A-HA! Performance: Building and Managing a Self-Motivated Workforce

Introduction

It’s not just about results. Everything we do produces results. It’s about achieving better results or maintaining desired results in an ever-changing environment.

Getting other people to do the right thing, in the right time frame, with the right attitude is what makes success so challenging in businesses, as well as in schools and homes around the world. In fact, getting ourselves to do the right thing, in the right time frame, with the right attitude is not as simple as Just DO it.

What every manager, parent, teacher, spouse, advertiser, disgruntled customer, coach, politician, businessperson . . . actually what all of us want is direct access to, and control over, the behaviors of others. But direct access to other people’s behaviors continues to prove illusive because, without the use of overpowering physical force, it’s impossible. It’s not the way things work. Between our input, Would you . . .? and their output . . . something that can range from enthusiastic compliance through benign or hostile indifference to violent defiance . . . is a process, a series of steps, that the brain goes through before deciding and doing; before choosing and implementing a behavior.

Imagine how convenient it would be, not to mention how much less stressful it would be, if we could bypass the process part, if we could turn on desired behaviors and attitudes in others as simply as we turn on a light switch. If we want the light on, we flip the switch and the light comes on. It doesn’t fight us and it doesn’t try to avoid us. It just does what we want it to do. The input (what we do to control the light) is flipping the switch, while the output (the result of our input) is light.

But people are not light switches. People have cares, preferences, and beliefs about the way they think things should be. So when we try to flip their switches—approaching them in some way that constitutes input—they process that input in the context of their cares. These internal cares or preferences—what I refer to as Intrinsic Motivation Points (IMPs)—ultimately determine what the individual decides to do; what their output is going to be. Unlike light switches, employees have options and unique preferences as to how they’re going to perform. And their decisions are more about satisfying their IMPs than about complying with a manager’s request.

Because the approach (input) of the manager is so important in eliciting superior performance (output) from employees, not to mention maximizing strong retention, learning what the Intrinsic Motivation Points are that determine employee behaviors and attitudes is critical. Managers who know what these Intrinsic Motivation Points are, and how to utilize them as they manage their employees, have an edge, the A-HA! Performance Manager’s Edge.

In addition to revealing these IMPs, A-HA! Performance will also show how the IMPs are optimized or leveraged for managing others in ways that produce desired results in sustainable ways.

Simply put, there is a process that goes on in the brain between input and output (Input > Process > Output). Understanding this human performance process will give us more of the results we want because our employees want to give them to us. We will also get the results we want from ourselves on a more consistent basis, with less effort. Using the insights and applications of A-HA! Performance, we will be building and managing a self-motivated workforce. (Quick confession here: This book’s subtitle is a little bit of a trick title because, as the book explains, human beings are already self-motivated. We can’t build a self-motivated workforce, we already have one. This book is really about understanding and managing that self-motivated workforce.)

The foundational tool is the A-HA! Performance Model (a foundational framework for understanding why people behave) that is graphically illustrated in the A-HA! Performance Map (showing the sequence of events inside the mind that explain the intrinsic motivation process). The map reveals the eight IMPs that make up this sequence of events. We can think of the map as a template we can use to focus our conversations in ways that get vested interest performance rather than balking or pushing back.

When we understand this model, we can focus quickly on the best place to start a conversation that will get buy-in to productive changes with the least amount of resistance. When our employees are producing less than stellar results or we want our top performers to develop to new levels—we can use this model to determine where the missing link is in the performance sequence, and quickly leverage that into a productive performance turnaround, or enhancement. This book teaches us how to understand and manage a self-motivated workforce in ways that money cannot buy and threats cannot force.

I learned the basics of A-HA! Performance and the Intrinsic Motivation Points it reveals while serving as a senior faculty member at the William Glasser Institute. While I had seen their power at work in the lives of psychology professionals who I taught around the world, my challenge was to take these great and practical ideas designed for counselors, therapists, corrections officers, and teachers, and present them in ways that business professionals would want to learn and utilize. A-HA! Performance: Building and Managing a Self-Motivated Workforce and The A-HA! Performance Map of Intrinsic Motivation Points are the result of that work.

What goes on between a manager’s input and an employee’s output? What are those Intrinsic Motivation Points and how do we consistently get employees (and others) to want to do what we want them to do? That knowledge is what this book is about and what gives managers the A-HA! Performance Edge.

Between Input and Output

Chapter 1

Receptionist Goes Nuts . . . and Goes

Poorly managed people have options. They can somehow rise above the way they’re being managed and perform well anyway, they can withdraw and diminish their performance, or they can fight back. When a manager confronted Susan Moore, a receptionist for Office Connection, LLC, an office equipment broker, she chose the latter.

At Office Connection, Susan wore many hats—she answered the phone, gathered samples for the salespeople, filed, and did whatever she needed to do to support the company and its sales team. Hers was the voice of the company that customers heard when they called in to inquire about products, pricing, or delivery status on an order. She was supposed to be the friendly voice of support for customers, as well as help salespeople when they called in from the field and needed her to look up a product, check on availability, or confirm an appointment. The job of any sales support person, and certainly the job of 27-year-old Susan, was to put a smile on her face and cheerfully support the customer, vendor, and salesperson alike.

Unfortunately, Susan didn’t do this part of her job well. She seemed chronically grumpy and consistently annoyed when anyone called in. Her curt greeting and hurried tone combined to make people feel uncomfortable when they called. Susan did have one thing going for her, however: her organizational skills. She was pretty good at filing and keeping the office organized.

When David McKennley, the fifth salesperson to join Office Connection’s San Diego sales office, came on board, he quickly learned what the other four already knew: This surly receptionist was going to be an issue. When he called into the office, he found himself hoping someone else would answer the phone. Solitary tasks like filing or word processing were okay, but people skills? Not a chance. Have you ever gone into a business or agency and before you could even say anything, the person at the counter was already glaring at you? Some people just seem to arrive at work grumpy. That was Susan. And this made it hard for the salespeople because it was in their best interest to have the voice of the company be as welcoming and affable as possible.

For salespeople, great customer service starts with connecting with buyers and forming a positive relationship with them, where they know the seller cares about them and their needs. Seller credibility—which means seller competence and integrity—needs to be high, too. If salespeople achieve a relationship with their customers where they’ve established care and credibility, people will feel comfortable buying from them. If not, customers won’t want to have anything to do with those salespeople and will instead seek out a different supplier.

Relationships that work are always about perceived care and credibility.

Actually, that same truth applies to managers. People will work well for us and stay with us longer when they believe we care and are credible.

If location, location, location are the three basic rules of real estate, relationship, relationship, relationship are the three basic rules of successful managing.

It’s true for other relationships within the office, too. Care and credibility are at the core of all meaningful relationships, and meaningful relationships are the key to business success.

There’s a reason why the term team player comes up in most job descriptions or interviews. Companies know that great working relationships are the key to business success and they want to hire employees who care and are credible, people who can form positive relationships and who work well with others. Companies where people figure out how to collaborate internally compete more effectively externally. Companies where employees don’t like each other, or don’t trust each other, don’t do as well.

Outperforming the competition boils down to turbo-charging existing human capital. That’s accomplished through synergy, the highest form of power there is. And synergy requires two or more people working effectively with each other. Whenever two or more people come together to achieve something, there are only three possible outcomes: synergy, samergy, or lessergy. For example, when two people come together and support each other in complimentary ways, one plus one can produce as three; synergy. Throughout high school and college, I played guitar and sang with my great friend of more than 45 years, Bill Silva. One of the highest compliments we received, which is a great summary of synergy, was, You are two guys who sing as one and sound like three. Synergy is not the absence of tension, it’s the harmonizing of tension. When two perform as one and produce as three, synergy has been achieved.

But when two or more come together and each does her own thing, one plus one only equals two, or samergy. People in call-center operations are an example of this. While Kim is in her cubicle making calls, Michael is in his doing the same and they have a combined productivity of hers plus his. Nothing more. Nothing less. Not as good as synergy, but not as bad as the third possible outcome of people coming together, which is lessergy. When one plus Susan Moore came together and got into an argument—each becoming upset—one plus one equaled minus two, or lessergy; neither as good as either would have been alone. That’s why the salespeople began to believe they were better off not involving her.

When the San Diego Office Connection sales office only had four salespeople, they all seemed to be able to work around Susan’s attitude and accommodate her lack of support. Office Connection’s headquarters were in Los Angeles and whatever management was needed came from the Los Angeles office.

But once the San Diego office added new salesperson David McKennley, the owners decided they needed a local on-site sales manager. The likely candidate? The senior salesperson, a nice enough guy, Richard Harper, who had been there a long time and had the biggest accounts—only two customers, but they brought in a solid revenue stream. So the owners promoted him to sales manager of the San Diego sales office.

This is not an uncommon practice. Good scientists are often promoted to positions where they are managing people instead of test tubes. And productive engineers are often rewarded with promotions to managing peers rather than technology, applications, software, and data. But here’s the catch: Managing employees is a different skill than managing sales, test tubes, or technology. Not everyone promoted to a managerial position is good at it or knows what to do. Not everyone knows the A-HA! Performance Map or the Intrinsic Motivation Points (IMPs) it reveals.

Like many managers, Richard had the idea that managing people meant that it was his job to control those people. It seemed to him that he was now responsible for making Susan behave in certain ways, that it was his job to make her act in a friendlier, more supportive manner. But the heart of this book and the crux of what gives managers the A-HA! Performance Edge is an understanding that what really controls people is something inside—a series of IMPs—not the orders or edicts, and not the carrots or sticks of anyone externally.

A-HA! Performance-trained managers learn to focus their conversations on the Intrinsic Motivation Points that are the Drivers of desired behavior, as well as on the Options that are viable for the particular employee they are addressing.

Subsequent chapters show how a manager never controls anyone else’s behavior anyway. Behavior is the product of a process that involves Intrinsic Motivation Points coming together in particular ways. Managers may be held responsible by the organization for the success of their employees’ performance, but managers can’t control another person’s behavior. They may learn or already have tremendous insights and skills at influencing employee behaviors for the better by leveraging these IMPs, but that’s different than controlling another person’s behavior. All of us make our own decisions and are ultimately responsible for our own actions. Other people don’t control us. The A-HA! Performance Edge is not about control. It’s about having those insights and skills that work, almost like magic, at influencing behavior that leads to desired performance.

Handicapped by the faulty belief that his new position as manager meant that he now had to change or control Susan, Richard began to realize that he was going to have to confront her about her performance. He had been one of the original four salespeople who had worked with her so he knew firsthand how she was.

He had also received numerous complaints about her from customers, vendors, and the other salespeople. Customers were telling Richard, I hate to call unless I know you’re there. If I get her on the phone instead of you, I just want to hang up.

People were asking, Does she not like me? What did I do? Worse yet, the salespeople didn’t want to call into the office—even though that was part of their job. They didn’t like calling because Susan would degrade them for leaving catalogues out on the table, act incredulous that they hadn’t memorized all of their pricing, or put them on hold for way too long.

Increasingly, Richard was becoming aware that something had to be done. He had a significant and growing problem; there was a major difference between the performance he wanted from Susan and the performance he was getting.

This point may be obvious to some, but to others, it’s an a-ha:

Problems have two ends to them, a want and a got. A problem is always a gap between the way we want something to be and the way we’ve currently got it. If there’s no gap, then we’re getting what we want and there isn’t a