Type 1 Organizations

8/6/2019 Type 1 Organizations

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Type for 0rganiza t ions :Nine \Vays o Improue Your Compaltlt

Office, or Group

'W'betheryou're he CEO or tbe neut ntan, ynu can helpcreate ngag-

ing, productiueworkplaces hat foster Type behaaior Here are nineways 0 begin ulling ynur nrganization out of tbe paa and into tbebrigbnr world ofMotiuation3.0.

T R Y 2 0 P E R C E N T I M f ' 'W I T HT R A I NN GW H E L S

ou've read about the wonders of "20 percent gi1ns"-qrhere orga-

nizations encourage employees o spend one-fifth of their hours

working on any project they want. And if you've ever used Gmailor read Google News, you've benefited rom the results. But for allthe virtues of this Type I innovation, putting such a policy in placecan seem aunting. How much will it cost? [hat if it doesn't work?If you're feeling skittish, here's an idea: Go with a more modestvsrcien-2O percent ime . . . with training wheels. Start with, say,10 percent ime. That's just one afternoon of a five-day workweek.


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(\7ho among us hasn'r wasted hat amounr of time at work anyway?)And instead of committing to it forever, ry it for six months. Bycreating his island of autonomy, you'll help people act on their greatideas and convert their downtime into more productive time. Andwho knows? someone n your operation ust might invent the nextPost-it nore.

E N C O U A G P E E R . T O - P E E R. . N O WT H AT ' 'RE WA R S

imley-Horn and Associates, civil engineering irm in Raleigh,North Carolina, has established a reward sysrem hat gets the

Typ. I stamp of approval: At any point, without asking permission,anyone n the company can award a $50 bonus to any of her col-Ieagues. It works because t's real-time, and it's not handed downfrom any management," he firm's human resources irector rcrdFastcontpany. A.y employee who does something exceptional eceivesrecognition rom their peers within minures." Because hese bonusesare noncontingent "now that" rewards, hey avoid the seven deadlyflaws of most corporare carrors. And because hey come from a col-league, not a boss, hey carry a different (and perhaps deeper) mean-ing. You could even say hey're motivating.

C O N D U C TN A U T O N O M YU D I T

ow much autonomy do the people in your organization reallyhave? f you're like most folks, you probably don't have a clue.

Nobody does. But there's away to find ous-qrish an auronomy audit.

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Ask everyone n your department or on your team to respond o these

four questions with a numerical anking (using a scale f 0 ro 10, with

0 meaning"almost

tlone" and 10 meaning"a

huge amount"):

How rnuch utlnnnzy o you haae wer your asks atrp6vp-

your main responsibilities nd what you do n a giuenday?How nucb autznnmy o you taae ouer our time a1 q16vp-

for instance, hen you arciue, whenyou eaae, nd how you

allocate our hours each ay?

How much autnnnrry o you haae oaer nur tearn |7p6vrt-

tbat is, o uhat extent re ynu able o choose bepeople ithwhom ou typicalbtcollaborate?

How rnuch a.iltnnzrny o you ltaue oaer your technique t

unrk-hw) you actually Perforn the main raponsibilities ofyour ob?

Make sure all responses re anonymous. Then tabulate the results.

\(/hat's the employee average? he figure will fall somewhere on a40-point autonomy scale with 0 being a North Korean prison and40 being \Toodstock). Compare hat number to people's erceptions.Perhaps he boss hought everyone had plenty of freedom-[us 6hsaudit showed an average utonomy rating of only 11. Also calculateseparate esults or task, ime, team, and technique. A healthy overallaverage an sometimes mask a problem in a particular area. An over-all autonomy rating of, say, 27 isn't bad. But if that average onsistsof 8 each or task, echnique, and team, but

3for time, you've denti-

fied an autonomy weak spot n the organization.It's remarkable sometimes how little the people running organi-

zations know about the experiences f the people working aroundthem. But it's equally remarkable how often many eaders re willingto do things differently if they see eal data. That's whar an auron-

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omy audit can do. And if you include a section n your audit foremployees o jot down their own ideas about increasing auronomy,

you might even ind some great solutions.

TA K E H R E E T E P S O WA R DG I V I N G P C O N T R O L

ype X bosses elish control. Typ. I bosses elinquish control.

Extending people the freedom they need o do great work is usu-ally wise, but it's not always easy. So f you're feeling the urge to con-trol, here are three ways to begin letting go-for your own benefitand vour team's:

1 . Involve people in goal-setting. \7ould you rather setyour own goals or have hem foisted upon you? Thoughtso. SThy should those working wirh you be any differ-ent? A considerable body of research hows hat indi-viduals are tar more engaged when they're pursuinggoals they had a hand in creating. So bring employeesinto the process. They could suqprise ou: People oftenhave higher aims than the ones you assign hem.use noncontrolling language. Next time you'reabout to say "must" or "shouldr" try saying

"think

about" or "consider" instead. A small change n word-ing can help promote engagemenr over complianceand might even reduce some people's urge to deSr.Think about it. Or at least consider t, okay?Hold office hours. Sometimes you need to summonpeople into your office. But sometimes t's wise to let

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them come to you. Thke a cue from college professors

and set aside one or two hours a week when your sched-

ule is clear and any employee can come in and talk toyou about anything that's on her mind. Your colleaguesmight benefit and you might learn somerhing.

P L AY W H O S EP U R P O S E S I T A N Y WAY ? ' '

his is another exercise esigned o close he gap between perceptionand reality. Gather your team, lour department, or, if you can, all

the employees n your outfit. Hand everyone a blank three-by-five-inch card. Then ask each person o write down his or her one-sentenceanswer o the following question: "\Vhar is our company's or otganiza-tion's) purpose?" CoIIect the cards and read hem aloud. Iil7hat do theytell you? Are the answers similar, everyone aligned along a commonpurpose? Or are they all over the place-s6me people believing one

thing, others something completely differenr, and still others withouteven a guess? or all the talk about culture, alignment, and mission,most organizations do a pretty shabby job of assessing his aspect oftheir business. his simple nquiry can offera glimpse into the soul ofyour enteqprise. f people don't know why they're doing what they'redoing, how can you expect hem to be motivated to do it?

U S ER E I C H ' S R O N O U NE S T

f ormer U.S. labor secretary Robert B. Reich has devised a smart,I simple, (and free) diagnostic tool for measuring the health of aoorganization. When he talks to employees, e istens carefully for the

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pronouns hey use. Do employees efer to their company as "they"

of as "we"? "They" suggests t least some amount of disengagement,

and perhaps even alienation."\7e"

suggests the opposigs-1h21employees eel hey're part of something significant and meaningful.If you're a boss, pend a few days istening to the people around you,not only in formal settings ike meetings, but in the hallways andat lunch as well. Are you a "'we" otganization or a "tThey" otganiza-tion? The difference matters. Everybody wants auronomy, masreryand purpose. The thing is, "we" can get it-but "they" can't.

D E S I G N O R N T R I N S I C O T I VAT I O N

nternet guru and author Clay Shirky (www.shirky.com) says hat themost successful ebsites nd electronic orums have a certain Typ.I

approach n their DNA. They're designed-often explicitly-to tapintrinsic motivation. You can do rhe same with your online presences

if you listen to Shirky and:

Create an environment that makes people feel goodabout participating.

Give users autonomy.

Keep the system as open as possible.

And what matters n cyberspace marrers equally in physical space.Ask yourself: How does the built environment of your workplacepromote or inhibit autonomy, mastery, nd purpose?

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P R O M O T E O L D I L O C K SO RG R O U S

lmost everyone has experienced he satisfaction of a Goldilockstask-the kind that's neither roo easy nor roo hard, that deliv-

ers a delicious sense f flow. But sometimes t's difficult to replicatethat experience when you're working in a team. People often end updoing the jobs they always do because hey've proven they can dothem well, and an unfortunare few get saddled with the flow-free

tasks nobody else wants. Here are a few ways o bring a little Gold-ilocks to your group:

. Begin with a diverse team. As Harvard's TeresaAmabile advises, Set up work groups so that peoplewill stimulate each other and learn from each other. sothat they're not homogeneous n terms of their back-grounds and training. You wanr people who can reallycross-fertilize each orher's deas.Make your group a "no competition" zone. Pittingcoworkers against one another n the hopes hat compe-tition will spark them to perform better rz;ely qr61k5-

and almost always undermines ntrinsic motivarion. Ifyou're going to use a c-word, go with "collaboration" or"coopefation."

Tty u little task-shifting, If someone s bored with hiscurrent assignment, see f he can train someone else nthe skills he's already mastered. hen see f he can ake onsome aspect of a more experienced eam member's work.Animate with purpose, don't motivate with rewards,Nothing bonds a team like shared mission. The more

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that people share a common s2uss-v/hether ir's crear-

ing something insanely great, outperforming an outside

competitor, or even changing the world-the more yourgroup will do deeply satisfying and outstanding work.

T U R N O U RI NTO A FEDEX

E XTO F F - STEDAY

ehold the company off-site, a few spirit-sapping days of forcedfun and manufactured morals-fs2suling awkward pep talks,

wtetched dancing, and a few "trusr falls." To be fair, some off-sitesreengage mployees, echarge people's batteries, and allow conversa-tions on big issues. But if your organization's off-sires are fallingshon, why not try replacing he nexr one with a FedEx Day? Set asidean entire day where employees an work on anything they choose,however hey want, with whomever hey'd ike. Make sure hey have

the tools and resources hey need. And impose ust one rule: Peoplemust deliver something-a new idea, aprororype of a product, a bet-ter internal process-the following day. Type I organizations knowwhat their Type X counrerparts arely comprehend: Real challengesarc far more nvigorating than controlled eisure.

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