Inspiration Conversation

I’m an unapologetic fan of using Abraham Maslow’s well known “Hierarchy of Needs” as a tool to explain and position why Recognition and Reward Systems are valuable.  Are there other theories and models that can apply as well?  Absolutely … but here’s why I’ll stick with Maslow:

In broad strokes, Maslow says that individuals deal with life by meeting needs in this order 

1. Physical (“Am I safe and do I have something to eat and a place to sleep?”)
2. Social (“Do I have friends I can talk to and spend time with?”)
3. Esteem (“Do other people notice when I do something good?”) and
4. Self Actualization (“Do I matter?”)

He states that the higher level needs cannot be met unless the lower level needs are met first.  A mental walk through history will provide example after example of how this looks in real life (for an expanded explanation of how this translates to the work place, read more about Employee Engagement).  Can someone regress “down the pyramid”?  Sure – when people go through difficult financial times, they become more concerned about physical needs, they have less time for social occasions and fewer thoughts regarding self esteem – they’re focused on meeting basic needs.

All this matters to people responsible for organizational “people issues” because it’s a good template to use to understand and implement recognition and reward strategies.  If you think about what individuals are trying to get done with their life, and then use the tools at hand in your work environment to advance their cause, the people in your company will stay longer and they will contribute more.    

A RRS is designed to contribute to organizational success by driving the behaviors and performances valued by the organization.  An RRS accomplishes this by appealing to the individual needs that employees have for an understanding of where they fit and how they are valued. 

Read the previous two sentences a few more times…

Now, consider the size of the organization you work for.  Imagine that your job was to determine the individual needs of each of the employees that work for your organization and to create a method:

• To determine if those needs were being met
• What the employee thought about how the needs were met
• When an employee’s thinking/needs changes or they have a bad day (or bad month)

How you will track that and adjust for their changing needs?

Do you really want that job?

Is it really possible to perform that job, particularly in an organization with more than a few dozen people in it?  I don’t think it’s an achievable goal and that’s why a RRS is valuable.

I believe that the highest and best use of an RRS is the communication of organizational culture and behaviors to the employees of the organization.  Of the other ways to communicate – internal communications, intranet, newsletters, the water cooler, etc – a systematic approach to recognition and reward is the best method to determine the degree to which employees hear the message and, more importantly, what they think about the message. 

Every year, I get together with classmates from the Oxford/HEC Coaching and Consulting for Change program and we spend a few days focusing on the significant people issues we are encountering in our work. I just got back from this year's meeting in Paris where I came away with a few high impact thoughts. One that was very significant for me was communicated by Denis Bourgeois, a professor at HEC.

In a simple XY graph, Denis created a visual description of the cultural choices that organizations and people make.
From an organizational standpoint, the most compelling way to think about this graph is to first evaluate the Y axis and determine the degree to which employees would say the organization is transparent in both its business and people strategies. Questions to ask to determine this could include:

• Can employees articulate why the organization exists and how it makes money?
• Do employees know what the growth plans for the organization are?
• Can employees explain how their work matters and would they say the organization values that?

The last question segues to the X axis where the degree to which employees are either respected or manipulated is measured. While both the X and the Y are mainly subjective measurements, I think this axis is the tougher one to determine... All organizations would say they respect employees - and I think they'd mean it. But does the culture of the company really support individual respect? A few questions to tease this out...

• Do all employees have an opportunity to do meaningful work? How do they know it's meaningful?
• Does any employee with an idea have a ready audience to be heard?
• Are individual strengths and weaknesses accounted for within the context of acceptable performance?

Your Recognition and Reward System is a tool to support whatever your organization determines is the correct quadrant to live in (I hope for your sake it's the upper left!). The behaviors and performance you recognize and the way you recognize those are indicators of where you want to be.

In the USA, we drive on the right side of the road.  I’ve been doing that successfully for a few decades now and like to think that I’m a good driver.  On my trips to England, I’ve imagined what it must be like to drive on the “wrong side” of the road – and I imagine it would be a disaster. Maybe if I was in a tank, or at least a Hummer, I’d survive?  Other cars or pedestrians in the area might not be so lucky.

Even if I was in my own car, I’d be completely disoriented simply because I’d be forced to drive on the other side of the road.  Cognitively, I can understand what I’m supposed to do – but the physiology of my brain would prevent this from being a comfortable experience for me.  To be successful driving in England, I’d have to “unlearn” my ingrained understanding of what driving is about.

Interesting finding number two:

Because the brain better supports the repetition of an already learned behavior or action, individuals must go through a process where a new or different behavior is absorbed over a period of time that allows for cognitive acceptance as well as behavioral adaptation.

For our purposes, the implications for RRS continue to point toward an understanding that time, communication, training and leadership are components that must be factored in to the creation and operation of enterprise wide RRS.

How often have you wondered, “Why can’t that person just change”?

I mean, if someone really wants to, can’t they just immediately begin to act/think/speak differently?  New research indicates it’s not so easy. Technological breakthroughs have enabled scientists to gain greater insight into how the brain works – for our purposes the most relevant data has to do with how the brain responds to change. Recognition and Reward Systems largely exist to serve as change agents that reinforce right behaviors.  With that in mind, the new research provides some insight that can help create high performing RRS.

The work that I think is most relevant has been done by David Rock and Jeffrey Schwartz.  Over the next few days, I’m going to communicate some of their findings and add my thoughts on why that information matters to anyone involved in people strategy and/or the creation and operation of RRS. 

So, interesting finding number one:

At the level of individual neurons, brains are built to detect changes in the environment and send out strong signals to alert us to anything unusual – which pushes us to act more emotionally and more impulsively.

Now, given that all of us are built slightly different and will respond in slightly different ways, we all are hard wired to react to a change in our environment – and for most of us, that hard wired response feels like a voice screaming “NO!” inside our heads.

If a RRS exists to communicate and support right behaviors, what must it include to allow for a significant portion of the audience that feels immediately threatened when confronted with a situation that asks for a change in behaviors?  I’ll share my insight in full at the end of the series, but my answer to this question involves time, communication, training and leadership.  

2 + 2 = 4. Always. 

But there are plenty of things that call for a nuanced decision making process and non-linear thinking. Oftentimes, there are multiple ways to address a given issue and many of them are “correct”. Paying taxes and picking paint colors for example, and I’d add designing & operating Reward and Recognition Systems (RRS) to the list.

I do my level best to pay the IRS exactly what I owe.  I keep diligent records and use a very good CPA, and yet, I’m not 100% positive the final number is correct. There are just so many options and so many gray areas regarding the specifics.  Common sense says it’s simple – you just follow the rules and punch the correct buttons on the calculator – but we’ve all heard the stories about tax pros looking at the same return with wildly different conclusions.

We are doing some decorating around our house. Ok, my wife is doing some decorating around the house, and she came home with five color swatches for a paint color she’s considering for the legs of a table.  All five swatches are black.  Yep – five different shades of “black”.  Which one is correct (I picked the one she liked, but THAT lessons got nothing to do with this post)?  There seem to be multiple shades of a color that I thought was pretty simple to describe.

So maybe you’re redecorating your people strategy or trying to figure out what rules to follow to create your RRS.  In my experience, there are a few “2 + 2” facts to keep in mind: 

• Know what result you’re trying to achieve.  These can be strategic (become the best employer in our region) or tactical (increase sales by 15%).
• Follow a process.  At The Miller Company, we use Recognition Professionals International’s Seven Best Practice Standards (www.recognition.org)
• Involve senior management.  Help them understand how the RRS will drive corporate goals and tell them what they can do to help the effort.

Building an RRS involves a little science and a little art. Get the science right, then enjoy the creative process of choosing the “colors” that work best for your organization.

Are you in a place in your life (family, career, hobbies, etc...) that was planned years ago?  I'd make a guess that the answer for most people reading this is the same as mine, "Nope..."  The majority of us work our way through life by making the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time.  Sure, we plan for the future and we dream about where we want to go - but inevitably, a rogue wave pops up and we are faced with a decision on which way to point the boat. 

So if we know the future will hold uncertainty, how do we best prepare?  I think there are some fundamental principles that apply to individuals as well as organizations.

1) Know your foundational beliefs

These things don't change.  They are the principles that are imbedded in your DNA and are permanent.  You will walk away from a job or a relationship if these are compromised.  An organization will stand on these foundations at the expense of financial gain.  In good times and bad, these beliefs guide you.

2) Healthy cash reserves buy time

Having access to cash makes all the difference in difficult times.  Trouble is at hand when aggressive financial decisions during boom cycles have not played out when the cycle turns down (see any daily newspaper).  Having cash when others don't creates opportunity and it creates breathing room.

3) Relationships with the people in your sphere of influence are key

By nature, humans are a selfish lot - we think first about our issues and our world.  When everyone is thinking this way, it's difficult to get things done due to the individual agendas all are focused on.  What would happen if we first worked to understand what others were thinking?  What if we worked to help people accomplish their goals within the context of our ability to help?  I'd suggest relationships would be strengthened and everyone within the influence of that relationship would have more opportunity to accomplish individual goals.

4) Maintain personal health and perspective

None of us are indispensable, yet we are valuable.  For a moment, place yourself at the end of your life and look back.  Do you like what you see?  Did you get done what you believe you were put here to do?  Did you take care of all your talent?  Did you live life fully?  The deal is, at some point, we're all going to be facing the reality of the answers to those questions.  Decide now to choose how you want your answers to look.           

So...know what you stand for, make sure you can fund difficult times, maintain healthy relationships and be a good steward of your health and your talents.  Whether these are applied on an individual basis or on an organizational basis, they will prepare you for the Accidental Journey we all travel.

Tom

I'm a "change person" - new ideas, new surroundings and new experiences energize me.  In my role as the leader of a company that helps clients develop employee engagement strategies, I'm usually on the side of the change equation that is creating the vision for what the future could look like and then facilitating the change.  I get to see the change before it happens.  Recently, the "change tables" have been turned and I learned something in the process.

All of us are aware of the new technologies and applications that are prevalent in business today (internet based apps, social networking, communication tools).  I have been working to adapt to the "new tools" and to become proficient with them.  It's been a struggle...  I have so many "old school" habits that I am forced to change - the way I think, the way I communicate, the way I spend time - and it really feels awkward to me.  There have been times my resolve has weakened and I've said to myself, "forget it...I'm far enough along in my career that I don't need to worry about this stuff" - bad thinking and I'm trying to banish those thoughts.

I'm experiencing what it feels like to have change "forced" on me.  It's uncomfortable, it takes time to adapt, to learn how to think differently, act differently, speak and write differently... Going through this process has not made me any less inclined to seek out healthy change and to be a change agent; but it has reminded me that people need time to process change.  How much time?  I don't know - it probably depends on the type of change and the severity of the change.  I know that I will be more aware of the need to plan for a "grace period" during times of change to allow people to deal with the complex emotions around doing things differently than they're accustomed to.

Tom

The Miller Company's CEO, Tom Miller, has a featured article in "Return on Performance", a new publication by the Incentive Marketing Association. Tom's article is titled, "A Healthy Recognition and Reward System Helps You Lead".

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In your role as leader, think about the tools available to communicate the strategy and tactics in place at your company. There are the things you say publically, the messaging carried by your management team, the vision/mission/values statements that populate your website and conference room walls, compensation plans, inventive and bonus plans...and your non-compensatory Recognition and Reward System (RRS).

RRS as a means to support leadership is something of a new concept. Not long ago, "recognition" typically meant acknowledging the length of time someone had worked at your company. Tenure cuts across all job descriptions and performance levels and, used creatively, it can serve as a rallying point for an individual or department. But the recognition industry has widened to celebrate other forms of success, too.

Contemporary business issues have served to shape recognition in a way that is more reflective of the needs of forward-thinking companies. Recognizing tenure has been coupled with enabling employees to acknowledge "right behaviors" when they see them (commonly called peer-to-peer recognition). When recognition for high performance is added, the makings of a healthy RRS are in place. How do these pieces come together to help you lead?

Regardless of your leadership style, there are some commonalities all leaders share in their job descriptions. They include having vision, aspiring to help employees succeed and creating a secure job place. Let's consider how a well-designed RRS could multiply your efforts in each of these roles.

Being a "visionary" may be the most common way to describe a leader. Visionaries see the future and then lead toward that goal. But what gets them to the goal? Behaviors. Only by identifying and calling out the behaviors necessary to achieve success, and then practicing those behaviors, can a goal be reached. An RRS serves as an accountability system for the behaviors necessary to achieve organizational objectives. It's always there - reminding everyone how to be a contributor in achieving your visionary goal.

Any leader worthy of the title understands the importance of helping others succeed. An RRS serves as a consistent encourager to all employees. It's critical that every person in every position within your organization has a reasonable opportunity to be recognized and rewarded when behaviors warrant. Employees want to know they are valued - with an RRS in place, there's a much greater chance of "catching someone doing something right".

The vast majority of your employees are looking for stability in their work. Change is difficult and scary for them. You know what happens to productivity when negative rumors and fear circulate. An RRS serves to highlight contributions that are leading to success. Individual or group successes signal organizational stability. So, in good times or bad, an RRS regularly communicates that positive things are happening within your company.

There's much to discuss about what a healthy RRS looks like. That's another article for another day. For now, consider how an RRS might multiply your leadership efforts and how your company and its employees would benefit.

This summer, I’ve had a chance to participate in a couple of conferences that have impacted my understanding of what’s going on in “recognition world”. For any of us, when we immerse in our work, we risk beginning to view the world through a lens that can become distorted and separate from reality (if you manufacture hammers, everything looks like a nail. If you develop and operate recognition and incentive systems, every business issue can be solved with more recognition). So, it’s refreshing to get away from the regular work environment and consider alternative perspectives.

In June, I was part of a Think Tank sponsored by the People for Performance Management and Measurement (www.performanceforum.com). Academics and senior management from various industries around the country were invited for a day to the Medill School of Marketing at Northwestern University. The agenda for the day was to discuss the research that had been done by the Forum and to propose new areas for future research. As I observed the discussions that took place throughout the day and honestly evaluated the perspective of each person (most were not from “the industry”) it occurred to me that human behavior is very complex and that any one-dimensional solution will not bear much fruit.

I recently returned from the Incentive Marketing Association Summit (www.incentivemarketing.org) held in Boston. This conference is exclusively attended by people from “the industry” – but from many different facets of the industry. Major issues at this three day conference included how to deal with the growth of gift card use, addressing multiple generations in the workplace and how to effectively use the technology at our disposal today. It was very interesting to hear how professionals from different spaces within the same industry would respond to the various subjects – and it helped me “adjust” the lens through which I view my work product.

The net outcome for me is that are many ways to address people issues in the workplace and that, while it would be foolish to believe that any one of them will have impact by itself, in concert there are effective levers to be built with recognition and reward systems. So, pick your analogy – throw a pebble in the pond and the ripples it produces, an instrument playing by itself versus in an orchestra, an athlete acting alone or as part of a team; but know that when dealing with people issues, there’s no one “magic solution” that will lead you to employee Nirvana. Any solution to “people issues” will lie in the application of multiple tactics and in the skill to determine how those tactics should work together.

Regards,

Tom