What turns on a team?

Transcription

1 What turns on a team? Contents What is this thing called motivation? It's the job, stupid Out of the pit and into the light So...how do you motivate teams? References Over the past 22 years, our group has worked with thousands of creative project team members and hundreds of project teams. One of the most common questions we are asked by team leaders, project managers, executives and team members is "How do you motivate teams?" The question itself is interesting [hopefully the answer is as well] as, in a way, it hides a set of deeper questions : "How did the team get de-motivated in the first place?" "Was the team initially motivated and then somehow lost it?" "Who has to motivate who anyway?" "Can you motivate a team in any case?" and "What is motivation anyway? So, in answering the question of techniques for motivating a team, we have to ask so other more fundamental questions regarding the whole issue of motivation. What is this thing called motivation? motivate /-v 1. Supply a motive to; be the motive of 2. cause (a person) to act in a particular way 3. stimulate the interest (of a person in an activity) - The Oxford Dictionary of Current English This definition is a good example of the problems associated with the concept of motivation. In essence, there seems to be two conflicting views of motivation. In one way, the definition indicates that motivation is where someone [perhaps a team leader] causes someone else [a team member] to act in a certain way. In another way, it appears that motivation is something that someone uses as a motive for doing things. As it turns out, the apparent conflict reflects an ongoing debate by researchers into motivation. Traditional views of leadership and motivation reflected a "passive" view of motivation. In effect, people required strong leaders to motivate them towards certain goals. As shown in Figure 1, this approach to motivation implied that the leader had to motivate his or her team members through various rewards and punishments. Reference: Page 1

2 Fig. 1 - Traditional Motivation Approach However, in the 1950's and 1960's researchers such as Abraham Maslow, Eric Trist, Fred Herzberg [Vroom & Deci, 1978] and many others began to propose a more "active" model of motivation. Maslow's work in particular redefined motivational theory. He argued that all people were driven or motivated by a hierarchical set of needs. The basic need is the need for survival [food, water and shelter]. Once this need is satisfied, the need for security of the survival needs becomes more significant or motivating. The security need is then overtaken by the need for social contact and belongingness. Once a person is in a position of belonging to a social group and the emergent need is to be given esteem by that group or, in other words, to be seen as a valued member of the group. After esteem, the need for self-esteem emerges as a strong motivator and finally the most powerful need for self-actualisation[1] emerges. Maslow's model clearly places motivation as something within a person rather than something provided by another person. Herzberg's work was more focussed in organisations rather than in broader focus of Maslow's work and in working with many people within organisations, Herzberg concluded that there were two sets of motivational factors. The de-motivators or dissatisfiers were a set of organisational factors which "turned people off". Factors such as company benefits or culture, job security, physical working conditions, salary [or perceived inequity of salary compared to others] and interpersonal or team relations generally led to lower levels of motivation. However, if these factors were perceived to be adequate they did not cause higher levels of motivation. In effect, the absence of de-motivators simply meant that people did "a fair days work". To obtain higher levels of motivation, Herzberg argued that satisfiers or motivators such as opportunity for growth, the nature of the work tasks, responsibility, recognition, opportunity for growth, a sense of achievement and autonomy were crucial in high-performance motivation. While, there has since been many variations and extensions to Maslow's and Herzberg's work, their fundamental validity is unchallenged as we'll see later. Most contemporary motivation theory agrees that there are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors which align with Maslow's and Herzberg's initial work. Reference: Page 2

3 Fig. 2 - Relationship between motivation theories As shown in Figure 2, for most people, extrinsic needs require an external environment, for example, a job or income, to be satisfied. A job or career will satisfy survival, security, social and esteem needs however, as shown by Herzberg, a poor working environment would leave these "lower" needs unsatisfied. The intrinsic or "higher" needs are internally governed by each person and factors such as autonomy, growth, responsibility and so on are the major determinants of high motivation. The relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation resolves the conflict in the earlier definition of motivation. A leader can motivate his or her people by addressing factors such as working conditions, physical environment, team interpersonal relations and basic rewards. However, the more powerful or high performance motivation needs are within each person and are controlled by each individual team member not the leader. As a result, to impact the high performance intrinsic motivation, a project manager/team leader must address the external factors such as autonomy, opportunity for growth and so on. Fig. 3 - Contemporary Motivation Approach It's the job, stupid Reference: Page 3

4 Developing on the Herzberg and Maslow work, Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham [1980] analysed the intrinsic motivation impact of job and job tasks. As shown in Figure 5, they developed the Job Diagnostic Model which proposed that each job contains a number of core job dimensions and if these core job dimensions are improved then the person undertaking the job develops an internal belief in the meaningfulness of the job, responsibility for and understanding of the relationship between their effort and the results. These internal states lead to improved personal and work outcomes such as high intrinsic motivation, high quality work and so on. In effect, Hackman and Oldham provide a structured model for improving intrinsic motivation. Their model has been validated in many organisations and by our own group working with computer and other project teams [Thomsett, 1990]. Fig. 4 - Job Diagnostic Model [Hackman & Oldham] The core job dimensions are : skill variety - does the job require a varied mix of activities, skills and talents for completion ; task identity - does the job require a completion of a "whole" and identifiable piece of work [end-to-end processes] ; task significance - does the job have a substantial impact on the lives of other people ; autonomy - does the job allow freedom, independence and discretion in scheduling and determining techniques ; job feedback - does the nature of the job provide the person with clear feedback and indications of effectiveness of performance. Using the work of Maslow, Herzberg, Hackman and Oldham, we can now propose a simple and powerful approach to motivating creative project teams. This approach builds on the participative approaches to project management developed by our group over the past 16 years [Thomsett, 1993]. The more things change... Reference: Page 4

5 In 1996, Inc magazine conducted a survey of US workers [Inc, June, 1996 Vol 16, No.7] regarding critical factors bearing on employee's satisfaction and job performance. The results bear striking similarity to the studies of Herzberg, Hackman and Oldham of the 1970's and 1980's. What turns on US workers in 1996 are : an opportunity to do what they do best every day; a supervisor or a colleague who cares about them; their opinions are listened to and taken into account; the job offered opportunities for growth and learning; the mission of the employer makes the employee's feel that their jobs are important; they have the materials and equipment to do their job right. It is our experience that most computer people have their extrinsic needs met by their jobs and that the key to motivating computer people is in the intrinsic needs arena. In effect, the project manager/team leader cannot directly motivate a team member but, by focussing on the nature of project work, the project tasks and the broader organisational environment of projects, the project manager can create a more motivating environment for teams. To put it simply, changing the job for a person changes motivation levels for that person. Out of the pit and into the light In many organisations, there is an cultural and attitudinal gap between computer and other creative teams and the broader organisation. As discussed by Thomsett [op cit], there have emerged significant differences in organisational culture and business focus of the computer and business areas. This gap[2] has often meant that many business people perceive that their IT teams are nonresponsive, inward-looking, technology-obsessed "geeks" and that the best way to deal with IT is to leave them isolated in their "technology pit" and for the business people to develop their own Business Case and requirements for the project and to throw these documents into the "pit of technologists". In many of our client organisations, the business experts are responsible for the development of the project's scope, objectives, benefits analysis, costs and so on. The IT teams are simply seen as hands-off service providers. In many organisations, this gap between the technical service-providers and their business clients is further widened through the use of business analysts who are placed between the IT team and the business people and Account Managers who often are the managerial interface between IT and business. Reference: Page 5

6 Fig. 5 - Traditional business view of IT In our work with both business and IT teams, our group has found that the existence of this gap has major impacts on the motivation of IT teams. We have also confirmed that there are 3 levels of intrinsic motivation that apply for computer and other creative teams. Each level of motivation is stronger and more significant than the lower level. Level 1 motivation - technical excellence This level of motivation is the most common in IT teams. Since the IT teams are remote from their business clients and other stakeholders, they are forced to sub-optimise their intrinsic motivation to the areas of skill variety, autonomy and feedback [see Hackman and Oldham's model]. In effect, the computer expert simply undertakes the project based on system specifications with a maximum of technical excellence [high feedback] and with the use of as many new techniques and technology as possible [skill variety and autonomy]. The feedback is generally from peers and is based on the technical elegance and innovation of the solution. Level 2 motivation - client partnership This level of motivation builds on Level 1 motivation. The project team member is "out of the pit" and is working in partnership with the business client and other stakeholders. At this level, the team is able to see the "big picture'" and the task significance and task identity are become more important. Skill variety, feedback and autonomy are also enhanced as the team needs to learn and understand the business issues associated with the project. At this level of motivation, the team member will often choose different less technical solutions [than those that would be chosen in Level 1] that are based on the business view rather than the pure technical view. Level 3 motivation - adding value This level of motivation is the highest and builds on Level 2 motivation. The project team member is working in partnership with the business client and stakeholders and they are all focused on the "added value" of the project. At this level, the task significance and task identity are optimised as well as skill variety, feedback and autonomy. At this level of motivation, the team members are totally aware of and focussed on the lifecycle impact and cost-benefit of the product or system they are developing. The economic Reference: Page 6

7 and organisational impact of the project have been developed by all team members during the initial project planning sessions and all team members [not just the project manager and project leaders] are committed to a successful project and subsequent life-cycle issues. Fig 6. - Level 3 motivation This concept of high performance motivation is not only is consistent with the theoretical work of Herzberg, Hackman and Oldham but, has been validated in a number of our clients. Members of project teams that are "out of the pit" and working in full partnership with their business clients towards the realisation of project benefits consistently report to us that they enjoy working in this manner and that they experience higher levels of motivation. So...how do you motivate teams? The answer is pretty clear. To motivate teams, the project manager and project leaders should focus on the following actions [it is important to note that none of them require extra money, promotion or other traditional rewards] : 1. Share the client The project manager/leader must do everything possible to get the team members as close to their clients as possible. This is critical and will result in Level 2 motivation. Ideally, the IT and business group team members should be co-located but, if this is not possible, then the teams should meet together daily. The project manager and/or project leader should ensure that the team members share non-project related activities as well as project activities. For example, if the business team members are attending a management briefing on new business policy, the IT members should also attend. Simply, the more the business and IT cultures are shared the better for motivation. 2. Share the project vision The project manager or leader must involve the project team and key business clients in all aspects of project planning. The process of participative planning has been well-established and adopted by many leading Australian organisations [Thomsett, op cit]. The whole team - business and IT - develops the scope, objectives, risks and, most importantly, the expected benefits and benefits realisation process. The team must build to "project vision" to own it. 3. Share the skills and knowledge Reference: Page 7

8 One of the key intrinsic motivation factors for IT and other creative people is the need for learning and growth. Our experience, which is support by research by Cougar and Zwacki [1980], is that computer people have extremely high needs for growth and learning. The project manager must try to "vertically load"[3] project management and other non-technical activities to the team. For example, instead of the project manager undertaking a project risk assessment, all the team members undertake the risk assessment process. In addition, by getting the IT team closer to the business team, all team members gain expanded skills and knowledge about the business and the technology. The use of team-based quality assurance techniques such as walkthrus can also enable team members to learn technical skills from other more experienced team members. 4. Share the success Given the lack of access that most project managers have to financial and status-related rewards such as promotion, the project managers and team leaders should implement creative reward systems. Some relatively low cost rewards are : research and development "time-outs" - the team members are given time at work to experiment and learn new techniques and technologies. For example, after a project team members can choose a new technology of interest to them such as the Internet and are given some support and time to learn about the technology ; feedback from the business management - while many IT team members get valuable feedback from the IT management, the project manager should arrange for the senior management of the business client area to give feedback to the IT team. Surprisingly, this is more significant to many IT people than feedback from their own management ; be there when it works - many IT and other project people get to see how all their work on a project ends up. "All I want to do is see one of my projects to conclusion" is a typical quote from project team members. Even if the team member has left the project to work on another project, the project manager should get the ex-team member to be involved in post-implementation reviews and other activities which provide feedback on the project s success ; actively support extra-curricular activities - many IT people are too busy to join specialist groups such as professional computer societies and so on. The project manager should see if these societies can present sessions "in-house". Arranging subscriptions or gain access [i.e. through Web sites] to expensive specialist journals such as American Programmer, Harvard Business Review and so on and encouraging the teams to read and discuss them can be extremely effective ; encourage fun and play - excellent organisations such as Microsoft and D.S.T.C. encourage a sense of play and fun at work. In an exercise where teams are asked to choose attributes for an ideal leader, a sense of humour in the leader is a highlyvalued attribute. Without being too silly or obvious[4], the team leader or project manager should encourage any activity that the team sees as fun. Simply, a team without a sense of humour and fun is not a motivated team ; arrange for rotation - discuss with team members if they would like to spend some time in other areas in the organisation. For example, a team member may lack some Reference: Page 8

9 P.C. skills and could learn a lot by working in the P.C. support area. Many IT people would choose to spend some time in business areas ; ask your team what rewards matter to them - this is so simple yet so powerful. Each team member has different intrinsic needs so rather than implementing a "global" reward such as employee-of-the-month or a night out on the town, ask each team member what are significant rewards to them. You might be surprised ; 5. Deliver early and often The use of development techniques such as fast-tracking, sequential releases, rapid application development and highly-concurrent development [Thomsett, op cit] results in delivery of system and product components earlier. Not only does this lead to higher levels of client satisfaction but results in the team getting clear and earlier feedback on their work effort. In addition, as benefits are realised from the early releases, they should be carefully monitored and the team should be fully informed of the benefits realisation. 6. Raise the team profile The project manager and team leaders should use any opportunity and technique to raise the organisational profile of their team and the work that their team is doing. The use of informal newsletters which detail the status of the project and any significant events or deliverables accomplished, formal briefing sessions for other projects and their team members, formal and regular communication with the project stakeholders and so on can all result in higher team motivation. In most cases, all the project manager and leaders have to do to gain high performance motivation is to eliminate barriers between the team and their clients, actively involve the team in planning their own projects, get the supporting environment right, ask if there is anything else the leaders can do to help and then "get out of the way". References J.D. Cougar & R.A. Zwacki, Managing and Motivating Computer Personnel. New York, N.Y., Addison-Wesley, JR Hackman & G.R. Oldham, Work Redesign. Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley, R. Thomsett, Third Wave Project Management. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, R. Thomsett, "Building Effective Project Teams", American Programmer, Summer V.H. Vroom & E.I. Deci, Management and Motivation. Middlesex, Eng., Penguin, Reference: Page 9