Applied Wisdom

Are you more flocused on promotion or prevention?

Do you think you are focused more on what you have to gain or what you have to lose?

One approach is called in psychological literature “promotion focus” and the other is called “prevention focus”.

With a promotion focus goals are thought about in terms of achievement and accomplishment. They are about doing something you would ideally like to do. They are about maximizing gains and avoiding missed opportunities.

On the other hand, prevention focuses on goals are thought about in terms of safety and danger. They are about fulfilling responsibilities. These people are minimizing losses. One group may give up too soon and the other may not know when to quit.

If you are a parent (or a CEO) this also effects how you deal with your children or employees.

If you are promotion oriented when they do something right they are rewarded with praise and being ignored when they don’t do what they should

  On the other hand, if you have a prevention attitude you will likely punish for doing something wrong.  The reward for doing something right is NOT punishing them.

It seems like aa simple vignette regarding a child’s report card helps to concretize it.  A promotion type parent will give a lot of praise and reward for an A, and will pay little attention to the C.  A preventive parent will criticize and spend a lot of time dealing with the C and will ignore or give minimal attention to an A.

No one is completely one or the other – but think about your tendency. Are you more prone to promotion or prevention? Are you more focused on success or preventing failure?

 What is the advantage and disadvantage for you and your employees or children?

Do you think you are focused more on what you have to gain or what you have to lose?

 

Tap Into the Drives of People and Motivate Them

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PSYCHOLOGY

 

DON’T  USE REWARD AND PUNISHMENT FOR LONG TERM SUCCESS

 

A Jerusalem Post Column

Feb 4, 2011

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   

  “Rewards and punishment are the lowest forms of education” – Chinese philosopher

It has been accepted that the most effective way to motivate people in business is to use money. Reward by paying more and punish by limiting pay. In everyday language this is the carrot and stick method of motivation.  It is a method of using an external measure (money) as the key to motivation.

 This method is promoted by B.F. Skinner.  His behaviorist approach to dealing with people supported motivating people through rewards and punishments.  His premise is to dangle a bigger carrot to encourage the preferred behavior.  In essence, Skinner’s approach promotes treating people as no different than our domesticated dogs or horses. 

For those of us who do believe there is a distinction between animals and humans, psychological research has brought us redemption.  This research shows that the benefits of motivation by reward and punishment are limited. 

In fact, psychologist Edmund Deci has shown that rewarding achievement, while beneficial in the short term may actually be detrimental in the long term.

Deci created an experiment in which two groups had to configure assorted cubes into different complicated designs. During each session, he took time out and observed the groups through a window, seeing if they would continue to try to solve the puzzle.  He repeated the session three times, each with slightly different conditions.  .

During the first session Group A and Group B were both treated equally. During the second session, Group A was given the incentive of receiving money for every design they complete correctly.  For the third session, Group A was told that no additional funds were available and they were not being paid to complete the puzzle designs.

The result for Group A was that they were significantly less motivated during the third session when they were not paid than they were in the second session.   Group B, which never received a monetary reward, slowly improved their performance and showed increased interest in the challenge.

Deci completed two other similar experiments, with the same results. He interpreted this as indicating that money can offer a short term boost in performance but the effect wears off. In fact it can even reduce a person’s longer term motivation to continue.

Another limitation of monetary reward is that it can limit creativity.  People become so focused and stressed to attain the reward that their “creative juices” can be limited

Rewarding with money does have some applications.  Money can be effective for routine tasks that are completed with minor changes throughout the day.    This is also the case for a task that needs to be repeated often in order to meet a deadline.  Business examples are: finishing and processing of paperwork, shipping out orders, or completing telemarketing calls within a time frame.

An alternative to relying on money for motivation is to focus on people’s internal motivation.  It means offering people the chance to do what interests them. The work of psychologist Deci also showed that people can be motivated by the challenge of a task.  When people are motivated in such a way they think and work more independently and creatively.   

The author Daniel Pink wrote two books that emphasize the importance of just such internal motivation in our present work environments -The Whole New Mind and Drive.

He concludes that in our new world of global commerce, companies are required to tap into the internal drives of their employees because it can inspire their creativity.  And creativity is a necessary component for business success.

Pink highlights that in today’s world markets are becoming more accessible to competition from companies all over the world. As a result companies need to be more innovative and “cutting edge” to compete.  Any simple uncreative jobs will be outsourced to an undeveloped third world country.  

Therefore business needs to tap into creative energy in order to develop the new products and services necessary for survival and growth. .   This need for innovation applies to all companies whether service industries, energy, pharmaceutical or hi tech

Pink’s examples of internal motivation are Wikipedia and Firefox.  These are two “volunteer” business projects motivated by people’s personal motivation. And these companies beat out Microsoft, a money and profit driven business.    

 These companies were started by nonemployees who found their reward in the challenge and accomplishment, not in money. It was due to internal motivation.  Tapping into people’s internal motivation is not restricted to internet technology business.

Internal motivation is based on three primary motivating drives - for autonomy, for mastery and for purpose. These are drives that are distinctly human and unique for each individual.  Therefore they are more challenging to identify and tap into, but they are also more inspirational.  

Autonomy as applied to work is the capacity for self-direction and the freedom to do challenging work.  It effects what we do, when we do it, how we do it and with whom we do it.  It is having choice at work over your task, time, methods and people you work with.   In most cases it is hard to design, but can be more valuable than a pay raise. 

Mastery is the drive to get better and better at something that matters to you.   It is almost as if the performance of the task is its own reward.  It means you are so absorbed in the task performance that you are willing to put in endless time and effort to excel. 

Purpose is when you are committed to achieve something in service of people or a goal beyond one’s self interest.

Taking advantage of this understanding of motivation and implementing it can be a big challenge. There is no simple solution like giving a bigger financial reward.   It requires personal attention to each employee as an individual.  This has led to the growth of effective Executive coaching. Such coaching helps business executives apply motivational principles to key employees in their organizations.

The Gallup organization, which studied multinational companies, came up with an effective method which they called “Employee Engagement”.  They developed this into a measurable index and then built a system to coach business leaders in its use. The system includes some of the following principles: 

• Letting employees know their opinion counts and encourage their input
• Making sure goals are clear and known  and giving employees them the freedom in “how” to achieve them
• Creating a learning environment, with opportunity for growth and challenge
• Learning how to give effective personal attention.

As quoted by Gallup, “when human drives and needs are met, the positive emotions that result encourage employees to care about the overall welfare of the business. And more importantly, it’s hard to create passionate, engaged customers without passionate engaged employees.”

It is just as important for those of us who work independently to feel accomplishment and engagement.  Check yourself to make sure you are tapping into your own internal motivation and creative energy.  Your ability to develop customers and clients depends on it.

Dr Mann is a Psychologist and Authentic Happiness  Coach who helps adults identify strengths, create a vision for the future and achieve positive goals.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Information on Forwarding and Posting

(c) 2011  Morris Mann

You are welcome to forward this e-mail if you would like, but only in its entirety and unedited.  This material may not be published in print or posted on a web site without the express, written consent of the author

 

 

Why is Change So Difficult ?

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle”   Martin Luther King

People who come to me for help, often ask how long will it take? On the one hand this is a legitimate question, because a person coming for help, with a specific problem, is usually not interested in being in therapy for years.  What I think they are really asking me is “why can’t you just tell me what to do during this first session and, I’ll do exactly what you say?” 

I answer these clients by telling them that achieving real meaningful change is a process, and that process takes time. It is like any permanent change you want to make in life; whether you are going to a gym with a personal trainer, or starting a new diet with a dietician. The professional may be able to give you some advice during the first meeting, but to change habits and see a real impact you have to work over time. It takes at least 3 months to see any real change, and for lasting impact, probably much longer than that.

So why can’t change be instantaneous?

The answer lies in the two psychological processing systems that help us through everyday life:   One is can be called the automatic system and the other can be called our conscious system. .  

The automatic system takes care of most everything we do, by quickly processing familiar routines in a highly efficient manner.  In essence it makes crucial links and associations with information we have already learned and know, and allows us to function effortlessly and almost mindlessly.  As an example, just think of your daily morning routine:  You don’t need to put much thought into how to tie your shoes, how to cook your egg for breakfast or even how to drive to work.  You do these things, and many others, automatically or mindlessly.

Your conscious processing on the other hand, with a lot of effort, focuses in depth on only one thing at a time and. That effort is necessary because, we need and use it to help us manage unfamiliar and challenging situations.  Our conscious thought can plan, reason and in other ways, figure out sensible answers to help us deal with the unknown.  But this conscious system takes up so much of our energy and focus, that we can do only one thing at a time. So while it is flexible in adapting to change, it is not very efficient, as it needs constant heightened attention.

An example of how these two processing capacities function can be understood by thinking of how we write on a keyboard.  If you have learned to type, it is your autonomic system that is gliding your fingers through the keyboard. If though the sequence of letters was changed, you would have to switch to using your conscious processing to type.   With your conscious processing taking over, you could again successfully type but only with extreme effort and concentration, and even then probably at a greatly reduced speed.   It is only after long practice that you become adept at gliding over the keyboard, and allowing your effortless efficient automatic system to take over. .

These same two systems apply to changing habits and emotional behavior. Our responses to the stress of performance, to disappointments or to large social gatherings, are ingrained in our automatic system. We have automatic responses and if we want to change them it takes a serious, time consuming, conscious effort.  Until you have mastered a new way of reacting you are likely to fall back to the old automatic systems bad habit. 

While this understanding of the nature of change is relevant for work and expectations in therapy, it is also an important lesson to keep in mind as a parent or a manager. Do not expect your children, your business direct reports or your team members to “listen to you” and change their habits immediately.  You need to be consistent and repeat the message over and over again, while at the same time making them accountable in some way. That will help you see real long term change. 

 

 

LEADERSHIP and SUCCESS

 “I don’t want any yes men around me, I want everyone to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs”   Samuel Goldwyn.

George Steinbrenner died yesterday: Tuesday July 14^th. I was never a fan of his. In fact I have been a Mets fan who rejected his bullying tactics and bravado – though I would have been happier if the Mets had the same level of success as the Yankees.

I listened to players, coaches and media speak about him with curiosity.   Aside from his drive to succeed at all costs, was there anything positive they could say about him?

I was struck by the following theme.   Time and again, people said he preferred having people stand up to him.

Whether it was Michael Kay the sports writer, Don Mattlingly his player or Gene Michael his general manager, they all told similar stories.

It was a story, in which George was highly critical of them, and they argued back with him and in some cases they were yelling back and forth.

In each case they thought they would be fired or traded the next day, only to find out that their relationship with him improved for the better as he supported them and gave them respect.

The lessons from such a management style are significant both for leaders and for organizations.

If you are running an organization (business, school, team etc) developing ‘yes men’, that is, developing people who only agree with you all the time, though good for pumping up your ego, does nothing for them or the company.  Having people who will stand up for their opinion, strengthens both you as the leader and the organization as a whole. 

If you leading leader and you do not hear dissenting or even critical opinions from those around you, be wary.

You should actually encourage positive creative dissent!