I2I - Incentive Intelligence

No Matter What You Think This is NOT a Post About Incentives and Motivation

I got nothin'. 

I've been in labor at the keyboard since 5:00 this morning trying to push out a post on incentives and motivation. Not happening. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been trying. 

Anyone who has a blog knows that you can’t just pop out a post on demand. You need some sort of starting point. I’ve been looking for that kernel of an idea that I can warm up and watch explode into a puffy, delicious full-fledged post. 

At the high school baseball game I attended last evening I listened in on the other parent’s conversations to see if they had any insights I could steal. I almost (almost) watched the last episode of Undercover Boss in my DVR but came to my senses and just banged my head on the table till I was dizzy. I read everything in my google reader. I checked twitter a bunch of times. Read old posts, did yoga (nah), checked the liquor cabinet (luckily it was empty), basically did everything I could to find an idea. 

You see… it’s not an issue of motivation. 

I WANT to write a post. I AM MOTIVATED. I just don’t have the raw material. I don’t have the stuff I need to get the job done. No incentive in the world right now would automagically make me create a good post. I’d still be stuck. 

Now, tell me you’ll give me a million bucks for a post and I'm sure I could come up with a crappy post about not having any ideas on what to post and connect that to motivation and collect my winnings. 

Or worse yet – I might plagiarize and hope I don’t get caught. 

See – not an issue of motivation. It’s an issue of tools. I don’t have what I need to get the job done right. 

Incentives Are Your Worst First Solution

Too often in business we look at poor results and assume it’s an issue of motivation. It sometimes is, but more often than not it is another issue. But it’s easier to assume it’s someone else’s fault and go from there. 

• Work not getting done? – “Do the work and get a prize” (it’s really an award but I’ll let that slip right now.) 
   
• Timeline slipping? – Here’s a logo-identified snuggie. "
   
• Need more sales? – Hit your goal and get a trip to the Overlook Hotel – Red Rum included. 

Most of our business leaders assume we’re all waiting to be motivated when in fact we’re waiting for them to do their job. 

Yeah – I said it – Managers – do your job. 

Find out WHY stuff isn’t getting done. Do some research. Talk to someone. Come out of the mahogany office and bump against us unwashed masses and see if it really is a motivation problem. 

I’m guessing it is a tools problem. A training problem. A communication problem. It may not be a motivation problem. 

Remember – incentives are your worst first solution. 

Make it your last best solution and you’ll get more from your effort. 

So… where’s that million bucks?

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New Employees Should NOT Participate in Incentive Programs

Should your new hires – regardless of “rank” or position – participate in tactical incentive programs?

What I mean by tactical programs I’m thinking sales incentives that last less than one year or quarterly performance programs that measure specific outputs or behaviors.

I’m saying no and this is why…

Long Pants Discussion

Last week I did a post on employees earning their “long pants”, a riff on the olden times practice of boys wearing knickers until they reached a certain age and then they were “allowed” to wear long pants and signal to the world they were grown up.  I suggested that there should be some mechanism in a company that allows employees to know which of their fellow employees were grownups in the organization and could be, and should be, seen as mentors, managers and guides.  In other words, who is wearing long pants.

The idea that you earn your long pants then made me think about incentive programs as a “privilege” of being a grownup.

Incentives Work Too Well

We’ve all heard the news and seen the posts and read the books (yeah - I’m talking about Dan Pink) that say incentives are bad for business because they are too effective and they many times drive bad behavior in pursuit of awards.  I don’t disagree with that.  Many poorly designed incentives drive too much of one behavior to the exclusion of other behaviors causing problems and unintended consequences.  

Because incentives work so well they need to be balanced by other behaviors and influences.  

In other words, getting a bonus for hitting a goal should be balanced by the basic rules of the company, the DNA of the company, the operating system for that company– the CULTURE for that company.

Culture determines the “line that shouldn’t be crossed” in a company.  When you have a culture that rewards no-holds-barred selling (think Glengarry Glen Ross - NSFW) then you have a very rough-and-tumble sales environment where almost any behavior is acceptable as long as you get the sale.  Not for everyone.  Probably not for anyone.  

But…

Culture Provides Checks and Balances

The culture of the organization provides employees with the baseline behavior code that cannot be violated (or shouldn’t be) and therefore keeps the unintended consequences of incentive programs in check (assuming the program is designed well.)  The cultural norms of the organization are the boundaries for behavior.  Until those boundaries are known it would be unwise to ask that employee to participate in an incentive program that could potentially lead them astray.  Until they’ve earned their long pants they don’t have the requisite “cultural indoctrination” that would serve to reign in poor behavior.

It’s Why The Drinking Age Isn’t 11

I liken this to the fact that we don’t allow children to drink.  We allow adults to drink (and thereby making them children again – but that’s a different story) but only after they’ve spent a few years (18/21 depending) learning the responsibilities of life, consequences of decisions and the affects of alcohol.  

We don’t allow children to do a lot of things – vote, drive, etc. until they’ve reached a certain age – which is simply a proxy for learning the social norms and the boundaries of behavior in our society.

Should we put in place similar criteria for participating in incentives?  

The more I think about this – the more I’m liking it.  

Thoughts, ideas, comments?  Should employees have to be grownups in your organization before they get access to grownup incentives?

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My Mission & My Plan -- Making People Mission Critical

Since day one of this company and blog we’ve had one singular mission.

Make people mission critical.
  

Mission Critical

Over the years I’ve heard the words “mission critical” many, many times.  Almost always it was focused on software.  “Getting an ERP system up and running is mission critical.”  “We need a CRM solution – it’s mission critical.”

The phrase mission critical is thrown around a lot today but what does it really mean?  I found a site that referenced a survey done in late 2008 that reported that respondents thought 64% of their business applications were mission critical.  The point being – not everything can be mission critical.  When the majority of anything is “mission critical” you need to redefine mission critical.

From Wikipedia (you know you can trust this…) the term mission critical refers to:

“… any factor (equipment, process, procedure, software, etc.) which is essential to the core function of an organization. That is, it is critical to the organization’s 'mission'.

As a rule in crisis management, if a triage-type decision is made in which certain components must be eliminated or delayed, e.g. because of resource or personnel constraints, the mission-critical ones must not be among them."

Now, I’m not suggesting Wikipedia is the single, best source for this but I’m sure most folks would read that first statement and agree with it.

I don’t.
 

Stuff Isn’t Mission Critical

When I hear folks talk about mission critical I hear something they don’t…  

What They Say	What I Hear	What Usually Happens
We need an ERP System – it’s mission critical	We will have a new software system to manage our resources and getting people to use it is mission critical.	They install the software.  People complain.  It doesn’t fit existing systems.  Money is lost and adoption is long and costly.
We need a CRM system to track and engage with our customers to drive sales – it’s mission critical	We will have a new way of engaging with our customer and we need to get people to embrace the change and use the software that will support that effort.	Software installed.  Sales People rebel.  Old ways continue.  Money lost.  Customers upset/lost/ignored.
Innovation is mission critical.	We need to find a way to get people to think and experiment with new ideas and ways of doing business.	Training sessions on creativity.  Individual awards for idea generation.  People ridiculed for thinking “too far out of the box.”  Everyone thinks it’s a sham.
We need to cut our manufacturing costs by buying new production equipment.  Being cost competitive is mission critical.	We need to engage our people to help identify better, faster, cheaper ways of delivering on our customer promise.	New machines are purchased.  Costs inherent in the systems that support the manufacturing group continue to exist and get worse.

See where I’m going with this?

The only thing that is mission critical is how you influence the behavior of your people.  

People are – to use the new “it” word – the linchpin in your company.  

Without people - to quote Metallica - nothing else matters.

How would your efforts to drive success in your business be enhanced if every time you plan something that is “mission critical” you amend the discussion with … “and how do we create behavior change to make that pay off?”

Making Mission Critical Out of Mission Important

Everything that is “mission critical” is only “mission important” until you enlist the real levers of success – your people.  Don’t think that today’s employee will blindly follow orders and “get on board.”  There is too much pent up demand to have control and they will look for places they can exercise that control.

I’m asking for your help in making people mission critical in your business.

Once you do this then the techniques and tools that influence behavior become the most important thing you can bring to the table (other than bringing I2I to the table to help… wink, wink, nudge, nudge, knowwhatImean?)

Who’s Wearing Long Pants in Your Office? Company Culture and Knickers

Some of you may not know this but young boys at the turn of the last century wore short pants most of the time.  Even in winter they wore short pants but they were called “knickers.”  It was a big deal to get long pants.  

My grandfather’s family was Catholic and you got your long pants when you were Confirmed (around 13.)  Having long pants meant you were grown up.  You were a “man.”  The photo at the right is my father’s family when he was about 11 or 12 – notice – he’s still in knickers.

My grandfather (sporting the big white hat in the photo) – was 5’5” and 120 lbs at most.  He was born in 1895 and by the time he died in 1984 he had seen his world move from horses to space shuttles.  He never got past the 3rd grade.  He ended working to help the family out.  First in the mills in upstate NY and then in a foundry straightening nails (and there’s a whole story there as well.)

Foolin' the Truant Officer

Even though he was only 10 or 11, when my grandfather wasn't working he would go to the local tavern and shoot pool for money.  The owner of the tavern liked to have him there to “entertain” the customers.  A few times while he was in the tavern the Truant Officer stopped by and due to his age – pulled him out and took him home.

According to my grandfather – the owner of the tavern then hung a pair of long pants on a nail in the back by the pool tables.  Now, when my grandfather came to the tavern to shoot pool, he’d first change out of his knickers and into the long pants.  Then, when the Truant Officer would stop by and inquire about my grandfather not being in school, my grandfather would look the Officer in the eye and say – “Don't you see my long pants?” 

‘Nuff said.  He was a grown up.  He had long pants.

Who's A Grown Up?

I was thinking of this story and I asked myself – what does a company do to show that a new hire or recently hired employee has earned their stripes? 

Is it even necessary?

My gut says yes.  There should be a point in time when an employee becomes “fully vested” in the company culture and there should be a celebration.  There should be a point in time where the other “grown ups” in the company recognized that an employee has crossed over from being a “newbie” to being someone that can mentor and guide other newbies.

If you’ve read the book Change or Die (if you haven’t do it now) they talk about how the Delancey Street Project rehabilitates criminals.  One of the key elements is they assign new “immigrants” to a veteran – someone who has been in the newbies’ shoes and that person is responsible for that group.

You “graduate” to that position.  That is the position of “long pants.”

I have no answer to this question.  

I “feel” there should be some way to know when an employee is ready to teach the next generation of employees in an organization.  I don’t want to create an artificial structure to be gamed and schemed – like offices with doors, parking spots or top-end computers.  

But I wonder what would a company can/should do to signal to other employees who the grown ups are – who newbies can look to for guidance and mentoring.

Just thinking out loud.  You got a point of view?  Share it please.