David LeeDavid Lee is the founder of Human Nature At Work. He is an internationally recognized authority on organizational and managerial practices that optimize employee performance. He is the author of Managing Employee Stress and Safety, as well as dozens of articles on employee and organizational performance that have been published in trade journals and books in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. He has held positions as a clinician and trainer in the healthcare field and as a supervisor and trainer in the corporate world.
entry 2 of 59 < previous | next >
Use Competition to Boost Employee Morale
Nov 1, 2009 12:17 PM
Categories: Management
I just read a great article in the October 2009 issue of Inc. on engaging employees through fun competition. As I read the article, I found myself thinking how employers should use practice as part of their strategy for improving employee morale. It's a fun way to counteract the feeling of "doom and gloom" permeating many workplaces.
The online version of the title is called “Letting Employees Battle It Out: College Hunks Hauling Junk uses sales contests to encourage rivalries and boost employee motivation
Here’s a brief overview and take aways:
Nick Friedman, president of College Hunks Hauling Junk talks about the role such competitions play in spurring on employees to perform at their best.
“A person’s day-to-day tasks don’t necessarily connect to external competition. Internal competition helps them be more productive at what they are accountable for. And ultimately, that puts the company in a better position to win market share.”
The Back Story
When the company’s Maryland branch pulled a collegiate-type prank on their Virginia branch—covering their truck in shaving cream and draping a U. of Maryland flag over it—the company’s founders decided to channel this “inter-school rivalry”.
They instituted a “Who can haul the most junk this summer?” challenge.
Soon after, the founders replaced this with key performance indicators and developed a dashboard that could be viewed on the company’s intranet. Most employees check their own and their rival’s numbers each day.
Note: There is HUGE power in employees knowing their numbers. A classic example I often share with managers comes from a billing department in a company that was told its turn around time was twice the industry average. Just having that fact alone was enough for the department on its own to cut their turn around time in half—from 4 days to the industry average of 2—in 30 days. They became so excited about their success, they continued the process until they got it down to 4 hours.
From 4 months to 4 hours.
Please, don’t just marvel at how getting performance metrics was all that it took for this team to go from sub-par to superstar.
Apply this. Work with your team to find out what metrics you can provide them on a daily or weekly basis to help them see how they’re doing.
OK, back to the article…
The author of the article, Leigh Buchanan, also provides excellent guidelines for making internal competition “a good thing” and not another irrelevant, or worse, toxic, program:
1. Make sure you structure it so it doesn’t reward cheating or sabotaging rivals. - A great example is competing for a safety record could lead to not reporting accidents and injuries.
2. Make prizes big and small - Besides the fact that you can provide a lot of small prizes for the price of a single large prize, small prizes are less likely to turn employees’ focus away from the pride of peak performance—a danger of using money and large prizes to reward effort. We know from research that when people do things for external rewards, it diminishes internal motivation—and can damage performance. For more info on this, see Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation.
3. Reward effort as well as results - If only a handful of people have the chance to win, the rest will lose interest. Create a blend of contests that focus on results and on others that focus on effort. Having the latter is especially important for new employees and the “Steady Eddies” in your organization who are unlikely to win outcome contests. Such a practice mimics the practice life coaches encourage for goal-setting: create goals around things you can control—i.e. your actions—rather than things you cannot—i.e. outcomes.
4. Publish results in real time - Real time metrics are relevant and actionable. Historical data less so. Also, providing ongoing, daily metrics helps keep performance on the front burner.
5. Don’t do this in “shark-centric” cultures - If your company’s culture is already a “look out for number one” environment with little camaraderie and collaboration, this is probably not a good idea. Also, if employees are already feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, this might be perceived as an added burden.
You can see these in slide format here
Using fun competition and keeping morale up in difficult times
As I wrote about in the articleHow to Recession Proof Your Workforce, two of the most powerful ways of building employee morale during difficult times are to:
1. Give employees as many opportunities as possible to feel “The Thrill of Victory” - Contests, challenges, short term projects that provide quick “wins” all do this. From the world of psychobiology, we know that working towards goals pumps dopamine into your system, which is a major “feel good” biochemical.
2. Celebrate Wins - It’s easy to get all “doom and gloom” when times are tough. When people focus on difficulties and problems, after awhile, they not only feel helpless and overwhelmed, they begin to see themselves as helpless and even as losers. This is obviously not conducive to a strong, “Can Do” workforce. By celebrating successes, you help shift the emotional climate to one of victory, success, and “can do”.
Celebrating successes and wins also helps cultivate a Winner’s Mentality in your people. This mentality increases the odds that they will notice and capitalize on opportunities that they wouldn’t if they were feeling helpless and overwhelmed. It also increases the odds they will have a “Bring it On!” attitude rather than an “Oh my God, we’re going down!” when faced with adversity.
Two good short articles on the Inc.com site related to this topic:
Stoking Team-Sales Spirit
The Office: Damned with Faint Praise:Great managers know when and how to lavish praise on their workers
Upcoming Seminar Scoop:
I'll be giving a BRAND NEW public seminar:
Changing Minds, Capturing Hearts, And Moving Bodies:
How to Help People See New Possibilities, Ignite Passion, And Spring Into Action
Held in:
Portsmouth, NH - 11/10
Concord, NH - 11/13
Scarborough, ME - 11/12
Lewiston, ME - 11/18
The online version of the title is called “Letting Employees Battle It Out: College Hunks Hauling Junk uses sales contests to encourage rivalries and boost employee motivation
Here’s a brief overview and take aways:
Nick Friedman, president of College Hunks Hauling Junk talks about the role such competitions play in spurring on employees to perform at their best.
“A person’s day-to-day tasks don’t necessarily connect to external competition. Internal competition helps them be more productive at what they are accountable for. And ultimately, that puts the company in a better position to win market share.”
The Back Story
When the company’s Maryland branch pulled a collegiate-type prank on their Virginia branch—covering their truck in shaving cream and draping a U. of Maryland flag over it—the company’s founders decided to channel this “inter-school rivalry”.
They instituted a “Who can haul the most junk this summer?” challenge.
Soon after, the founders replaced this with key performance indicators and developed a dashboard that could be viewed on the company’s intranet. Most employees check their own and their rival’s numbers each day.
Note: There is HUGE power in employees knowing their numbers. A classic example I often share with managers comes from a billing department in a company that was told its turn around time was twice the industry average. Just having that fact alone was enough for the department on its own to cut their turn around time in half—from 4 days to the industry average of 2—in 30 days. They became so excited about their success, they continued the process until they got it down to 4 hours.
From 4 months to 4 hours.
Please, don’t just marvel at how getting performance metrics was all that it took for this team to go from sub-par to superstar.
Apply this. Work with your team to find out what metrics you can provide them on a daily or weekly basis to help them see how they’re doing.
OK, back to the article…
The author of the article, Leigh Buchanan, also provides excellent guidelines for making internal competition “a good thing” and not another irrelevant, or worse, toxic, program:
1. Make sure you structure it so it doesn’t reward cheating or sabotaging rivals. - A great example is competing for a safety record could lead to not reporting accidents and injuries.
2. Make prizes big and small - Besides the fact that you can provide a lot of small prizes for the price of a single large prize, small prizes are less likely to turn employees’ focus away from the pride of peak performance—a danger of using money and large prizes to reward effort. We know from research that when people do things for external rewards, it diminishes internal motivation—and can damage performance. For more info on this, see Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation.
3. Reward effort as well as results - If only a handful of people have the chance to win, the rest will lose interest. Create a blend of contests that focus on results and on others that focus on effort. Having the latter is especially important for new employees and the “Steady Eddies” in your organization who are unlikely to win outcome contests. Such a practice mimics the practice life coaches encourage for goal-setting: create goals around things you can control—i.e. your actions—rather than things you cannot—i.e. outcomes.
4. Publish results in real time - Real time metrics are relevant and actionable. Historical data less so. Also, providing ongoing, daily metrics helps keep performance on the front burner.
5. Don’t do this in “shark-centric” cultures - If your company’s culture is already a “look out for number one” environment with little camaraderie and collaboration, this is probably not a good idea. Also, if employees are already feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, this might be perceived as an added burden.
You can see these in slide format here
Using fun competition and keeping morale up in difficult times
As I wrote about in the articleHow to Recession Proof Your Workforce, two of the most powerful ways of building employee morale during difficult times are to:
1. Give employees as many opportunities as possible to feel “The Thrill of Victory” - Contests, challenges, short term projects that provide quick “wins” all do this. From the world of psychobiology, we know that working towards goals pumps dopamine into your system, which is a major “feel good” biochemical.
2. Celebrate Wins - It’s easy to get all “doom and gloom” when times are tough. When people focus on difficulties and problems, after awhile, they not only feel helpless and overwhelmed, they begin to see themselves as helpless and even as losers. This is obviously not conducive to a strong, “Can Do” workforce. By celebrating successes, you help shift the emotional climate to one of victory, success, and “can do”.
Celebrating successes and wins also helps cultivate a Winner’s Mentality in your people. This mentality increases the odds that they will notice and capitalize on opportunities that they wouldn’t if they were feeling helpless and overwhelmed. It also increases the odds they will have a “Bring it On!” attitude rather than an “Oh my God, we’re going down!” when faced with adversity.
Two good short articles on the Inc.com site related to this topic:
Stoking Team-Sales Spirit
The Office: Damned with Faint Praise:Great managers know when and how to lavish praise on their workers
Upcoming Seminar Scoop:
I'll be giving a BRAND NEW public seminar:
How to Help People See New Possibilities, Ignite Passion, And Spring Into Action
Held in:
Portsmouth, NH - 11/10
Concord, NH - 11/13
Scarborough, ME - 11/12
Lewiston, ME - 11/18
JimB says,
Great insight! The fact is we're wired for competition! In the "wussification" of America we've made life so bland and uninspired it should be no surprise when complacency and mediocrity dominate. Adulations for enlightened business people who understand the power of fair competition internally as well as in the open market! Best thoughts, Jim
Nov 7, 2009 09:47 AM
entry 2 of 59 < previous | next >
1 Comment: