Not Every Frog Is A Prince: Can You Recognize The Princes (And Princesses) And Lead Them To Success? – Part 2

In the first issue of our 5-Part Series on Leading and Motivating Staff, we started off our journey into the complex world of understanding people to manage and lead them more effectively with a definition of our job as managers or owners responsible for our staff’s performance and growth. We talked about various motivational theories and strategies and in particular, we introduced Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and his theory that people choose to perform differently based on their unique needs and the level they are at in the Hierarchy of Needs. We learned, for example, that if a member of our team is at the Self-Esteem level any attempt to motivate him/her with team projects, group activities and any kind of incentive that would reward the group effort over individual performance, would not work as effectively as if the same individual were at the Belongingness and Love level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Knowing the level each and every member of your staff is at (and that it can change any time various personal and/or professional circumstances change and various events occur) can be important because it helps you as a manager put things in perspective and empathize with your staff even before you set out to help them maximize their full potential. We then left off with the promise to make it easier for you to thoroughly understand these somehow complex theories by presenting you with a case study and by asking you to apply your knowledge and understanding of Maslow’s thinking to answer some questions.

How will you know if you answered correctly? First of all, with a few exceptions, there are no wrong answers as long as there is a justification for your answer. After all we are dealing with people’s feelings and emotions and we all know how subject to interpretation every situation can be. However, there are suggested answers and you will be able to compare your answers to ours and determine which one makes it for a stronger case (our answers will appear in the next issue of Running Intelligence – Part 3 of this series).
Before I introduce the case study, let’s first refresh your memory on some of the key learnings that were part of the previous article and let’s do in the form of a Q & A. You may try to answer the following question yourself and then compare your answers to ours listed at the end.

1: Can employees who are in the Belongingness and Love level be motivated by individual awards?
2: What would happen if we had a team made up entirely of Self-Actualizers?
3: What would a team of all Safety look like?
4: What would motivate a team at the Self-Esteem level?

1: No, because that is a Self-Esteem Motivator; 2: They would be very difficult to motivate, as they would only be concerned about very large social issues!; 3: Probably all carrying guns!; 4: Anything that rewarded them for their unique contributions. The individual is key.

Case Study

You have just acquired a running store that has been in business for over 30 years. The previous owner decided that it was time for him to retire and he was looking for a buyer for his business. You had been thinking about buying a retail store for a long time and this store was a “dream come true.” Running had been a passion of yours for years and you had grown tired of working for others and were looking for the right opportunity to have your own business.

The store owner spent a lot of time sharing information about the store you were buying and strongly suggested that you keep the staff as they were all highly qualified and loved working at that store. The store had been highly successful and you knew that part of it was because of a well trained and motivated team, so you decide not to let anyone go and not hire anyone new.

This was the first time that you actually had “staff.” In your previous jobs, you never had anyone directly reporting to you. Now, you have five people that report directly to you and that you are responsible for. On your first day, you met the staff and they all appeared friendly and competent. They are:

John Doe, 27 years old, sales associate (1 year with the company)
Ralph Sprat, 24 years old, sales associate (4 years with the company)
Sue Spring, 22 years old, sales associate (2 years with the company)
Barb Barker, 45 years old, store manager (10 years with the company)
Jack Rambling, 35 years old, assistant manager (12 years with the company)

On your second day at work, shortly after you arrived, Sue came to see you and told you that everyone was going out for drinks after closing. She asked if you would like to join them. When you asked who was going, she told you that it was Ralph, Barb, John and herself as Jack never joined them for drinks or other activities. You did not give her an answer right away because you had to check your calendar that was still in a box and had not been unpacked yet.

A little later, Jack knocked on your door and asked to speak with you. He began the conversation by telling you that he was glad that you were here and that the former owner “played favorites.” He said he was glad to have someone who was young and not “involved” with any of his co-workers. You asked him what “involved” meant, and he said that the previous owner used to go out for drinks twice a week with John, Sue, Barb and Ralph and that he (Jack) always felt left out. When you quizzed him about why he did not go with them, his answer was: “I can't really afford to go out for drinks that often. I am trying to advance my career and I prefer to stick around to take proper care of all closing procedures and make sure that the store is fully ready for the next day.” He left your office.

A few minutes later, Barb came into your office and also asked if you were joining them for drinks. She said that this was an important tradition and that the former owner had instituted it years ago. She also told you that she hoped that you would continue doing it.

Then John came in your office and you wondered if you should install a revolving door! John also asked you if you were going to have drinks with the group tonight. You told him that you had not made up your mind yet. He said that he had always participated in these “social gatherings” after work because he was afraid that the former owner might give him a bad review and he really needed the job because his brother was very sick and he had to help with the medical payments.

Finally, Ralph appeared right after John left. He also asked if you were joining them for drinks after closing. He said that it was not important to him to go, and as a matter of fact, he only made about one of these “outings” a month as he often had more pressing things to do. He said that he would be happy if you came, but not to worry if you could not make it.

Questions

Q: What need level are your employees functioning at?

Employee Need Level
John Doe ___________
Ralph Sprat ___________
Sue Spring ___________
Barb Barker ___________
Jack Rambling ___________

Q: Knowing your employees’ Need Level, how would you handle the situation? Would you go out with them?
Q: What insights does their Need Level give you to a solution?
Q: What is your solution? What will you tell your employees and what is your reasoning?

As we said earlier, you will be able to compare your answers to ours in the next issue of Running Intelligence.

Powerful Motivators

We continue our review of psychological theories that can help us understand our staff better and motivate them to higher levels of performance by talking about two powerful motivators: Affiliation and Achievement. As you will see, both motivators tie directly to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and help you determine what exactly motivates people at various levels and therefore what motivators you should devise for them that are in line with their needs.

Affiliation

Affiliation can be defined as simply the need of people to:
➢ Be part of a group. Affiliation is a broad definition of motivation that says that people are motivated by being part of something larger than they are. Affiliation motivation works for people whose needs are at the Belongingness and Love level of Maslow’s Hierarchy. People in this group want most to be part of a team.
➢ Be liked. People in this group also want to be accepted and liked by the team.
➢ Be with other people. Being with people makes these people feel accepted.
➢ Build synergism (1+1 = 3). Affiliation is good because it creates synergy through which the team becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

People who are in the Affiliation group are generally motivated by:
➢ Group contests and rewards. The best way to motivate people in the Belongingness and Love level is to provide group contests and rewards. In this case, you should provide just one goal for the entire team because the success of the group is far more important than individual recognition for people at this level.
➢ Social activities. Activities outside of working hours such as, drinks at the pub, parties or softball teams (anything social) will work well with this group. If you employ just Belongingness and Love level people in your store, you may have a supportive, non-competing group.

Achievement

Achievement is defined as the need of people to:
➢ Improve continuously. Achievement is a broad definition of motivation that says that people are striving to improve themselves. It works for people whose needs are at the Self-Esteem level of Maslow’s Hierarchy.
➢ Be challenged. People at this level need to strive and be challenged.
➢ Compete. People at this level have their Belongingness and Love needs met and now they want most to compete and achieve — often against standards that they set themselves (it is often said that they are the worst critics of themselves and they make it a goal for themselves to raise the bar ever higher).
➢ Grow. People at this level want to achieve their goals because this leads to personal growth. This is good because it creates achievement-oriented competition in which people meet their targets and goals.

People who are in the Achievement group are generally motivated by:
➢ Individual goals and incentives. The best way to motivate Self-Esteem people is to provide individual goals and incentives. You provide individual targets and people will relish the personal challenge of meeting and beating them.
➢ A competitive environment. When competition is lacking, Self-Esteem people tend to lose interest quickly. If you employ just Self-Esteem level people in your store, you may have a group of competitive, non-supporting individuals.

Affiliative Achievers

Achievement and Affiliation together are the most powerful of motivators. People in both categories will be motivated by group activities if you also provide personal recognition. This is true of people who are in the Self-Esteem need level, who will gladly be part of a team, if they also get personal recognition. This means that you need to provide both Affiliation motivation and Achievement motivation in order to cover both groups.

Any professional sports team will serve as a model of how to do this. Whether the sport is baseball, basketball or football, individual players win only when their team wins. No matter how dominant the team’s “superstar” may be, that person cannot reach the goal alone. They know that everyone must play as a team in order to be successful (Affiliation motivation). At the same time, however, everyone keeps track of exactly who made the shots and who scored the points during the game and that clearly affects contract negotiations (Achievement motivation).

By following this model, you will see that the most powerful team you can build in your business is a team of “Affiliative Achievers.” These are people at the Self-Esteem level of Maslow’s Pyramid and they understand that the only way they can win is by working together.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series as we continue our review of Motivation Strategies and some of the reasons why they may not always work. We are also going to post the answers to the case study included in this issue.

Jim Dion, founder and president of Chicago-based Dionco Inc., is an internationally known consultant, keynote speaker, trainer, and author of the best-sellers Retail Selling Ain’t Brain Surgery, It’s Twice As Hard, and Start and Run a Retail Business. His newest book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting and Running a Retail Store, is available at http://www.amazon.com or http://www.dionco.com

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