While reflecting on key leadership learning’s from 2011, the most profound behavioral change in my personal management philosophy is also going to be my biggest challenge for 2012.
Announcement - recognition and reward will not (contrary to organizational tradition) be awarded equitably and proportionately.
It was the biggest light bulb that exploded in my mind through all the books and articles that I enjoyed throughout 2011. It comes from the work authored by Leadership IQ CEO Mark Murphy. You can learn more about it in his books 100 Percenters and HARD Goals.
The premise is that if you have a team member giving 100% plus, and another giving a satisfactory 80% commitment, and you distribute reward and recognition evenly – eventually your high achiever will sense that there is no benefit to going “above and beyond”. Star performers will probably gear down their efforts toward matching the “satisfier” colleagues on the team.
That’s fine if “ho-hum” “up-to-spec” service is your goal – but that’s not good enough for me. And it would be far below the talent and capabilities of my team.
Yet in healthcare, strongly regulated by collective bargaining agreements and the healthcare tradition of wellness for all, it is a huge cultural shift when adjusting attention, recognition, and all other efforts more to the high achievers versus the members who are providing decent but unspectacular results. I have already encountered disgruntlement from people who have observed reward and recognition for some of our most outstanding accomplishments – and they quickly follow with their “what about us/me”.
That situation demands a teaching response, delivered in a way that motivates. The results and behaviors being recognized have to be visible and strategically aligned with the purpose of our existence. It’s risky. I’m sure some people will quickly call it favoritism, personal choice, anything other than performance. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Leadership IQ, in an international survey of organizations across North America discovered that one of the primary demotivators of employees engagement is the situation where high performers do not receive more recognition than low performers. If this is the cultural reality in my organization, how can we realistically expect workforce-wide commitment to excellence when we accept, acknowledge, recognize, reward and make important decisions based on average results.
For more, I highly recommend: http://www.leadershipiq.com/
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of The Royal.
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