Morgan McLintic on PR and Performance

Do performance incentives really work?

2010-02-08T12:17:06-08:00

In his excellent book, Drive, Daniel Pink suggests that performance rewards do not work for creative activities. Our motivation for tasks we find intrinsically enjoyable is actually decreased by the presence of a reward for doing it. The reason is we turn our focus from enjoying the task to seeking the reward. Over time, unless the reward increases, our motivation for the task, which we previously enjoyed, will diminish.

Further, there is a growing body of evidence, which suggests for open, creative activities, the presence of an If/Then reward (If you do this, Then I'll give you a Scooby Snack), also decreases performance. The logic here is that we are so focused on the reward, we become closed to alternative, non-obvious solutions to a problem. So the presence of a reward not only decreases motivation but also performance. The goal of having a reward in the first place was exactly the opposite.

This has important implications for us as individuals - in how we are incentivized, in how we manage our teams, in how we relate to our kids. For instance, if you tell your child you'll give them a toy for reading a book, you erode the enjoyment of reading and transpose it onto the toy. Later on, no toy means no enjoyment in reading. Equally, that manager you offered a 10% cut of additional revenue, will actually start only doing it for the bonus, and will be closed to new ways to deliver the sales.

This also applies in agency life, in how we work with clients. Some clients look to increase performance by setting stretch goals with additional payments if they are achieved. The aim is to incentivize 'extra mile' performance. But the effect could be exactly the opposite. If the team intrinsically enjoys the work, adding a bonus will erode that fun, and also make their thinking more linear. Later on, if budgets decrease and there's no pot for bonuses, the program could under-perform the level it would have done prior, absent the bonus.

You can't give people motivation. You have to nurture it. Dangling a carrot can debase the level of motivation, reducing the activity to a transaction not a calling. According to the research, a better approach to motivating your team or agency, might be to clarify the mission and their role, give them all the resources they need (including financial), then let their intrinsic passion do the rest.

Webinar - Crisis management in a social media landscape

2010-02-05T13:59:06-08:00

I'd like to personally invite you to our free crisis management webinar on Friday February 12, 2010 at 9.00am PT. Click here for details and sign up. Hope you can make it.

Be a difference-maker

2010-01-22T13:49:16-08:00

Although Stephen Colbert talks about it tongue-in-cheek, far too few people are difference-makers. It's not about working hard, being smart or good at your job - lots of people are those. It's about moving the needle for your organization and leaving a legacy. We may think we're a vital cog in the machine, but the truth is few of us are indispensable or irreplaceable.

Companies want people who make a difference. Think back over the last twelve months and write a list of the significant things which wouldn't have happened without you. Being in the vicinity of success is not enough. Making it happen is what counts. If you are struggling to put things on the list, look at your current projects and focus on the big ones. Too often people get bogged down in 'busy work' or in projects which only get 80% done. Far better to do three major projects which are complete than five half-baked attempts.

Making a difference is not a function of seniority or experience. It's about focus, innovation and determination. Things which are different have never been done before. They're probably difficult. They might also be outside your job description. But it's what organizations want and need. It'll not only make you valuable, but also provide a foundation to the satisfaction you get from work.

Be passionate, not emotional

2010-01-21T09:15:34-08:00

I spoke yesterday with a rather aggressive attorney about a fairly routine matter. During the course of the conversation he became heated as he struggled to make his point, got flustered and ended in slamming down the phone on me. Thankfully this behavior is rare, but it got me thinking about the role of emotion in business. We hear a lot about following your passion, and certainly that is intimately linked to emotion. No-one wants to work with a Borg-like automaton, so some emotion in our work is important. Enthusiasm and joy are infectious.

Some might say that business should be dispassionate and purely objective. Just focus on the destination, not the journey. And of course, there are times when we need to be analytical and left-brained. But we are emotional by our nature, and we spend much of our lives working. The challenge for us as professionals is to select which emotion is the most appropriate for each situation. We have to learn to separate stimulus from response.

Positive emotions are very welcome in a work environment. It's when you detect negative emotions - anger, frustration, annoyance - in yourself that you need a mental 'red flag' to pop up. When I'm annoyed, I can make poor decisions or do things I later may regret. It's at that point we need to change emotional gear to select the one most appropriate, and to avoid making a mistake or compounding a difficult situation. Just like my 'friend' the attorney did yesterday.

Get in. Get on. Go home.

2010-01-18T12:24:58-08:00

There is a theory that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master any activity - playing the violin, playing tennis, coding software, writing copy. The more you work at a task, the better you will get. 10,000 hours is a long time. If you worked a 60-hour week, non-stop without vacation or days off, it'd take you over three years.

Mastery does not come quickly.

But it's not just the amount of time, the quality of that time that also counts. Case in point, I'm as fit as I was this time last year, despite exercising regularly in 2009. To improve we need to push our limits, and then allow time to recover. I need to do interval training in my running where you run at a faster rate periodically, rather than just steadily pacing it out. The same is true in our professional lives. Push the limits, then recover.

As you progress beyond early career, energy management becomes important. To perform at our best, we need to consciously manage our focus and where we dedicate our energy. We also need to test our limits, and allow ourselves to rebuild reserves. If you don't bust it out occasionally, you'll lose the capacity to work those 12-14 hour days. But if all you do is 12-14 hour days, you'll burn out. It's like over-training - you actually get worse, not better.

So to get those 10,000 hours to mastery, make sure each hour counts. Pacing it out won't improve your performance.

Get in. Get on. Go home - this is the easiest way to avoid burn out and to make sure you are 'interval training' at work.

Get in - Start early, your most productive hours are likely to be in the morning when you are well-rested.
Get on - Choose three Must Dos and do them. Get the first one checked off before opening your email or having your first meeting. Make some of them hard.
Go home - Hit the gym, take that class, see friends, focus on your kids. You need this re-creation to renew for tomorrow.

If you repeat this cycle, you will not only improve, but you'll also be more productive along the way.