RSA Animate: Motivation

This was particularly interesting to me, because at onetime I had a company and we had a team of software engineers, who seemed to consistently produce less each consecutive month. I began experimenting with motivation techniques. It was an expensive, frustrating and ultimately forlorn endeavor. I began; by thinking that we could motivate employees by paying them when they preformed really well and in my mind that was paramount to growth. This makes sense on the surface, but I always had my doubts. I wondered why companies didn't do things this way. I mean, why they never paid technical staff like sales people. Surely they were just as, if not more important these day's . What ended up happening is a long story and ends with my decent into managerial madness. I became consumed with making my employees happy and productive (physco bug-eyed Bobblehead). At one point, I offered each of them a stake in the business. I'm talking about full partnerships, just accepting the terms would have entitled then to a five figure dividend check within a week. You see, my business partner was frustrated with the pace of progress and pressuring me from one side and I was passing that down the line. The only way that I could justify that, was with a stake in the company. I was shocked, just godsmacked when my top employee refused the partnership. He was making about 2k a month and that would have been a huge raise. He asked me if he would be guaranteed 2k a month but take anything over that. I said of course not, you make what we earn. He responded with no thanks. At that point, I knew I had it all wrong. I was trying to motivate these people with the things that motivate me. I'm motivated by boundless risk:reward like most entrepreneurs, It's how were wired. Most folks like to know their going to get a set income and that their bills are paid. Beyond that, they just don't care, and actually it seems that some people are offended. Which I understand, they have given to their work all they had to give and my offer is insinuating that they're insufficient.

Ok, so the imidiate bump in productivity was followed by a sag. This lead to declining revenue and that lead to reduced bonuses. When I explained to the employees that they would not be receiving as much of a bonus as they had the previous month due to poor performance. You can guess what happened next… The gotcha, which I think he overlooks here, is that people in technical positions expect the positive feedback loop to reward them for well written code and secure networks. Those of course make no money at all. Now that's not to say that they're worthless, they just don't typically generate revenue. So, what I was actually doing was demoralizing them with monetary incentive. The story is longer than this, I had databases and spreadsheets showing the investment to return ratio of human capitol… I couldn't agree more with this video's message.

The management term used in the abstract “feedback loop”, it's controlled by your boss(s) and they have a degree of liability in your acceptance or rejection of it's content. I was trying to inject money, that was like putting radiator fluid in someones IV drip. The speaker seems to hit the hammer right on the head with what does work. Im just saying that there are far worse reasons NOT to use money than he illustrated. Not only does performance go south, you loose an important trust bond with your employees that ultimately destroys the relationship and results in a parting of the ways more times than not.

I was young foolish… thank Shiva I'm not young anymore :)

yeah my experience, while not with hiring and managing people has been pretty much the same conclusion. When I talk to friends about ambition and motivation, goals, etc… They all seem to STOP right after food, shelter, a little bit of amenities, and maybe some vacations sprinkled here and there. Why are entrepreneurs always wanting more? Well I dont think its all that different from what this video is saying to what we are doing. I think we both like the challenges, and want to conquer their ideas. I do think everyone has a level in their head they want to obtain, so certain people have higher ones (which I think shows their courage). What is interesting though Richard about what you said about giving the stake in the company with an instant pay raise and how they didnt take it, we both know the more money you have the MORE choices you have in life. I dont think they get that like we do. If you have all the money you need in life, then you get to decide what YOU want to do everyday.

I love this video. While I do love raises, they don't affect the work I do at all. They do help to ensure that I stay with my present employer. I do have an opportunity to move back to an older job, working with people I liked working with more, but the big reason I stay is because they are a 100% Microsoft shop, and I like working with PHP and Oracle on Unix system with my Ubuntu workstation. The fact they pay significantly less is a pretty big factor as well, but not as much as the technology factor comes in to play.