In the management of a small team, the human factor is crucial to
success.
This article considers possible motivators and a simple framework for
dealing with people.
When you are struggling with a deadline or dealing with delicate decisions,
the last thing you want to deal with is "people". When the fight is really
on and the battle is undecided, you want your team to act co-operatively,
quickly, rationally; you
do not want a disgruntled employee bitching about life, you do not
want a worker who avoids work, you do not want your key engineer being
tired all day because the baby cries all night. But this is what happens, and as
a manager you have to deal with it. Few "people problems" can
be solved quickly, some are totally beyond your control and can
only be contained; but you do have influence over many factors
which affect your people and so it is your responsibility to ensure that
your influence is a positive one.
You can only underestimate the impact which you personally have upon the habits
and effectiveness of your group. As the leader of a team, you have
the authority to sanction, encourage or restrict most aspects of their
working day, and this places you in a position of power - and responsibility.
This article looks briefly at your behaviour and at what motivates people, because
by understanding these you can adapt yourself and the work environment
so that your team and the company are both enriched. Since
human psychology is a vast and complex subject, we do not even pretend
to explain it. Instead, the article then outlines a simple model of behaviour
and a systematic approach to analysing how you can exert
your influence to help your team to work.
Behaviour
Consider your behaviour. Consider the effect you would have if every morning
after coffee you walked over to Jimmy's desk and told him what he was doing
wrong. Would Jimmy feel pleased at your attention? Would he look forward to
these little chats and prepare simple questions to clarify aspects of his
work? Or would he develop a Pavlovian hatred for coffee and
be busy elsewhere whenever you pass by? Of course you would never be so
destructive - provided you thought about it. And you must; for many
seemingly simple habits can have a huge impact upon your rapport
with your team.
Take another example: suppose (as a good supportive manager) you often
give public praise for independence and initiative displayed by
your team, and suppose (as a busy manager) you respond brusquely to
questions and interruptions; think about it, what will happen?
Probably your team will leave you alone.
They will not raise problems (you will be left in the dark), they
will not question your instructions (ambiguities will remain), they will struggle
on bravely (and feel unsupported). Your simple behaviour
may result in a quagmire of errors, mis-directed activity and utter frustration.
So if you do want to hear about problems, tell the team so and react
positively when you hear of problems in-time rather than too-late.
Motivation
When thinking about motivation it is important to take the long-term view.
What you need is a sustainable approach to maintain enthusiasm and
commitment from your team. This is not easy; but it is essential
to your effectiveness.
Classic work on motivation was undertaken by F. Herzberg in the 1950's
when he formulated the "Motivation-Hygiene" theory. Herzberg identified
several factors, such as salary levels, working conditions and company policy,
which demotivated (by being poor) rather that motivated (by being good).
For example, once a fair level of pay is established, money ceases to be
a significant motivator for long term performance.
Herzberg called these the "Hygiene" factors to apply the analogy that
if the washrooms are kept clean, no one cares if they are scrubbed
even harder. The point is that you can not enhance your team's performance
through these Hygiene factors - which is fortunate since
few team leaders have creative control over company organization or remuneration
packages. What you can influence is the local environment
and particularly the way in which you interact with your team.
The positive motivators identified by Herzberg are: achievement, recognition,
the work itself, responsibility, and advancement.
These are what your team needs; loads-o-money
is nice but not nearly as good as being valued and trusted.
Achievement
As the manager, you set the targets - and in selecting these targets, you
have a dramatic effect upon your team's sense of achievement.
If you make them too hard, the team will feel failure; if too easy, the
team feels little.
Ideally, you should provide a series of targets which are easily
recognised as stages towards the ultimate completion of the task.
Thus progress is punctuated and celebrated with small but marked achievements.
If you stretch your staff, they know you know they can meet that challenge.
Recognition
Recognition is about feeling appreciated. It is knowing that
what you do is seen and noted, and preferably by the whole team as well
as by you, the manager. In opposite terms, if people do something well
and then feel it is ignored - they will not bother to do it so well next
time (because "no one cares").
The feedback you give your team about their work is fundamental to their
motivation. They should know what they do well (be positive), what needs
improving (be constructive) and what is expected of them in the future
(something to aim at).
And while this is common sense, ask yourself how many on your team know these
things, right now? Perhaps more importantly, for which of your team
could you write these down now (try it)?
Your staff need to know where they stand, and how they are
performing against your (reasonable) expectations. You can achieve this
through a structured review system, but such systems often become
banal formalities with little or no communication. The best time to give
feedback is when the event occurs. Since it can impact greatly, the feedback
should be honest, simple, and always constructive. If in doubt, follow the
simple formula of:
-
highlight something good
-
point out what needs improving
-
suggest how to improve
You must always look for something positive to say, if only to offer
some recognition of the effort which has been put into the work. When
talking about improvements, be specific: this is what is wrong, this is
what I want/need, this is how you should work towards it. Never say anything as
unhelpful or uninformative as "do better" or "shape up" - if
you cannot be specific and say how, then keep quiet.
While your team will soon realize that this IS a formula, they will still enjoy
the benefits of the information (and training). You must not stint in praising
good work. If you do not acknowledge it, it may
not be repeated simply because no one knew you approved.
The work itself
The work itself should be interesting and challenging.
Interesting because this makes your staff actually engage their attention;
challenging because this maintains the interest and provides a sense of
personal achievement when the job is done.
But few managers have only interesting, challenging work to distribute:
there is always the boring and mundane to be done.
This is a management problem for you to solve. You must actually consider
how interesting are the tasks you assign and how to deal with the
boring ones.
Here are two suggestions.
Firstly, make sure that everyone (including yourself) has a share of the
interesting and of the dull.
This is helped by the fact that what is dull to some might be new and
fascinating to others - so match tasks to people, and possibly share the
worst tasks around.
For instance, taking minutes in meetings is dull on a weekly basis but
quite interesting/educational once every six weeks (and also heightens a
sense of responsibility).
Secondly, if the task is dull perhaps the method can be changed - by the
person given the task.
This turns dull into challenging, adds responsibility, and might even
improve the efficiency of the team.
Responsibility
Of all of Herzberg's positive motivators, responsibility is the most lasting.
One reason is that gaining responsibility is itself seen as an advancement
which gives rise to a sense of achievement and can also improve the work
itself: a multiple motivation! Assigning responsibility is a difficult
judgement since if the person is not confident and capable enough, you
will be held responsible for the resulting failure. Indeed, delegating
responsibility deserves another article in itself
(see the article on Delegation).
Advancement
There are two types of advancement: the long-term issues of promotion,
salary rises, job prospects; and the short-term issues (which you control)
of increased responsibility, the acquisition of new skills, broader
experience. Your team members will be looking for the former, you have
to provide the latter and convince them that these are necessary (and
possibly sufficient) steps for the eventual advancement they seek.
As a manager, you must design the work assignment so that each member of the
team feels: "I'm learning, I'm getting on".
Problems
We are going to look at a simple system for addressing people-problems.
It is a step-by-step procedure which avoids
complex psychological models (which few managers can/should handle) and which focuses
upon tangible (and so controllable) quantities.
One work of warning: this technique is often referred to as
Behavioural
Modification (BM) and many balk at the connotations of management-directed
mind control. Do not worry.
We are simply recognising that staff behaviour IS modified by the work
environment and by your influence upon it.
The technique is merely a method for analysing that influence to ensure
that it is positive and to focus it to best use.
In any group of people there are bound to be problems - as a manager, you have
to solve or at least contain them.
You ignore them at your peril.
Such problems are usually described in terms like: "Alex is just lazy" or
"Brenda is a bad-tempered old has-been".
On the one hand, such people can poison the working environment; the other
hand, these descriptions are totally unhelpful.
The underlying philosophy of BM is that you should concentrate upon
specific, tangible actions over which you have influence.
For instance "Alex is lazy" should be transformed into "Alex is normally late
with his weekly report and achieves less than Alice does in any one week".
Thus we have a starting point
and something which can be measured.
No generalities; only specific, observable behaviour.
Before proceeding, it is worth checking that the problem is
real - some "problems" are more appearance than substance, some are not
worth you time and effort.
So, stage 1 is to monitor the identified problem to check that
it is real and to seek simple explanations.
For instance Alex might still be helping someone with his old job.
Stage 2 is often missed - ask Alex for his solution.
This sort of interview can be quite difficult because you run the danger of
making personal criticism.
Now you may feel that Alex deserves criticism, but does it actually help?
Your objective is to get Alex to work well, not to indulge in personal tyranny.
If you make it personal, Alex will be defensive.
He will either deny the problem, blame someone else, blame the weather, tell
you that he knows best or some combination of the above.
If, on the other hand, you present the situation in terms of the specific
events, you can focus upon Alex's own view of the problem (why is this happening?)
and Alex's own solution (what can Alex do about it - can you help?).
Stage 2 will sometimes be sufficient.
If Alex had not realised there was a problem, he might act quickly to solve it.
If he had thought his behaviour would pass unnoticed, he now knows
differently.
By giving Alex the responsibility for solving his own problem, you can actually
motivate him beyond the specific problem: he may suggest on improved reporting
system, or a short training course to deal with a technical
short-coming.
Finally, the demonstration alone that you are interested in Alex's work may be
enough to make him improve.
Never assume that you know better, always ask first - then if no
solution is forthcoming, proceed to ...
Stage 3 is the analysis stage and is based upon a simple model of behaviour:
every action is preceded by a trigger, and is followed by a consequence
or payoff.
Thus baby is hungry (trigger), baby wails (action), baby gets fed (payoff);
or the report is due today (trigger), Alex goes for coffee break "to think about it"
(action), Alex has a relaxing afternoon (payoff).
Sometimes, good behaviour is blocked by negative payoffs.
For instance, if every time
Clive informs his boss Diane about a schedule change (action), Diane vents her
annoyance on Clive (payoff), then Clive will be less inclined to approach Diane
with information in the future. One of the problems with communication
in Ancient Greece was that the bearer of bad news was often executed.
Once you have analysed the problem, stage 4 is to find a solution.
With most people-problems at work, you will find that the "bad" behaviour is
reinforced by a payoff which that person finds attractive.
There are two solutions: 1) modify the payoff either by blocking it, or by
adding another consequence which is negative, or 2) create
a positive payoff for the alternative, desired "good" behaviour.
In the long term, the latter is preferable since it is better for
motivation to offer encouragement rather than reprimand;
optimally you should implement both.
This is where you have to be creative.
BM provides a manageable focus and a framework for analysis; you, as manager,
must provide the solution.
It is best to work on one problem at a time because this simplifies the
analysis.
Further, by addressing one, other related problems are often affected also.
Let us consider "late reporting".
Firstly, add a negative consequence to Alex's current behaviour.
State explicitly that you need the report by 3.30 on Friday (so that you
can prepare your weekly schedule update) - and, if this does not happen,
summon Alex at four o'clock
to demand the report before he leaves for the weekend.
This will probably ruin his "hour before the weekend" and he will wish to
avoid it.
Secondly, if Alex does get the report in by 3.30 make a habit of responding to
it on Monday morning: if there is an issue raised, help Alex to solve it; if
there is a schedule change, talk it over - but make it clear (
say it) that you
are only able to do this because you
had time on Friday to read over
his report.
Thus Alex learns that he will receive help and support IF he gets the report in
on time.
Stage 5 is necessary because such plans do not always work.
You must continue to monitor the problem and after a trial period, review
your progress.
If the plan is working, continue; if the plan has failed, devise a new one;
if the plan has worked, look for a new problem to solve.
Where to Seek Solutions
The range of problems is so large, that it is impossible to offer more
than generalities as advise.
Each person is different, each situation is different, so each solution must
be carefully crafted.
This being said, here are a few ideas.
Look for aspects of motivation - any problem which stems from lack of
commitment or interest can only successfully be addressed by providing
motivation, and any of the motivators described earlier can be applied.
Be flexible with regards to personal problems.
No parent is immune to the "joys" of a new born baby, no one is uneffected
by bereavement. When circumstances and the human factor impinge upon your
ordered plans, adapt; since you cannot change it, work with it.
Focus upon the problem (say, schedule slippage) and deal with that in the
existing situation.
For instance if you sanction half a day's "sick-leave" to see a solicitor,
you might save a week's worry and distraction.
On a larger scale, look carefully at the "systems" which exist in your team,
at those work practices which you and they follow through habit.
Some of these can work against you, and the team.
For instance, the way you hold team meetings may suppress
contributions (at 4 o'clock on a Friday, say); the way you reward
the exceptional may demotivate those responsible for the mundane.
Take a long term view. Constant pressure will eventually destroy your
team members. If you acknowledge that a relaxed yet engaged workforce
is (say) 10% more efficient than one which is over-stressed and fretful, then
you should realize that this amounts to half-a-day per week.
So why not devote half-a-day to: peer-group teaching, brainstorming
on enhanced efficiency, visits to customers (internal and external),
guest lectures on work tools, or all four on a four-weekly cycle.
You lose nothing if you gain a skilled, committed, enthusiastic team.
Finally, look carefully at how you behave and whether the current situation
is due to your previous inattention to the human factor: you might be
the problem, and the solution.
Gerard M Blair
is a Senior Lecturer in VLSI Design
at the Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh.
His book
Starting to Manage: the essential skills
is published by Chartwell-Bratt (UK) and the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (USA).
