“The Suprising Truth About What Motivates Us”
Autonomy, mastery and purpose drive knowledge workers’ performance. Once basic financial needs are met, the traditional carrot and stick are done. In “The Suprising Truth About What Motivates Us” research by the Federal Reserve, Harvard, MIT and more well-established institutions leads to this surprising insight.
Rewarding with a carrot and threatening with a stick works for mechanical tasks but once cognitive processing is involved and basic financial needs are met, knowledge workers are more motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose than by financial reward. More money may even have a detrimental effect on performance. As long as salary levels are such that basic needs are met, other higher-order needs take over as motivators.
Of course people want to be paid fairly. But this research suggest that money spent on expensive bonus schemes is much better spend by encouraging higher performance by:
Providing more autonomy: Empower employees to decide how to meet the objectives and goals of the organization; give them more autonomy to determine how to deliver results.
Encourage mastery of skills: skilled staff often show an inclination to learn beyond the requirements of their day job; structuring the role of staff to provide for continuous learning and elevation of skill levels acts as a motivator and has been shown to help retention.
Provide a sense of purpose: Ideally your organization/company has a clear sense of purpose that is communicated to all employees. Management can also enhance this by delivering a clear sense of purpose for specific jobs that supports the company's purpose.
Enjoy the videos !
animation video by RSA >> presentation on TED >>
Rewarding with a carrot and threatening with a stick works for mechanical tasks but once cognitive processing is involved and basic financial needs are met, knowledge workers are more motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose than by financial reward. More money may even have a detrimental effect on performance. As long as salary levels are such that basic needs are met, other higher-order needs take over as motivators.
Of course people want to be paid fairly. But this research suggest that money spent on expensive bonus schemes is much better spend by encouraging higher performance by:
Providing more autonomy: Empower employees to decide how to meet the objectives and goals of the organization; give them more autonomy to determine how to deliver results.
Encourage mastery of skills: skilled staff often show an inclination to learn beyond the requirements of their day job; structuring the role of staff to provide for continuous learning and elevation of skill levels acts as a motivator and has been shown to help retention.
Provide a sense of purpose: Ideally your organization/company has a clear sense of purpose that is communicated to all employees. Management can also enhance this by delivering a clear sense of purpose for specific jobs that supports the company's purpose.
Enjoy the videos !
animation video by RSA >> presentation on TED >>
Doing IT themselves
37% of US employees use do-it-yourself technology to get their work done (Harvard Business Review and Forrester Research). With covert innovation like unsanctioned software and tools, employees are trying to solve business problems at the ground level. Being productive by harnessing new tools.
Consumers nowadays are tremendously well informed. Your customers often have more information than your sales team or your support staff. They can get a recommendation from someone in their business network while listening to your pitch. They can whack your brand from their smartphone, with video even, while waiting impatiently. Customers are empowered by information and connections. Companies better make sure to give customers better information than they can get elsewhere.
The only way to do that is to empower employees to directly engage the needs and expectations of empowered customers. Only empowered employees can solve the problems of empowered customers. Instead of waiting for their IT department to give them the tools innovative employees look for new tools to solve customer problems.
Companies have a real opportunity here to work with managers and employees to solve customer problems, to work more pleasant and be more productive.
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Consumers nowadays are tremendously well informed. Your customers often have more information than your sales team or your support staff. They can get a recommendation from someone in their business network while listening to your pitch. They can whack your brand from their smartphone, with video even, while waiting impatiently. Customers are empowered by information and connections. Companies better make sure to give customers better information than they can get elsewhere.
The only way to do that is to empower employees to directly engage the needs and expectations of empowered customers. Only empowered employees can solve the problems of empowered customers. Instead of waiting for their IT department to give them the tools innovative employees look for new tools to solve customer problems.
Companies have a real opportunity here to work with managers and employees to solve customer problems, to work more pleasant and be more productive.
read more >>
Reduce the cost of business intelligence
IT and business management are increasingly expressing alarm at rising costs associated with Business Intelligence (BI) implementations. A new report from Aberdeen Group reveals that top-performing companies are doing more with less.
IT and business management are increasingly expressing alarm at rising costs associated with Business Intelligence (BI) implementations. The fear of hidden costs has kept many companies from making an investment, and many adopters have found that ongoing support and maintenance costs for ever-changing analytical requirements inhibits user penetration and the ability to manage total cost of ownership.
A new report from Aberdeen Group entitled "Managing the Total Cost of Ownership of Business Intelligence" reveals that top-performing companies are doing more with less when it comes to managing the costs associated with implementing, deploying and supporting a BI solution. The report finds that Best-in-Class companies achieved significantly better year-over-year results on four key metrics:
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IT and business management are increasingly expressing alarm at rising costs associated with Business Intelligence (BI) implementations. The fear of hidden costs has kept many companies from making an investment, and many adopters have found that ongoing support and maintenance costs for ever-changing analytical requirements inhibits user penetration and the ability to manage total cost of ownership.
A new report from Aberdeen Group entitled "Managing the Total Cost of Ownership of Business Intelligence" reveals that top-performing companies are doing more with less when it comes to managing the costs associated with implementing, deploying and supporting a BI solution. The report finds that Best-in-Class companies achieved significantly better year-over-year results on four key metrics:
- 5.8% improvement in on-budget completion of BI projects, more than 5 times the average rate,
- 4.3% decrease in the cost-per-user of BI applications, more than four times the average rate,
- Average of 14 days to achieve completion of BI projects, almost three times shorter than Industry Average companies and over ten times shorter than Laggard companies,
- Average of .6 days (4.8 hours) to make a change or modification to an existing BI report or analytic view, versus 3.2 days among Industry Average companies and 7.9 days among Laggard companies.
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P&G's innovation culture
The heart of a company’s business model should be game-changing innovation. This is not just the invention of new products and services, but the ability to systematically convert ideas into new offerings that alter the very context of the business. Procter & Gamble’s success rate runs between 50 and 60 percent.
As they lead to repeat purchases, these offerings reshape the market, so that the company is playing an entirely new (and profitable) game to which others must adapt. A number of game-changing innovators are operating today, including such household-name enterprises as Procter & Gamble, Nokia, the Lego Group, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, DuPont, and General Electric.
Consider the case of Procter & Gamble Company. P&G has worked hard to make innovation part of the daily routine and to establish an innovation culture. They sought to create a system that would harness the skills and insights of people throughout the company and give them one common focus: the consumer. Without that kind of culture of innovation, a strategy of sustainable organic growth is far more difficult to achieve.
In 2000 P&G introduced new brands and products with a commercial success rate of 15 to 20 percent. In other words, for every six new product introductions, one would return our investment. This had been the prevailing ratio in our industry, consumer packaged goods, for a long time.
Today, P&G’s success rate runs between 50 and 60 percent. About half of its new products succeed.
read more >>
As they lead to repeat purchases, these offerings reshape the market, so that the company is playing an entirely new (and profitable) game to which others must adapt. A number of game-changing innovators are operating today, including such household-name enterprises as Procter & Gamble, Nokia, the Lego Group, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, DuPont, and General Electric.
Consider the case of Procter & Gamble Company. P&G has worked hard to make innovation part of the daily routine and to establish an innovation culture. They sought to create a system that would harness the skills and insights of people throughout the company and give them one common focus: the consumer. Without that kind of culture of innovation, a strategy of sustainable organic growth is far more difficult to achieve.
In 2000 P&G introduced new brands and products with a commercial success rate of 15 to 20 percent. In other words, for every six new product introductions, one would return our investment. This had been the prevailing ratio in our industry, consumer packaged goods, for a long time.
Today, P&G’s success rate runs between 50 and 60 percent. About half of its new products succeed.
read more >>
Design for frugal growth
With the right kind of organisation, you can expand while cutting costs.
The control of costs had been its greatest strength. But it was now the greatest weakness. The company had spent so many years trying to reduce expenses that this imperative was hardwired into its practices, processes, and organizational design. When executives tried to shift gears, to expand into new markets and introduce new products, the company was ill-equipped for the transition.
Business unit leaders spent much of their time looking inward, negotiating with the executives at headquarters who made the final decisions about personnel, product launch timelines, and many other operational issues. Meanwhile, consumers were growing increasingly sophisticated. They wanted more information about the company’s products. So did institutional customers, such as schools and restaurant chains.
As companies have struggled to create and execute growth strategies, investor expectations for the sector have remained high, and raiders continue to stalk the producers of popular brands. It’s no wonder that the industry has devoted its attention, for at least a generation, to reducing cost, streamlining operations and creating economies of scale by consolidating research, manufacturing, and distribution.
This approach has paid off in the past. But now, having turned themselves, in effect, into supercharged cost-cutting machines, how can these companies suddenly invest in the risky arenas of emerging markets and fundamental innovation? And if they can’t, how will they compete when frugality alone is no longer sufficient?
read more >>
The control of costs had been its greatest strength. But it was now the greatest weakness. The company had spent so many years trying to reduce expenses that this imperative was hardwired into its practices, processes, and organizational design. When executives tried to shift gears, to expand into new markets and introduce new products, the company was ill-equipped for the transition.
Business unit leaders spent much of their time looking inward, negotiating with the executives at headquarters who made the final decisions about personnel, product launch timelines, and many other operational issues. Meanwhile, consumers were growing increasingly sophisticated. They wanted more information about the company’s products. So did institutional customers, such as schools and restaurant chains.
As companies have struggled to create and execute growth strategies, investor expectations for the sector have remained high, and raiders continue to stalk the producers of popular brands. It’s no wonder that the industry has devoted its attention, for at least a generation, to reducing cost, streamlining operations and creating economies of scale by consolidating research, manufacturing, and distribution.
This approach has paid off in the past. But now, having turned themselves, in effect, into supercharged cost-cutting machines, how can these companies suddenly invest in the risky arenas of emerging markets and fundamental innovation? And if they can’t, how will they compete when frugality alone is no longer sufficient?
read more >>
