Leadership behaviors required for motivating the workforce include celebrating improvements and goal attainment, positive thinking, calmly correcting behavior, and being flexible in leadership styles with associates.
Thinking positively does not mean you avoid discussing and dealing with unpleasant situations and problems. It is the issue of the glass being half full or half empty. I know a leader who approaches each problem with gusto because she believes the problem will lead to a greater opportunity. I know another who tends to avoid confronting problems because he believes the problem will only get worse if it is addressed. Clearly, the leader who sees the glass half empty person gets much less accomplished than the one who sees the glass half full! However, being positive should never be equated with being unrealistic.
Positive thinking is the act of approaching each day as a great day to be alive and being of service. This leader smiles and laughs with associates and when a person makes a mistake asks them what they learned in the process. Positive thinking does not include the behaviors of being sarcastic to be funny or joking in such a way as to make someone feel bad in front of others. I watched a basketball coach yell to a player on the court “Stupid!” For the rest of the half, the player turned to the bench after every play to check the coach’s reaction so as to avoid being yelled at again. Another coach after a tough loss commented on how well his team played. It was obvious the players appreciated the respect shown them. It is the same in business. When a leader observes how well someone tried rather than offering threats, people try harder. When they are punished by ridicule or harsh words and tone of voice, they attempt to avoid the leaders displeasure by doing only what is asked to avoid further punishment.
A leader who thinks positively is the one who greets staff warmly, sending the message they are important. When the group or individual misses deadlines, the leader shows understanding and uses problem solving to get back on track. One of the finest examples I can think of is a story told about the respected basketball coach, Dean Smith, well known for the innovations he contributed to basketball. As the story goes, one day at practice one of his big men was out of position on a play. The play, however, resulted in a score. Coach Smith stopped practice to discuss what the team had learned. They created a new play out of this mistake integrating it into their practice sessions and playbook. Any coach or business leader using positive thinking will use mistakes as a catalyst for innovation just as Dean Smith did.
Positive thinking also involves you catching people doing right as well as people doing wrong. Certainly, people need feedback and correcting when they make errors but they also need to hear when they have done well and corrected their mistakes.
Celebrate Improvement and Goal Attainment
Many supervisors think they are showing weakness by expressing appreciation for work performed. As a manager once told me “they know I approve because I don’t say anything to them unless someone screws up.” However, studies and experience demonstrate that leaders who acknowledge desired performance typically achieve higher levels of individual and group initiative and creativity.
There are several considerations when deciding on celebration and goal setting procedures.
Influences on Work Behavior
Business owners and managers tend to experience frustration managing their personnel. Some of the comments I have heard, and you probably have heard also, including the following:
“People just want to get by these days. Why should I pay them more than minimum wage?” No doubt there are some people who are interested in getting a paycheck and doing as little as possible. However, for many others, the issue may be more about how they are treated at work or the lack of systems in place for motivating them to do more. The good news is there are systems and leadership behaviors that can be used to encourage personnel to do more than just get by. Those systems include both feedback and recognition systems combined with the leadership behaviors of positive thinking and catching people doing well.
“People here don’t take initiative.” While this can be true for many people in many organizations, the reason may be more than the person’s willingness to take initiative. Having goals aligned with the organization’s strategy, combined with feedback systems on current and desired performance tend to minimize this issue while increasing initiative and innovation.
“Why can’t they just come to work and do their jobs?” Managers have expressed this sentiment over the years. The question could more aptly be “why do they have me managing people?” Management at its best can be frustrating; however, with proper training of both leaders and personnel, a greater probability exists that your personnel will come to work and do their jobs well.
“Our employees don’t seem to care.” For many people, the issues are more about what they encountered in past work experiences. They may have been overlooked for promotions, been punished unfairly, or may have been ignored or overlooked. These experiences may influence their actions when working with you. Personnel with such experiences can be engaged and motivated once again when using objective feedback and positive reinforcement systems throughout the organization and personalized reinforcement with individuals.
Why We Do the Things We Do
It can be helpful to understand what directs our behavior. Why do we work for the companies we work for, why do we do the work we do, why do we come to work every day, or why do we avoid work altogether. There are reasons why we behave the way we do. Those reasons are described in the ABC model.
ABC Model
Research of human behavior has identified causes and effects on our behavior whether at home or at work. We do what we do because of what happens when we do it. Behavior is a function of consequences to our behavior. For example, I like to run and was encouraged to run a half-marathon in large part because of the positive comments and interest shown me by the recreation center staff. I also had a goal to put a 13.1 sticker on my truck. The encouragement was key to continuing my running behavior. But something started me thinking about this run. It was a challenge by my daughter for me to get in shape and run with her in a half-marathon. So with a prompt from my daughter to begin training and the encouragement of the Recreation Center staff after each training session, I successfully completed the race. My truck has a 13.1 sticker on the back window!
This story illustrates the key elements of the ABC model. Our behavior first needs a prompt. This prompt is called an Activator. It prompts behavior. My daughter challenging me to run with her was a prompt, an Activator. It started my workout behavior. However, for me to continue my training for this long run, I needed much encouragement. That encouragement is referred to as Positive Consequences. The positive encouragement from recreation staff along with my setting goals with staff maintained and increased my training runs from 15 miles per week to 27 miles per week.
The illustration in Figure 10.1 is designed to show the relationship among Activators, Behavior, and Consequences. In this illustration, consequences are shown to become activators. For example, staff encouragement and interest after each run strengthened my running behavior and prompted my next run.
Figure 10.1 ABC Model
As we have discussed, activators start or prompt our behavior and are used in many organizational systems. Three considerations regarding activators are as follows:
1. Activators happen before a behavior occurs such as persons, places, things, or events.
2. Activators provide a trigger to prompt a behavior.
3. Activators do not cause a behavior to continually occur.
Examples of Activators
Objectives
Training
Instructions
Requests
Deadlines
Speeches
Feedback
Performance
Manuals
Policies
Signs
Reviews
Most managers rely on requests or instructions when directing staff to initiate or complete tasks. Asking an employee several times to perform a task is referred to as “over activating” or in planer language “nagging.” Traditionally, there is much reliance by managers on activators to motivate behavior. Activators are important for developing and directing behavior. However, relying solely on activators results in minimal success.
Behavior
To assist clients to understand what behavior is and is not, I ask participants to describe the behaviors associated with the following terms:
1. Bad attitude
2. Lazy worker
3. Unmotivated person
4. Under performer
Normally, the class learns that the same behaviors apply to all four descriptors. They agree using such general terms will not communicate to an employee or team what is required to be corrected or changed.
In order to guide personnel, 21st-century leaders must focus on pinpointed behavior. Pinpointed behaviors are:
• Observable. The behavior must be seen. For example, we see someone coming to work late. We are not able to see what they think about arriving late and we do not know how they feel about it. We do not know their attitude but we do know they arrived late.
• Measurable. In order to influence and change behavior we must be able to measure the behavior. In the example above, we can count the number of days each week this person arrives late and we can count the amount of time this person has been late.
• Reliable. Reliable means that two or more people can see the behavior and agree on the number of times it occurs. For example, all staff members in the office could see when this person comes and count either the number of times he is late in a week or month or the elapsed amount time missed at work.
Managers are not responsible for internal behaviors such as thoughts, feelings, motives, and attitudes. You are only responsible for observable, pinpointed behaviors.
Consequences of Our Actions
Consequences are defined as actions that:
A. Come after the behavior and influence our behavior. For example, it is a work day and the weather is bad. You know people will be staying home and you probably should also. However, you look at a list of the things you must accomplish so you bundle up and go to the office. Hardly anyone is at work and you are getting lots done when someone walks by and says, “It is great to see you and nice to have you around today.” In this example, you were prompted to go to the office after looking at your list. You experienced the consequences of getting a lot accomplished and receiving praise. Consequences come after behavior.
B. Produced by the behavior. Consequences occur as a result of what we do. For example, I am driving down a slippery slope and my truck begins to slide. I experience the consequence of feeling out of control and experiencing high anxiety. That feeling of anxiety is the result of driving and sliding. The consequence was produced by the behavior.
C. Strengthen or weaken the behavior. If we like what happens to us we will do it again. If we do not we will stop doing it. In the earlier example, if the person coming in to work late continues to do so without cost, he is receiving positive consequences for late behavior. If he is given feedback and stops coming in late, he has received punishing consequences and the behavior has stopped.
Types of Consequences
Punishment is produced by behavior, weakens or stops behavior, teaches avoidance, produces compliance, creates negative side effects, and the employee gets something she/he does not want. It has the effect of stopping behavior completely but only temporarily. We know someone has been punished by observing their actions. If their behavior stops they have been punished (Figure 10.2).
Figure 10.2 Punishment effect
Many times the punishment must be repeated to continue discouraging the same behaviors. How many times have you heard a manager say, “I have corrected him time and time again?”
I once served a carpet manufacturing company in middle Georgia. The company produced a high quality carpet and enforced stringent rules for producing quality and minimizing waste. A part of the enforcement was assigning operators time off without pay based on yards of carpet produced with defects. One fall morning, a week before deer hunting season opened, an operator approached his supervisor and said, “How many yards of carpet do I have to screw up to get a whole week off?” Punishment can be hard to apply and as you have seen from several examples can have an opposite effect from the one desired.
I know of few companies who effectively use progressive discipline as punishment to stop behavior. One client began using the process with verbal warning, written warning, second written warning, and termination effectively when they began applying each step of the process quickly after the behavior. For example, if someone was late to work and did not call, the process was initiated the same day. Employees saw the impact after several warnings and knew their late behavior would be punished. Coming to work late stopped.
Positive reinforcement is produced by the behavior, maintains or strengthens behavior, the person gets something they want, performance is optimized, and side effects are usually positive. It strengthens behavior. We know whether someone is being reinforced by the person’s reactions. If their behavior continues or increases their behavior is being positively reinforced (Figure 10.3).
Figure 10.3 Reinforcement effect
Several years ago we consulted with a production company. At their warehouse receiving dock, a truck driver had earned quite a reputation. The receiving department management issued warning slips to drivers who hit the loading dock when backing up. This punishment was designed to encourage drivers to be careful and avoid damaging the dock.
However, this remedy was having the opposite effect with a certain truck driver. Every time he approached the dock, everyone in the receiving area would come out to watch. Sure enough, he would hit the dock. Everyone cheered as the manager came out to issue another warning slip, setting new records each time for this trucker. The trucker left the facility smiling. While warehouse management was attempting to stop trucks hitting the dock, the punishment had become positive reinforcement for this truck driver. We know his behavior was being reinforced because he continued hitting the dock. His dock hitting behavior was being maintained and strengthened by warehouse management.