There is No Maximum to Human Potential

6 Ways to Motivate Different People in Your Workplace

 

Research conducted in 2004 found six different segments in the American workplace. All workplaces, especially large ones, will likely employ some of each type of worker. The list includes:

1. Fair and Square Traditionalists, who want their work to provide stability and a secure future.

Motivate them by:

• Asking for and giving them feedback
• Talking to them frankly
• Discussing the mission and their role in making it happen

2. Accomplished Contributors, who prize teamwork.

Motivate them by:

• Nudging them toward team leadership roles
• Giving them specific measurements of their success and growth
• Asking them what they want to do next

3. Stalled Survivors, who see work as work, not life.

Motivate them by:

• Focusing on work-life balance and what to do when one is out of kilter
• Putting them on teams that provide support, empathy and role models
• Helping them plan for their career future

 4. Demanding Disconnects, your least satisfied workers.

Motivate them by:

• Giving them non-routine tasks
• Discovering their strengths to use on the job
• Paying attention to their ideas

5. Maverick Morphers are enthusiastic and like trying new things.

Motivate them by:

• Providing a congenial work environment
• Letting them know what's going on
• Discussing their progress

6. Self-Empowered Innovators like work for the sake of work.

Motivate them by:

• Giving them responsibilities that allow for learning and growth
• Ridding their path of obstacles
• Allowing them to stretch the company's vision    

Article by:  Jim Sirbasku, CEO

Profiles International

Six Worker Segments

 

Q: When Are Assumptions Good? 

A. Never, When Options Exist 

 

Even employers with the best of intentions are guilty of assuming too much. As they see workers of different ages, genders and racial makeup working side-by-side, they might think that this one fits in a group that wants to multitask at a fast pace because she is young, while her counterpart from another generation is interested in slowing down.
 

As we learn from experience, assumptions are often wrong. That young person may prefer devoting her attention to one workplace issue at a time, while her older co-worker is the multi-tasker. Many things, including life stages, could affect each of them. And if a leader changes work assignments based on erroneous assumptions, he could end up with disgruntled or absent employees, high turnover and unfinished projects.
 

The only truly effective method of managing diverse employees is to look at each one as an individual and to understand what motivates them. Then, coach them regularly to get the behavior you want.
 

Last month we stressed the importance of coaching and how effective coaches connect with individual employee needs. Supporting our goal of knowing what it takes to engage our workers and coaching them regularly to higher performance levels is research we conducted with The Concours Group and Age Wave. The findings, published in the manual WHY We Work, helpfully define six different segments of employees working in our organizations. This research found that different groups of people need different things to remain engaged on the job. This finding is widely relevant because most organizations, especially large ones, contain some of each group.  
 

Briefly, the six worker segments include:

1. Fair and Square Traditionalists, who make up the largest part of the workforce at 20 percent. They are loyal and traditional, as their name implies, and want their work to provide stability and a secure future.
2. Stalled Survivors, who represent 19 percent of the workforce. These workers see their jobs as a necessity. It is not the most satisfying part of their lives. These are often a firm's younger workers.
3. Accomplished Contributors, about 17 percent of the workforce. These loyal players often go above and beyond. They place a high value on teamwork.
4. Demanding Disconnects, 15 percent of our workers. As their name suggests, they are the least satisfied with work and the least committed to it.
5. Maverick Morphers, also about 15 percent of the workplace. These workers are generally young, like excitement, and do not fear taking risks.
6. Self-Empowered Innovators, about 14 percent. These employees make up the most engaged segment of the workplace and derive personal satisfaction from the job.

 

As Baby Boomers retire in larger and larger numbers, the workforce will contract. That means you will have a smaller pool of potential employees to choose from, and they will reflect all of the differences you see in our changing society. To succeed at coaching and managing, employers will have to study their workforce more intently than they did before and learn what makes them tick. 

You are likely seeing these different segments in your workforce now, and perhaps did not fully understand the transformation taking place or realize how widespread the changes were. Now that you know, why not take the time to find out what your employees want on the job? 

Assessments can aid you in identifying job fit and worker satisfaction, which can lead you to the best segment makeup for your organization. They can tell you which employees are well suited to their positions and which ones might benefit from a change. Once you know your employees, you will know which ones work most productively together and the combinations that could lead to disaster. And as your organization delves more deeply into coaching, your leaders will thank you for charting the territory in advance.  

Article written by Jim Sirbasku, CEO
Profiles International 

 

Turn it around for good

Tonight I watched a story on Evening Magazine about a family from our area that is setting off in a few days to bike across the United States.  They are leaving from Gig Harbor, WA on 5/18 and will arrive at the Statue of Liberty in NYC on 9/11/08.  What is so significant about this is Bob, the father, has only 1 limb.  He has one arm so he will be "pedaling" his bike 40 miles per day with his one arm.  To learn about Bob Mortimer, his family and his journey you can visit his blog or website. 

NetWORK-ing

I am not an English major but I believe that words ending in -ing signify action or verb--or describing an action in the moment.  It is interesting to me that people consider going to networking events networking.  Showing up does not mean we are doing. How many people go to work and are not actually working?  The same applies to NetWORK-ing.  Networking is more than showing up. It is going to the event and taking action.  For some people, this action does not seem like WORK. For others of us, it can be WORK or even painful.  Here are some rules I apply when I go NetWORK-ing.  And for the record, it used to be a painful experience for me and now it is actually enjoyable. 

1.  Nobody cares about you.  They are there to talk about their business.  Help them do this well and you will make great connections. 

2.  The majority of people are nervous to some degree in new environments and social situation so keep this in mind and be the one to take the first step.  I was working with a client recently who is still fearful of networking events. She stepped into her fear zone at an event recently and initiated a conversation with a woman in line for drinks.  The woman ended up being a key contact with a client of her firm and they are now talking and building a relationship.  SCORE!

3.  Help connect other people and you are the star!  If you know two people in the room that would benefit from meeting one another, take the time to introduce them.  When you do they will appreciate your help in facilitating the meet. 

4.  Stay away from the brochure people.  You know, the ones with the stack of brochures in their hands and laser beam eyes constantly scanning the room for their next contact. Just don't make eye contact and act like you did not see them.  If you do get trapped, take a brochure and be on your way.

5.  Use the pocket system to separate out the wheat from the chaff.  Good contacts in left pocket, duds and brochure pushers in right pocket.  At the end of the night, walk to the nearest recycle bin and empty out your right pocket.  This will keep your good contacts from getting lost in the piles of cards.

6.  Email left pocket people and ask them to go to coffee.  If you met at a mixer or event that you are both members of, ask them to meet you for a drink before so you can get to know them and just add on a few minutes of time for both of you.

7.  Don't go if you are not up to it.  This is not a cop out or excuse not to network.  What I mean is if you are not feeling good or upbeat it would be best to not go versus go and have a horrible experience and a negative impression of networking.  This makes it harder to go in the future. If you are constantly skipping events when you really need to go for your line of work then there is a different issue going on.

8.  When you get to your car jot down a few notes about each left pocket card so you remember some details of your conversation. 

I am sure there are 800 more tips to successful networking.  My main tip is it is WORK and requires action. 

The Impact of Interest on Outcomes at Work: How to Motivate Younger Workers to a Higher Level of Performance

Last fall I was hired to assess an executive administrator at a small business in a technical industry.  She was in her first job out of college, placed in the job by a staffing firm, and was considered very bright at the time she was hired.  Unfortunately, her output did not meet up to the owners’ expectations.  It was a puzzle to the owners because they knew she was capable of doing a good job, she had the skills to do a good job, even a great job.  What they were witnessing was a steady and accelerating decline in quality of work and more frequently missed deadlines. 

I used a total person assessment tool to understand her thinking style, her behaviors, and finally, her job interests.  The results I received back confirmed that she had the correct thinking style for the job, she had the perfect behaviors or personality, but she just had little interest in administrative work.  In fact, she scored a 2 out of a possible 10 in administrative interest.   

The fact was she could do the job well, she just chose not to because she was not interested in the work itself.  As a result, she was blowing her chances to succeed and do well in her first job—as well as her chances of getting a positive recommendation for future work.  It made me realize that gone are the days where younger people take jobs and work hard, invest themselves whether they liked what they were doing or not, just for the chance to move ahead.  Today these younger people want to be good at what they do, but they want to like the process and the work itself.  If they don’t like the work, they will perform to a lower standard or they will leave and go somewhere else. 

This realization caused me to coach my clients to ask some questions in the interview that will uncover interests so they can gauge if the position they were applying for will line up with the candidates interest areas.  I also coach my clients to make sure and help these younger workers develop a clearly laid out succession plan.  They need to know where they can be in 3 years at the company, what they need to learn and develop to get there, and that they have a supportive manager to help them along the way.  If they do not see a clear career path and an opportunity to grow, they will lose interest and go somewhere else. 

So you are probably wondering what we did to help the performance of the admin.  The truth is we did nothing to help her performance as an admin.  There is no training or coaching in the world that would boost her performance as an admin.  She simply was not interested in the work that admins do. Instead of wasting time and money for little return, we focused our time on uncovering what her true interests were and finding a position at the company that would be a better fit for her.  We discovered that she is very interested more technical and creative work so she was placed in a technical support role and is doing much better.  I would not consider her to be a top performer, but I would say she is B performer.  As the company grows, and as her maturity grows as a worker, my hope is that a new position will open up and she will have the maturity to take it on as an A performer. 

Amy Hedin is a professional speaker and executive coach at HumanPoint.  She works with senior leaders to help them improve their performance as leaders, and the performance of their employees.  For more information, contact amy@human-point.com or call toll free 877-494-7947.