Sep 08
16
Here’s a download of a variety of mostly edgy topics and ideas that came up at dinner last week…keep in mind that while some of these seem obvious to you, they aren’t always obvious to everyone. And they’re always great reminders!
Theme: increasing inherent employee motivation (more “pull”, less “push”)
Peer-managed discretionary spending
* Sasha Strauss, CEO of Innovation Protocol (strategic brand development) the policy is simple: anyone can spend up to $1000, no questions asked. They can spend up to $5000 without executive approval, if they get approval from any two other people.
* One example of an unintended benefit that would never would have come up if expenses were pre-approved: employees purchased an extra large flat screen TV and an Xbox/Halo. Clients love it and have been known to stay after client meetings to play and bond with employees!
* An idea to expand on this: as the company grows, what if they established a monthly budgeted pool of money for these expenses, and then published the spending for all to see? (In a way that didn’t create noise/clutter, say for expenses over a certain amount). What if the company used transparency as the self-managing, peer-based feedback mechanism?
“Co-creation”
* To get a project going or completed, you can 1) define and assign it, or 2) co-create it with the people involved. It’s more convenient, taking less time and energy, to tell people to do things – even nicely, or to pretend to make it seem like you’re not.
* Co-creation takes longer and you have less ‘control’, but if you work with someone to co-create the project or goals together (including letting them do it all themselves), they will earn emotional ownership of it = more inherent motivation.
Alternate forms of comp/rewards
* One CEO at dinner, wanting to specially reward an employee with something other than a pure cash bonus, offered her a $2250 anonymous donation to any charity(s). The employee was incredibly effusive, and wrote a multi-page thank you to CEO!
* If you depend on cash or other sparkly things as the lynchpin reward exceptional performance, people will start working for the goodies (extrinsic motivation) rather than for the exceptional performance for its own sake (inherent motivation). [Note…I’m going to put up a summary of “Punished By Rewards” soon]
* Different people value different forms of compensation. What if you gave them, whether as a part of standard compensation plan or a bonus, a choice of cash, equity, more vacation, or an anonymous donation?
* Giving employees more control and choice over the aspects/environment of their working world and execution of their job increases motivation (“Four Rewards of Intrinsic Motivation”).
Publishing financials
* The CEO of a privately owned company published some summary financials to the employees, opening the kimono. He was nervous about it the first time, but the employees greatly appreciated it, as it gave them a better picture of how the business fundamentally worked.
* This increased their connection to and understanding of the company, both increasing motivation and and enabling them to make better business decisions.
A vacation honor system
* One CEO’s vacation policy is: “take it when you need it, no questions asked.” Of course, they can’t drop the baton on their responsibilities. They work with their peers to ensure that they aren’t leaving at a critical time, and that others can cover for them.
* The peers act as a feedback mechanism: if someone abused the vacation privileges, word would get around and damage their internal reputation. And, of course, the CEO would notice 🙂
* Although there has been nervousness about the policy, and when employees leave…everyone (including the CEO) is reaffirmed in the value of the honor system when they come back refreshed and reenergized.
* Employees get a double bonus: they trust the company more, increasing motivation, and employees become more aware and practiced in using vacation truly as a recharging tool, rather than as an escape.
“Let them stumble”
* Executives are tempted to solve employees’ problems…especially when something important, like a sale or client proposal, is on the line.
* Especially when it counts, by letting them stumble, they’ll get a much faster education and developed sense of independence & self-direction. What’s the cost of saving the sale, if your employee doesn’t get the learning of truly being on the line for it?
* CEO: “By letting my employees stumble, I both rediscovered my weekends and they’ve ended up surpassing me in what I was teaching them in!”
“This touchy-feely stuff about employees is great, but do you ever drop the hammer?”
* Sure, part of maintaining flow is making sure bad fits don’t stay and impede it! Leaving rocks in the river, because you’re scared to move the rock, doesn’t help anyone.
* Re-emphasized the enormous difference between assigning goals to someone (push) and working together to set goals (pull).
“A 3 hour & 15 minute sales process” [I expect to expand on this sometime on www.buildasalesmachine.com.]
* We touched on the idea of making the sales process more productive, in order to make it easier to be successful at selling…thus transforming selling from an exhausting process to an enjoyable one.
* Tony Wong, CEO of Digital Onion Inc. (which has a complex b2b sale, and helps make software project management successful, effortless and fun), used to spend a LOT of time chasing inbound referrals from other CEOs. Sometimes the followup on these referrals would end up being bottomless sinks of time for him, sapping his flow.
* Tony and I worked up a new three-step sales process. He now spends a defined amount of 3 hours and 15 minutes per sales cycle. to be clear – this isn’t the time from start-to-finish as in sales cycle length. It’s the the total amount of hours invested by him per single sales cycle (at least prior to producing a customized proposal), since his time is so precious.
1) A 15min email/call introduction with the referral, followed by…
2) 1 hour call or meeting with the project leader(s), followed by…
3) 2 hour whiteboarding session in person, when the project leader(s) can gather the other relevant decision makers and influencers into one session.
* After this session, the prospect will be fully equipped with all the information they need to decide to move forward or not. Is there a fit? When?
* If the timing is in the indeterminate future (that is, they aren’t sure), instead of bugging them every couple of weeks, the CEO can let them germinate on their own, to let them come back whenever the timing is right. He might check in every three months, resulting in a highly productive use of his time per sales cycle.
* Since implementing this process several weeks ago, he’s closed several new clients with much less effort and wasted running-aroundness.
