, but Dr. Daniels warns against this common practice. Instead, he suggests an alternative method to working through your To-do list. Start by making a list of everything you need to do. Next, rank the items from most desirable to least desirable. Now comes the hard part— start at the bottom of the list! If you can get yourself to do the worst half of the list first, finishing the other half will be a breeze. Dr. Daniels also recommends using the Premack Principle. Tell yourself “when I do this (undesirable task), then I can do that” (something fun and enjoyable). Of course the key to both of these solutions is to practice self-control, something that may take time to improve. Changing your habits can be hard to do, so start small and don’t forget to reward yourself as you begin to notice changes in how you approach your projects at work or chores around the house.
For more on the Premack Principle and PIC/NIC Analysis® read Performance Management: Changing Behavior that Drives Organizational Effectiveness
A Dozen Ways to Weather the Economic Storm
Guest Blogger: Darnell Lattal
Nowadays you can’t turn on the television, pick up a newspaper, or read a magazine without seeing headlines about jobs and the turbulent economy. Inundated with negative news and experiencing the all-too-real repercussions of a financial downturn can be downright depressing and can easily impact performance at work.
Believe it or not, there is something productive we can do. Managers and employees alike can infuse the workplace with meaningful activity by focusing on behaviors that lead to positive outcomes. The following twelve tips will help any manager wade through these difficult economic times; delivering their best performance and that of those who work with them.
• Be realistically optimistic. Don’t spend time worrying about things that are beyond your control. Focus only on those things you can control and provide a sense of realistic secure messages that, while times are difficult, there is a future.
• Communicate! When hard decisions are needed, make them and communicate them cleanly and clearly to the individuals involved. If you need to lay people off, consider how you can support them during that transition, through community services that might help or via other methods. Encourage dialogue and provide straightforward answers.
• Have a contingency plan. Look to your own level as to where you can cut, reduce, and manage, including your own pay before you begin looking at other levels of the organization. If you are at the executive level, you should be the first to step up. You can definitely share this information, but don’t advertise, “Hey I’m a good guy. I’ve just taken a pay cut!”
• Invite feedback. Figuring out the honorable thing to do when you’re under the gun and your company is in high distress is difficult. Have trusted advisors who will always challenge you to think clearly and correctly and listen to your clients’ difficulties as well. For example, if they need a certain period of delayed payments and it’s reasonable for you to consider that, try working out payment terms with your customers.
• Be energetic in your own efforts to find financial resources and clients for your company. Don’t retreat and don’t become too controlled by what you read or hear in the news. Look beyond the newspapers and examine what you’re actually seeing in your organization. Many times we may find that business continues and even develops, but if we get too gun-shy, too soon, we don’t test good opportunities.
• Be willing to spend money during this time. Even while you’re reserving money, don’t retrench so much that you fail to market and reach out. Be careful not to conserve in areas that really will harm your future and growth over the long run.
• Consider a pay-for-performance system. You may not be able to give wage increases but you can consider setting up pay-for-performance based on profit sharing. By doing so, you will keep the organization whole while keeping salaries in place. Even at a time when you can’t give raises, you can reward people’s dedication, commitment, and performance by including them in any profits. By having a well-structured, pay-for-performance system, you also make people aware of what it takes to get to that profit.
• Engage all employees. Use the skills of your staff to build tools, materials, and resources that you will need going forward. Give employees a sense of purpose by enlisting them in helping to complete those projects you’ve put on hold. That may mean you need to use some creativity but that’s essential because their effort to show up is a valuable gift to you. Treat it as such.
• Be flexible. Another alternative is to offer your employees flexible time for their extra efforts. For example, when it’s possible, let them work from home and save on the high cost of gas. But do so carefully, because part of getting through these rough spots is a sense of teamwork and collaboration that happens when people are together trying to solve problems.
• Be honest and forthright about the organization’s economic reality. Always keep the information flowing. Don’t freeze up on giving employees the data they need including where you are financially, what’s coming down the pike, and what the future looks like. Have one-on-one conversations with individuals. Be honest; tell them when things are tough and are not going to get better for a while. Let them know you will do all you can to make their lives good and that you’ll remember their contributions, but only if you mean it. In the meantime, do not punish people if they need to explore employment possibilities elsewhere.
• Empower employees. Encourage your employees to look for opportunities to find business. Have meetings and ask for suggestions about what the company can do. You might get some good ideas!
• Add fun and recognition. No matter what the economic times are, we can still bring in lunches and have little celebrations of events that are happening, just to keep the mood up. The company can support get-togethers such as going to the movies or taking a break in the middle of the day to go to the park. Try to think of events that will reinforce employees. During an economic downturn, management should step back and really look at people’s contributions. Take the time to remember people in specific ways for what they have done. Make that public, enjoy it, and celebrate even in the face of tough times. Employees can do the same with peer-to-peer appreciation. Sometimes that may be difficult to do, but it’s important.
Engaging Employees: Do You Have What it Takes?
In my latest Talent Management Blog, I define employee engagement as doing that which needs to be done above and beyond that which is required in the job. Do you know where your employees stand on engagement? Click over to learn how you can determine which of your employees are stepping up to the plate.
Engagement Made Simple: 5 Ways to Test Your Employees’ Level of Engagement
Eliminating Rare Errors – Even Sleeping Air Traffic Controllers
It’s happened again! An air traffic controller deliberately made his bed and slept in it while 7 different aircraft were trying to safely land at a Tennessee airport. I think it’s safe to assume this controller is a fine person who means no ill will. So why would someone in such a critical role take such a risk?
While the FAA continues its investigation into this and other claims of sleeping air traffic controllers, those who understand behavior from a scientific perspective will tell you that the solution to this problem does not lie in adding another controller in the tower or in punishing the offender.
For a better understanding of what should be done to eliminate situations that lead to unsafe conditions, I invite you to view a new video interview where I discuss the topic of Eliminating the Rare Error.
Badges in Social Media: A Behavioral Psychology Perspective
An article recently came past my desk that should be filed in my “drive me crazy” pile; Badges in Social Media: a Social Psychological Perspective, by Judd Antin and Elizabeth F. Churchill of Yahoo Research. The article summary states that “this paper deconstructs badges and presents five social psychological functions for badges in social media contexts: goal setting, instruction, reputation, status/affirmation and group identification.” Badges, for those who aren’t up to speed on this fairly new techno classification, are digital artifacts (icons if you will) that are awarded to users who complete certain activities.
The only value I can see in this kind of article is that it satisfies some work or academic requirement or some social reinforcement for the authors. While that assessment may seem harsh for someone who writes and speaks about positive reinforcement, the article has no data and is mostly speculation of the mental processes of the computer gamers and others trying to create some level of status (eg. Foursquare). One does not need to speculate about how badges “provide personal affirmation” or “a sense of solidarity.” Either badges work to increase participation in a game or activity or they do not.
Of the 11 references, none refers to the vast body of behavior analysis research on reinforcement. Badges are secondary reinforcers, that is, they have either been associated with primary reinforcers such as food, water, sex, etc. or with other secondary reinforcers such as money and social approval. Badges motivate those who have experienced more reinforcement when they have earned a badge than when they haven’t. It is as simple as that. Most people who earn a badge get more social reinforcement than those who don’t. If attaining an on-line badge did not occasion comment from other gamers or provide opportunity for positive conversation with friends and associates, the badges would lose motivational value.
The problem for game designers and organized social networks is not to study social psychology to understand motivation but to learn about behavioral shaping and schedules of reinforcement. These will provide more practical application to the design of games and social systems than “researching how or why they are valuable or useful.” That research has already been done thousands of times (Google: behavior analysis).
Without digging into the findings on positive reinforcement, shaping, or schedules, game designers could simply focus on how to help more players be successful on their first attempt to play the game. Therein lies the secret to the motivation of badges and the intrinsic motivation that follows.
Google Follow Up
The following is a comment on my post “What was Google thinking?!“. My response required more than few words so you’ll find it below.
Question: What would be an appropriate model for fiduciary reinforcement in an organization like Google, where creativity is highly encouraged and employees are about as fully empowered as anywhere on earth?
Smaller reinforcements are generally the norm and asking employees to give more and more discretionary effort when they are often already working 70 to 80 hours a week is a difficult proposition.
I realize that an examination of the system would probably lead to a means of ensuring appropriate reinforcements are capitalized upon but I was wondering, given the information that is available, what would be your inclination?
My Response: Thank you for your questions.
While it may be presumptuous of me to question anything about Google in view of their huge success, I know the laws of behavior will catch up with them if they keep doing what they are doing now and that is non-contingent pay and benefits. There is an old Greek saying, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first send forty years of success.” That was said two thousand years ago when things moved much slower. I am sure that the time has shrunk to 20 years and quite possibly less.
From what I have read, and I need to point out that is not always the best source for knowing factually about day to day practices, current management seems to think that money will solve their problems. That is why they gave the salary increases and bonuses. I don’t think money is the problem. I think management is the problem. There seems to be too little understanding of the basics of human motivation. This is demonstrated in part by the fact that the work environment has too many positive reinforcers that compete with the doing work of Google. Haircuts, billiards, ping pong or foosball and others too numerous to mention in this response are all done on company time. In the early days when discoveries were being made by the minute this probably worked well as people would work all night and weekends fueled only by their creations. Today employees complain that if they eat dinner in the company dining room, they are expected to work late and that in many cases working late is unproductive and may be better described as hanging around long enough to avoid the frowns.
You state that ” asking employees to give more and more discretionary effort when they are often already working 70 to 80 hours a week is a difficult proposition.” The fact is that if you have to ask for discretionary effort, it is an indicator that it is not being done because of positive reinforcement. Discretionary effort is that which is given freely — not that which is expected, required or demanded.
There are several sources of reinforcement at work: 1) that which comes from the work, 2) that which comes from managers, 3) that which comes from peers, and 4) that which comes from policies, procedures and the physical environment.
I am quite sure that reinforcement that comes naturally from the work has diminished in the recent past. To quote a former Googler, “While outside, I had all these big ideas I could do if I worked there. Once inside I discovered there were 18,000 googlers who thought the same.” If you read the blog post in Tech Crunch by Michael Arrington, “Why Google Employees Quit,” you get the idea that reinforcement has been reduced from the other three as well.
I would suggest that one of the things that is supporting Google these days is that their competitors are no better at management than they are. My solution is that Google managers should learn something about the laws of human behavior. Until they do things will not get better even if pay gets much better. Thanks, Aubrey