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Do Incentives Make You Fat?
You receive an invitation from your HR department to win a mini-iPad if you lose weight. You think: What do I have to lose except some weight? What do I have to gain except health and a mini-iPad?
You may need to think again.
It seems that using these enticing incentives to motivate yourself results in a suboptimal motivational outlook that ultimately leaves you without the energy to follow through on your weight loss plans—especially if you are a man.
We now have significant proof that financial motivation does not sustain changes in personal health behaviors—and, in fact, may undermine them over time. What’s more, financial motivation negatively affects men’s efforts over time more than women’s. Rewards may help you initiate new and healthy behaviors, but they fail miserably in helping you maintain your progress. Shortly after the incentive is gone, you revert back to your old ways.*
So why do over 70 percent of wellness programs in the U.S. use financial incentives to encourage healthy behavior changes? Here are three potential reasons:
- If you are not pressured into losing weight, but invited to participate in a weight-loss program that offers small financial incentives, there is a likelihood you will lose weight—at least initially. But studies reporting weight loss success were conducted only during the period of the contest. They didn’t track maintenance. But recent studies show that just twelve weeks after the program’s incentives end, most or all of the weight is regained.
- Financial incentives are easy (if expensive).
- We haven’t understood until recently the true nature of motivation or how to effectively use the latest science of motivation to help people shift to an optimal motivational outlook that sustains effort and results over time.
It turns out that rewards and incentives are the fast-food of motivation—they give you a kick and then send your energy plummeting. To initiate and maintain a healthy lifestyle, you need the equivalent of motivational health food. Satisfying your basic psychological needs for A-R-C (Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence) is more likely to help you achieve your goals and feel good enough about the results to maintain them.
Great! But how do you shift from a suboptimal motivational outlook—and the ease and enticement of motivational fast food—to an optimal motivational outlook where you flourish by satisfying your healthy psychological needs? Part of the answer lies in learning the skill of Optimal Motivation. Here are three ways to start:
- Notice when you use phrases with the words have to in them: I have to lose weight. I have to eat healthy. I have to have a salad instead of fries. I have to is a subtle but significant sign that you are feeling a loss of freedom. Your need for choice—your perception of Autonomy—is being undermined. When you have to do what the diet demands, the thing you crave is autonomy. Ironically, the way you exercise your autonomy is by eating the fast food you had restricted yourself from eating. The act of banning the bad stuff makes you want it even more!
- Realize that you love yourself and your health more than you love the fast food. This is the power of Relatedness. In this case, you can consider fast food either literally or symbolically (winning the mini-iPad).
- Recognize the sense of positive well-being that comes each time you make a choice to do the best thing for your health. This positive feeling comes from your mastery over the situation—experiencing your Competence.
So the next time you are invited to join a program, lose weight, and win a mini-iPad, go ahead and take up the offer—but don’t do it for the iPad. Instead, do it for deeper values and the sake of satisfying your Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence. The iPad is no longer the carrot, but simply a symbol of your flourishing.
What do you have to lose? Weight. What do you have to gain? Health and a positive sense of well-being. Oh, and that mini-iPad!
References
* Moller, McFadden, Hedeker, and Spring, “Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention,” Journal of Obesity, Volume 2012, Article ID 740519.
Deci and Ryan, “The ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of Goal Pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior,” Psychological Inquiry (2000) Vol. 11, No. 4, pp 227-268.
About the author:
Susan Fowler is one of the principal authors—together with David Facer and Drea Zigarmi—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ new Optimal Motivation process and workshop. Their posts appear on the first and third Monday of each month.
3 Ways People Pretend to Work—at Home or the Office
Marissa Mayer’s decision to halt employee telecommuting at Yahoo has unleashed a torrent of controversy around telework, remote work, collaboration, and productivity.
For those of us who work at home or remotely, or even in an office, it’s a great time to refocus on what we do—consciously or subconsciously—that looks like work but often isn’t.
Here are three ways that people pretend to work.
Attend meetings
Our egos tell us that it is critical to stay fully informed on any project that has the potential to even slightly impact us. Even though meetings are largely ineffective, attending lots of them keeps you very busy. When you attend lots of meetings your calendar stays full—and yet you accomplish very little. This is perhaps the best way to pretend to work without really working.
Be hyper-responsive on emails and phone calls
Don’t read or think too much about each email, just respond quickly. In fact, responding to emails while passively attending a meeting can ensure that neither activity is truly productive. When you keep your email up all day and respond immediately, you can feel a great sense of “pretend” accomplishment. Since sending emails results in receiving more emails, you can honestly say, “I got 150+ emails today. I am exhausted!” This is probably very true.
Focus on speed and quantity, not quality, of communication
The accepted best practice around emails is this: If the third email hasn’t clarified the issue—pick up the phone. Ignoring this rule means you can have long strings of emails that show activity without really accomplishing work. Make sure you have an email trail that recaps every action taken. This ensures that you can always justify your lack of productivity by pointing to a flaw in someone else’s email.
Have you been caught by any of these strategies? Although I don’t know anyone who deliberately uses these strategies to avoid work, I suspect we have all had extremely busy days when we questioned our productivity and accomplishments.
Just in case you want to be very productive (which you do), here are some tips:
- Carefully choose which meetings, and how much of each meeting, you will attend.
- Focus on the quality of your communication, including reflecting or researching before you respond.
- Let others know your priority to set aside times for focused concentration, professional development, process improvement, and idea generation. Let people know when you will and won’t be available to respond quickly.
Using these strategies will require less energy, less activity, and fewer emails, and therefore will result in higher productivity.
Well, okay … you can still pretend to be tired, even if you‘re not!
About the author
Carmela Sperlazza Southers is a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. Her posts on increasing organizational, team, and leader effectiveness in the virtual work world appear on the fourth Monday of every month.
Leading for Optimal Motivation
Research in the fields of social, positive, and industrial/organizational psychology has repeatedly found that employees thrive best in work environments that allow them to think for themselves, and to construct and implement decisions for one course of action or another based on their own thinking and volition. The research is also clear that we suffer when we feel overly constrained, controlled, or coerced in our effort to produce high quality and high volumes of work.
The Power of Autonomy
In complementary terms used in the Optimal Motivation program, when we experience high quality autonomy at work (as well as relatedness and competence), we are more likely to be more creative, more positively energetic (as opposed to relying on stress energy) and more easily focused on accomplishing any task or goal, no matter how short-term, tactical, and mundane—or long-term, strategic, and magnificent. While leaders repeatedly report they want such creativity and focus from employees, employees repeatedly report how difficult leaders often make it for employees to feel those things.
For example, during a recent keynote presentation, several frustrated participants offered detailed examples of policies, procedures, and both overt and tacit cultural rules that make it difficult for them to feel free, creative, and positively energetic as persistently as the work demands. Nonetheless, a traditional leader response to such frustration is to tell the employees to stop complaining and adjust in some way so they feel less frustrated. Of course, by all means let’s all learn how to source our own sense of autonomy no matter what we are faced with. As if on cue in that conversation, one participant made precisely that a point by citing Viktor Frankl’s experience in a concentration camp as evidence of the kind of transcendence that is possible even in the most extreme environments. It’s a story to live by, to be sure.
Leaders Stepping Up
But, I think we also should be talking about the extent to which managers and executives actively step up to the challenges of changing policies and procedures—and organizational systems—that foment such frustration. Too many executives take a “deal with it” stance, rather than a stance of “let’s look into how we can modify or change this so you don’t have to spend so much mental and emotional energy coping with it like that anymore.”
Willing executives could see such a response as adding moral substance to their leadership, since it would shift from focusing only on what the executives want from employees (to just deal with it and get on with the work) to focusing more on what they want for their employees (a work environment that makes it easy for employees to autonomously commit themselves to meaningful, high quality, and high volume work.)
Leader, Would You Like to Shift?
Blanchard research shows that employees generally respond positively to this leadership upgrade with greater intentions to work at above average levels, to endorse the organization, and to stay with the organization longer. So, with such employee and organizational advantages, managers and executives, what have you got to lose?
About the author:
The Motivation Guy (also known as Dr. David Facer) is one of the principal authors—together with Susan Fowler and Drea Zigarmi—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ new Optimal Motivation process and workshop. Their posts appear on the first and third Monday of each month.
Is Discipline Overrated?
Over 30 years ago I watched a TV news documentary about the animals we eat–how we treat cows, pigs, chickens, fish. By the time the 15-minute broadcast was completed I knew I would never eat meat again. And indeed, to this day, I have not eaten any meat or fish–or foods flavored with them.
I often hear, “You are so disciplined.” My response is: “Not at all. Despite loving meat and fish, I have never waivered.” Don’t get me wrong–in the beginning I risked my health because I hadn’t learned how to compensate for a meatless diet. And there were times when the lack of vegetarian options frustrated me (and still do). But being a vegetarian has never come into question. Still, with so many people asking me how I made the dramatic transition, even I wondered, “Why has this been so easy?”
All these years later I think I have an answer, if not the answer. I truly believe this answer will help you and me to embrace any significant change or adapt an important new behavior.
The answer begins by not focusing on discipline! The nature of discipline is to make yourself do something you don’t want to do. The implication of discipline is that you feel imposed, forced, or obligated to do something and must dig deep to train or control yourself into action. The need for discipline puts you at a suboptimal starting point. I think there is a better way: The skill of Optimal Motivation.
Activating Optimal Motivation shifts your focus from what you don’t want to do, to what you want to do. Three elements of Optimal Motivation include:
- Recalling your developed values and sense of (work or life) purpose
- Recognizing how the change or new behavior satisfies your basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence
- Reflecting on your sense of positive well-being that comes from changing or adapting a new behavior.
I didn’t realize it 30 years ago, but I had naively used the skill of Optimal Motivation by tapping into my values and purpose for being a catalyst for good, satisfying my psychological needs by making a choice that deepened my relationship with all living things, and instead of focusing on what I was giving up, experiencing how good it felt to do what I was doing. The only thing that could have derailed my successful change effort was my lack of competence. But learning about nutrition became a priority so I could continue with those positive feelings. No discipline required.
So my question to you is this: If you have Optimal Motivation, do you need discipline? Or is discipline a signal that you are embarking from the wrong starting point? Maybe discipline is simply what others say you have when you act based on your values, purpose, and basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
About the author:
Susan Fowler is one of the principal authors—together with David Facer and Drea Zigarmi—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ new Optimal Motivation process and workshop. Their posts appear on the first and third Monday of each month.
7 Ways to Influence Employee Well-Being in the New Year
During a party to celebrate bringing Optimal Motivation™ to market this year, the conversation turned to the games we play in our personal time, and stories about our pets.
Victoria has a very special and very feisty cat that likes to be petted, but only on its head. Miss the mark and you are likely to receive a hiss and a toothy kiss.
Gary recently rescued an equally special and feisty dog from the middle of a road near his home. Now he is wondering how big it will get and how high the new fence needs to be.
I told about a gecko that lived under my refrigerator.
We also talked about research—and personal experience—of the effects of patient interaction with animals such as petting a dog or cat (or ferret, I suppose) on blood pressure (reduction) and mood (improvement).
Beyond the obvious suggestion to allow employees to bring their dog or cat to work once in a while (which may be impractical), I couldn’t help but wonder, what creative new programs could we create in 2013 that would bring similar health and well-being benefits?
This is where the games come in. Jay enjoys playing Mexican Train with family and friends. Jim and Drea enjoy bridge and pinochle. Susan enjoys Words with Friends. As we talked about the games we love, we talked about our heightened sense of well-being while playing them. The benefits include intense concentration, connectedness with the people we play with, exercising our strategic skills, and feeling proud when we improve our competence.
Don’t we want these same benefits for our employees in their everyday work, too?
Influencing well-being
So, let’s get specific. What creative new programs could you start in 2013 to help employees experience:
- A sense of passion
- Ever expanding competence
- Continual growth and learning
- Strong positive relationships, and
- A sense of pride for performing well?
Here are some things to consider as you think outside the box. The Optimal Motivation dimensions are in parentheses:
- Focus the program on enriching employees’ sense of well-being and enjoyment at work. (Well-being)
- Allow employees to opt-in, and publically celebrate all participants. (Autonomy and Relatedness)
- Encourage senior executives to participate alongside everyone else. (Relatedness and Competence)
- While establishing teams or groups, minimize competition. Make sure all teams are cross-functional only, with no teams by single roles, ranks, divisions, or departments. (Relatedness and Competence)
- Emphasize camaraderie rather than competition. (Relatedness)
- If you allow a monthly Pet at Work day, structure some fun activities like Stupid Pet Tricks, or Silly Pet Uniform contest. Keep it light and fun. (Relatedness and Well-being)
- Make sure to allow time in the workday for all activities. (Autonomy and Relatedness)
Let us know what you decide and how it goes. And as ever, we wish you energy, vitality, and well-being in all you do.
Happy Holidays.
About the author:
The Motivation Guy (also known as Dr. David Facer) is one of the principal authors—together with Susan Fowler and Drea Zigarmi—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ new Optimal Motivation process and workshop. Their posts appear on the first and third Monday of each month.
Do your people have permission to cut up the watermelon? 3 strategies for empowering employees
I love being pleasantly surprised, especially when it comes to customer service experiences. I had one of those experiences a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting my son at college. Let me share what happened and what I learned about the impact of empowerment as a result.
My son goes to school in the small town of Pueblo, Colorado. I was in town for his football game and wanted to buy some easy-to-eat food for a pre-game tailgate party. I thought fresh fruit would be nice, so I headed to the produce department at a local Albertson’s grocery store.
I found some watermelon that was already cut up and ready to serve. It looked as if it would be ripe and juicy, but being a spoiled Californian when it comes to fruit, I decided to ask a young man who was re-stocking some vegetables what he knew about the watermelon. He told me he hadn’t tasted it himself, so he didn’t really know, but immediately asked me if I would like to taste it for myself.
At first I said, “No, that’s okay,” but he insisted I try it, saying it was no problem at all. Since he seemed so genuine, I took him up on his offer. He then asked me to wait just a minute and said he was going to go in the back and cut some for me and he would be right out. Through the small window of the door to the back room, I watched him get a watermelon, cut it open, section off a couple of center slices, put them on a plate, grab a napkin, and then walk back out to me.
It was delicious! Once I tasted the watermelon and gave him my sign of approval, I proceeded to tell others around me how good it was—and I still am, weeks later. I became a Raving Fan of Albertson’s because of that short interaction—I felt so good about how this young man took it upon himself to make my experience a positive one.
Are you and your team creating Raving Fans?
So what can you learn from this kid from Pueblo, Colorado? As a leader, keep these simple tips in mind to surprise and delight your customers.
- Remember that it is everyone’s job to deliver service. Never miss an opportunity to deal with a question or situation in the moment whenever possible. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that customer service is someone else’s job. To the extent you can, serve the customer in the moment.
- Let employees know they are encouraged and allowed to use common sense at work. This young man didn’t spend ten minutes trying to find a manager to get permission to cut open the watermelon—he just did it.
- Look for ways to surprise and delight your customers. I never expected this young man to help me to the extent he did. I was completely surprised by his ownership and creativity—and he made a big impression on me as a result.
Your service is only as good as your people. Are your people empowered and encouraged to serve customers? Don’t miss an opportunity to create Raving Fans for your company. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results when you do!
About the author:
Kathy Cuff is one of the principal authors—together with Vicki Halsey—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program. Their customer service focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.
What motivates you at work? Here are six possibilities
In a recent webinar on A Closer Look at the New Science of Motivation, best-selling business author Susan Fowler opened with an interesting question for attendees, “Why are you here?” And it wasn’t just a rhetorical question. Fowler wanted attendees to take a minute and assess what their motivation was for attending. Here’s what she identified as possible answers.
- I am not really here. (Well, maybe my body is, but my mind is elsewhere.)
- I am being paid to be here. (And if I wasn’t being paid—or receiving some other type of reward—I wouldn’t be here.)
- I have to be here; I’d be afraid of what might happen if I wasn’t.
- Being here aligns with my values and will help me and my organization reach important goals.
- Being here resonates with me; I feel it could make an important difference to others in my organization and/or help me fulfill a meaningful purpose.
- I am inherently interested in being here; it is fun for me.
A quick survey found that people were attending for a variety of reasons including all six of the possible choices above. Fowler went on to explain that the first three choices were all “Sub Optimal” motivational outlooks that generated poor results. She also shared that outlooks 4, 5 and 6 were the “Optimal” motivational outlooks that most closely correlated with intentions to perform at a high level, apply discretionary effort, and be a good corporate citizen.
What motivates you?
What’s motivating you on your tasks at work? Is it a “carrot” (External #2) or a “stick” (Imposed #3) approach? If so, what’s the impact been on your motivation and performance? Chances are that you’re not performing at your best. Even worse, you could find yourself feeling somewhat manipulated and controlled, which rarely brings out the best in people.
For better results, think about what it might mean to employ a more Aligned, Integrated, or Inherent approach. Find ways to connect the dots for yourself to create a more intrinsically satisfying strategy.
3 ways to enhance motivation
Fowler suggests beginning by evaluating the quality of A-R-C in your life. Looking back at over 40 years of motivation research, Fowler shared that the answer to creating a more motivating environment is a combination of increased Autonomy (control of your experiences), Relatedness (working together with others), and Competence (developing and refining new skills). The good news is that anyone can change their motivational outlook with some self-awareness and self-regulation.
Could you use a little more motivation in your life? Most of us could. To find out more about Fowler’s thinking on motivation and bringing out the best in yourself and others, be sure to check out Fowler’s free, on-demand webinar recording, A Closer Look at the New Science of Motivation. You’ll discover some of the common mistakes people make when it comes to motivation and what you can do to improve your outlook. Recorded on October 3 for an audience of 700 participants, the download is free, courtesy of Cisco WebEx and The Ken Blanchard Companies.
How to Say “NO” to Your Boss When Appropriate–5 strategies
One of the “rewards” of being a high performer is being asked to do more and more until you discover one day that it is just too much. You are working extra hours just to keep up. Your work and life are suffering and you don’t have time for your family and friends.
It doesn’t have to be this way. A key skill in managing your time (and your boss) is learning to say NO when appropriate. But, how do you say NO, especially to your boss, in a way that maintains the relationship and builds trust?
First, you need to know your commitments. In order to know when to say no, you need to know what’s on your plate. You should have a running list of all your current projects/assignments. Once you see this list of commitments, you can decide whether the new request fits into your schedule, and if it’s of high enough priority to add to your list.
The real secret to saying “NO” is to have a greater “YES” burning within you!
Next, when a request is made, take the time to listen and fully understand what is being asked and why. Then you can decide if the request fits into your schedule and your priorities.
Last, when appropriate, you need to say NO in a respectful way. Here are five strategies:
- Negotiate a later date for completion – “I would be happy to do that task. With all of my other priorities I could complete it by this date.”
- Ask how it fits into your current workload, then negotiate – “I would be happy to do that task. Would you help me see where this fits in with my other priorities?”
- Suggest someone else who might be able to complete the task for you – “I don’t have time for this at the moment. You might check with Pat or Chris.”
- Be polite, yet firm in saying “no” when “no” is your only option – “I’m sorry, I can’t do this right now.”
- Pre-empt the request by keeping people informed regarding your workload and priorities.
Don’t let your work life get to the point where you feel burned out and ready to quit. Take responsibility for creating the work environment that keeps you engaged by learning to say “No” when appropriate.
Remember…
“A ‘No’, uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a ‘Yes’, merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.”
~ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
*****
About the author:
John Hester is a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. You can read John’s posts on the second Thursday of every month.
Join us for today’s webinar: A Closer Look at the New Science of Motivation
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Join best-selling business author Susan Fowler for a complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern).
In a special presentation on A Closer Look at the New Science of Motivation Fowler will be sharing some of the research underlying Blanchard’s new Optimal Motivation program and workshops. Participants will explore three basic psychological needs—Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence—and the skills needed to reach a high quality of self-regulation. The webinar is free and seats are still available if you would like to join over 700 people expected to participate.
Immediately after the webinar, Susan will be answering follow-up questions here at LeaderChat for about 30 minutes. To participate in the follow-up discussion, use these simple instructions.
Instructions for Participating in the Online Chat
- Click on the LEAVE A COMMENT link above
- Type in your question
- Push SUBMIT COMMENT
It’s as easy as that! Susan will answer as many questions as possible in the order they are received. Be sure to press F5 to refresh your screen occasionally to see the latest responses.
We hope you can join us later today for this special complimentary event courtesy of Cisco WebEx and The Ken Blanchard Companies. Click here for more information on participating.
What’s your motivation at work? 3 questions to ask yourself
Want to motivate others? Start by learning how to motivate yourself. That’s the message that best-selling author Susan Fowler highlights in a recent article for Ignite!
In Fowler’s experience, you have to understand your own reasons for performing at a high level before you can help others do the same. Without that understanding, most managers attempting to “motivate” others will resort to imposed or extrinsic techniques that may only make the matter worse—for example, a “carrot” approach which dangles incentives in front of people in exchange for desired behaviors—or a “stick” approach which applies sanctions and negative consequences for undesired behaviors.
A new understanding on what motivates people
Fowler maintains that the reason for our dependence on external rewards to motivate people, especially in the workplace, is not just because they were easy and the “fast food” of motivation, but because we didn’t have alternatives—we didn’t know what truly motivates people.
That’s been changing rapidly the past couple of years as research about intrinsic motivators have begun to make their way into the work environment.
Building on the pioneering work of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, researchers and practitioners have begun exploring the powerful impact that intrinsic motivators such as Autonomy (being in control of one’s own life), Relatedness (to interact, be connected to, and experience caring for others) and Competence (experience mastery) can have.
For example, researchers at The Ken Blanchard Companies have established that employee perceptions of increased Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence are positively correlated to intentions to stay with an organization, endorse the organization as a good place to work, and apply discretionary effort in service of the organization’s goals.
As Fowler explains, “The latest science of motivation gives us an entire spectrum of options beyond the carrot and stick. People want or need money and rewards, but when they believe that is what motivates them, they are missing out on much more effective and satisfying motivational experiences.”
How are you motivated?
Wondering how you can apply this latest research into your own work life? Here are three area to explore:
- What’s your motivation? What’s driving your performance on key work goals and tasks—is it in pursuit of rewards, avoidance of punishment, or something more meaningful and personal to you?
- How are your needs for Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence currently being met? Are you growing and developing skills? Do you get a chance to work together in community with others toward a shared goal?
- What can you do to create a more satisfying work environment for yourself and others? What small step can you take this week to start moving things in the right direction?
Work can—and should be—a motivating experience. Sometimes we forget, or become resigned to, a transactional relationship. It doesn’t have to be that way. Re-examine your beliefs, reframe your experience and rediscover your passion. Break out of carrot and stick thinking. Consider the impact that increased Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competency can have on your life.
PS: You can learn more about Susan Fowler’s approach to motivation in the article Motivation As a Skill. Also be sure to check out a free webinar that Susan is conducting on October 3, A Closer Look at the New Science of Motivation. It’s a free event courtesy of Cisco WebEx and The Ken Blanchard Companies.
