In The Office MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Back to Basics to Boost the
BOTTOM LINE
By Mark Oliver
How to develop the motivations and capabilities of your organisation’s employees.
S
eldom do you hear about an organisation that is uninterested in better performance for the business. But if you want significant improvements, you must develop the leadership of managers as well as the systems and structures of companies before you spend time and money training team members in any other technical or behavioural skills.
Should there be more women in senior roles? I think we need to be careful to ensure we appoint the best person for the role at all times, whether male or female. In other circumstances, particularly with politically charged issues, policies are introduced to correct an imbalance. In doing so, the balance can tilt too far in the opposite direction, creating the reverse of the problem. There are many programs in place to engender confidence in women in the workplace, providing them with the support and resources to 36.
The CEO Magazine - August 2013
become a senior leader or manager. These are to be wholeheartedly supported, as any scheme which upskills and builds business confidence should be applauded. However, there are many men who also require these additional skills to take the next step in their career, and the overwhelming focus on providing skills to women means that these skilled but inexperienced individuals are not being presented the same opportunities. I feel quite strongly about this. We should support any individual who has shown ability, initiative, and determination to succeed. Gender should not even come into the equation.
Achieve balance, not bias I don’t feel—and have never felt—that I’m a woman in a man’s world. However, I do realise that the reasons for this are not wholly
There are many programs in place to engender confidence in women in the workplace, providing them with the support and resources to become a senior leader or manager.
within my control. I’m lucky that I happen to work in an industry that sees less gender bias than most. I’m also privileged in both the support I have been given and the roles that have come my way. In the short time I have been back in Australia, I have definitely seen more of a shift towards women in senior positions. Of the four industry associations in the marketing space, each one now has a female CEO, whereas less than 24 months ago they were all male. But let’s be clear: the overall objective should be to achieve balance rather than a bias one way or the other.
determines what you do. If you do not have the motivation to do something, then your capability at it becomes largely irrelevant. Not surprisingly, then, motivation precedes capability—and often, that motivation leads to increased capability. A motivated employee
Looking more deeply, we realise that motivation is much more important than capability in the wider context of both professional and personal life. Motivation
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November 2011. Since this time, the number of female board members has grown, so now one third of the board is female. This has brought a nice balance and perspective to our board which diversifies discussion and decision-making.
It’s crucial to find the balance between motivation and capability for employees. If someone has the capability but not the motivation to do something required to perform, then the necessary behaviour is very unlikely to arise and they will not perform; similarly, if someone has the motivation but not the capability. You need both for true performance gains.
What is the most important with regard to performance: motivation or capability? At first sight, it would seem that the more important of the two is capability. There is often a great emphasis on training in the workplace to enhance skills and abilities. Initially, this seems to make sense especially as motivation is not trainable.
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John Danks & Son’s Mark Burrowes • Peabody Energy’s Eric Ford • Downer EDI’s Grant Fenn
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About Jodie Sangster CEO of ADMA Jodie Sangster chairs the International Federation of Direct Marketing Associations. As a lawyer, she has shaped legislation to protect responsible marketing globally and champions global marketing education initiatives. Find more information at adma.com.au.
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can develop capability, but capability usually does not develop motivation. In effect, motivation is the ‘force multiplier’.
leadership has a greater impact than management.
Factors affecting motivation
Predicting how human motivation is affected by the organisation’s culture and systems is often difficult. Let’s take the real-life example of 10 day-care centres in Haifa, Israel, that had parents turning up after closing time each day to pick up their children. The situation led to anxious children and frustrated carers.
Employee motivation varies depending on multiple factors, but for most we can split these into two groups: the internal and the external. Internal factors are those within the person—their inherent technical skills, desires, values, and capabilities. Unsurprisingly, a manager can do little to affect these factors; instead, they must focus their attention on the external. To better predict and understand people’s motivations, leaders can use a motivation model such as the Universal Hierarchy of Motivation (UHM). Such a model allows you to comprehend the leadership strategies that will most likely lead to the most desirable team member behaviours. The UHM shows that there are seven fundamental motivations with corresponding leadership styles. The higher the level of leadership style, the more impact it has. The different styles are appropriate at different times, with different followers, in different cultures, and in different situations. The seven motivations are shown in Figure 1 opposite along with the leadership approaches and team behaviours that correlate with them. The UHM provides a very clear differentiator between management and leadership. The leadership styles listed at Levels 1 to 3 are best described as ‘management’, which is largely about getting what we want versus real leadership. Both are important, but the UHM shows how
The influence of culture
A solution put in place by the day-care centres was to fine parents $3 if they were more than 10 minutes late. Rather surprisingly, this solution had the opposite effect because the number of late parents more than doubled after the fine was introduced. It turned out that the guilt some parents felt in being late was motivating them to be on time. Money is typically a Level 1 motivator on the UHM scale, whereas guilt is usually Level 2 or 3, so in this case, payment of a fine assuaged the guilt and only the lower motivation of money was left to drive parents to be punctual. This example illustrates the surprising fact that paid bonuses at work are poor motivators. A lot of current research indicates that there is a myth around bonuses that they improve productivity or results. In fact, research shows that it can lead to team members making poorer decisions and
focusing on trying to get their bonus even when it is at odds with what is best for the organisation. Monetary rewards only help to move team members’ motivation to the level of pleasure. Intrinsic motivators such as recognition or meaning help people to rise to greater levels of motivation on the UHM scale, where they are better able to deal with greater and more complex challenges. The higher the level we are at, the more impact we have on our own and others’ lives. Typical organisational cultures are shown in Figure 2 opposite, correlated with the relevant UHM levels and resulting behaviour.
How much a team member is engaged with the organisation has been shown in many studies across industries to have a direct and significant correlation with productivity.
UHM Level
Motivation
Leadership Approach
Likely Team Member Behaviour
7
Meaning
Inspirational leadership
Grace (state of courteous goodwill)
6
Wisdom
Coaching leadership
Feedback (not criticism)
5
Courage
Leadership gallantry
Accountability
4
Compassion
Service leadership
Cooperation
3
Power
Thought leadership
Commitment
2
Pleasure
Charismatic leadership
Involvement
1
Survival
Autocratic leadership
Dissatisfaction
Figure 1. The Universal Hierarchy of Motivation (UHM) as it relates to leadership approach.
How much a team member is engaged with the organisation has been shown in many studies across industries to have a direct and significant correlation with productivity. International studies have found that team members who were fully engaged in their work were almost 50 per cent more productive in terms of revenue generation and 300-per-cent better at delivering value than their disengaged or disaffected colleagues. The behaviours in the table above correspond to increasing levels of positive engagement of the team member. The lowest level of engagement
UHM Level
Motivation
Organisational Culture
Likely Team Member Behaviour
7
Meaning
Optimism
Grace
6
Wisdom
Understanding
Feedback
5
Courage
Empathy
Accountability
4
Compassion
Sympathy
Cooperation
3
Power
Praise (genuine)
Commitment
2
Pleasure
Humour
Involvement
1
Survival
Belief
Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction
Figure 2. The Universal Hierarchy of Motivation (UHM) as it relates to company culture.
is marked by the team member being either satisfied or dissatisfied depending on whether or not they buy into the beliefs inherent in the organisational culture.
higher levels. To be able to understand and predict accurately what this is, you have to have a very good model or framework of human motivation.
The best of both worlds
Once you have set up the appropriate leadership and organisational culture, the time is right to work on developing team members’ capability. The most important training in any organisation is leadership training. Only when this has reached suitable levels is it worth investing significant time and money in any
To get the best combination of motivation and capability from the employees in your organisation, it is critical that you provide the appropriate leadership at all levels while creating the culture and systems which will help to best motivate team members to the 38.
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other forms of employee training. If you do it the other way around, the risk is that not only will the team members not use the new skills they acquired from their training, but also they are more likely to leave the organisation— which means someone else is likely to get all the investment you have made in them.
About Mark Oliver
Mark Oliver is the CEO and managing director of MarkTwo Consulting and author of the book The Seven Motivations of Life. Find more information at marktwoconsulting.com.
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