Are you the only person out there who hasn’t used a kitchen knife as a screwdriver or the bottom of a mug as a hammer? Are you the person who always has and uses the right tools for the right job? Well, I’m not. I have to admit that I often use tools that are not best suited to the job at hand–whether it’s putting up a picture hook or doing something really important like parenting a child or managing a team–there are tools that kind of work and there are tools (and approaches) that really work.
During “the great resignation” the challenges we’re experiencing might exist in weaknesses in the leadership toolkit. Maybe we’re using wrong, weak, or outdated tools to engage people, especially in a post-Covid, work remotely world.
If you’re the parent of two or more children, you’ve likely experienced this phenomenon. The parenting style that works for one child is a total no go with another. Let’s simplify. Our parenting toolkit will include three of the most common, and most researched, methods of motivating behavior:
1. Reward–what scientists call positive reinforcement. (Referred to as “the carrot” approach). In “Parent speak”: If you’ll clean your room, you can get more screen time.
2. Punishment–what scientists call negative reinforcement. (Referred to as “the stick” approach). In “Parent speak”: If you don’t clean your room, I’m taking away your screen time.
3. Persuasion–what I’ll call the “reasons” approach (where you offer reasons or logical support to what you want to happen. In “Parent speak”: If you’ll clean your room, I’m sure those two chargers you’ve “lost” are in there somewhere.
The challenge in this limited toolkit is two-fold:
1. Sometimes an approach works and sometimes it doesn’t.
2. Even when an approach works, it doesn’t last (have enduring effect).
Our son is a very sensitive, caring person–even as a young child. If we wanted to shape his behavior, a comment as simple as “I’m really disappointed with you–you’re not that kind of boy” would be more than enough to help him change.
His sister, who is also sensitive and caring but holds those characteristics in a hard outer shell of willfulness–expressing disappointment did nothing–there had to be some kind of “stick” approach used. The “shame” stick went nowhere.
Or “sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Especially in these inflationary times, it is not unusual for members of your team to seek a raise. It many cases, its well deserved. No organization can endure if its only response to a request for a raise is to grant it. So, let’s explore the second challenge in our traditional toolkit: Let’s look for an enduring but non-inflationary option.
The next time someone on your team approaches you for a raise, remind them that, “Don’t you remember? We gave you a raise last year. Remember how good that felt and the impact it had? Focus on that.”
And that is going to motivate them–connecting them to a motivation that had a positive effect at one point, as if its effect is enduring. I don’t think so.
Because, even when it works, it doesn’t last. Motivation requires an active and responsive toolkit.
You’re a leader who wants people back at their workstations or in their offices like they were prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
You offered a “carrot”–a reward. Major US employers, including large financial institutions, offered six figure packages to new, just out of college, recruits to come back to the office. The news is in–sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t (some will cross the bridge, transit the tunnel, sit in traffic) and some were not.
You tried “stick”–a punishment or negative consequence. They would have to come back, or they’d be terminated. And sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t–some just moved on. Others didn’t bother applying, knowing in advance that you were inflexible on days in the office.
Couple these challenges with the last reality–that even when something works, it doesn’t “last”. We are living in the time of the “great resignation”. By the turn of the 21st century we were already seeing evidence of rising generations–millennials and Gen Z placing value on and wanting different outcomes than previous generations–they were redefining carrot and stick and revisiting the logical arguments for things like “getting an education, starting a family, settling down, establishing a career”.
Then Covid-19 hit and ideas about how life and careers work became experiments in a fresh approach to things. And the outcome has been–messy.
We believe that traditional approaches to motivation, including positive, negative, and logical reinforcement, are going to need to make room for what we call the “With Toolkit”. The “With Toolkit” is a new way of looking at a new world.
It comes down to this:
If you want to motivate people in the 21st century so they’ll engage predictably and sustainably with your organization, you’re going to have to look at leadership and culture based on:
Talk with me
Work with me
Walk with me
Build with me
This is the new leadership toolkit–it doesn’t eliminate traditional tools, but it elevates them to a new, engaging level. The idea and motivation of “with” based relationships, personal or professional, will become the world of “with” based realities. And leaders who cannot make this transition will be left holding their carrots, sticks and arguments as their people move on.
