 February, 18 2018
Want to Motivate Your People? Use Neuroscience for Engagement
Bored at work. Research shows that most people are disengaged at work, marking time until the five o’clock bell. For a leader trying to motivate her team, this is depressing news. There are reasons, of course, that we call work “work”, but a new book by London Business School professor Daniel M. Cable, Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do, brings new hope to leaders struggling to cheer on the team.
Blame the brain. Cable writes that our brains are to blame. The dopamine circuit in our brains (the same area that loves cocaine!) – the “seeking system” -generates interest, curiosity, and excitement and encourages internal motivation. Yet if our boss attempts to motivate us with money and punishment, and keeps handing out boring, repetitive tasks, those circuits won’t light up.
What Should You Do?
One of the most common questions we receive from leaders is: How do I motivate my group? While I’ve written about motivation before, here are Cable’s suggestions:
- Have employees share their “best selves”: Have employees tell a story to their group about when they were at their best, using their most treasured qualities. Research shows that when employees engage in this exercise during orientation, they activate the dopamine system in their brain and tend to perform better, make fewer mistakes and stay longer at the organization. Sharing coworkers’ best selves works even more effectively.
- Use your strengths: Once people have identified their strengths – perseverance or strong relationships, for example – help them find a new way to use them every day. The Gallup organization has studied this issue for many years and has found that as a staff increasingly uses their strengths at work, they are more energetic, cheerful, learn more effectively and enjoy life more.
- Invent new job titles: Encourage your team to invent whimsical and important- to-them job titles. Years ago, Southwest Airlines started calling their head HR honcho the “Chief People Person,” now many organizations do the same. What about The Data Doctor for the head of IT or Masters of Money for your accountants? Research has shown that this seemingly silly exercise can help people express their unique contribution at work, feel more comfortable with others and perform more effectively.
- Reframe their stories about work: If you ask someone what they do for a living, they will usually describe the “how”. Cable found that: “The same behaviors and activities take on very different meaning to us depending on the stories we tell ourselves about what we are doing…. when we personally understand and believe in the why of our actions, we have greater resilience and stamina when the going gets tough.” I could say, for example, that I do workshops, consulting, coaching and investigations, but if I offer that I help people be happier and more productive at work, the “why” gives me more meaning.
- Show the impact of work: Researcher Adam Grant conducted a famous and incredible study where he invited call center employees to meet the scholarship recipient they had funded. The month after this short encounter, they spent over 40 percent more time on the phone and raised over 70 percent more money!
- Encourage learning: If you allow people to play and experiment at work, Cable finds that employees are more intrinsically motivated and more resilient. This approach also boosts the bottom line. Salespeople who focus on learning tend to sell even more than their counterparts who focus on achievement. Help your team set goals to learn or improve, rather than just achieve a certain salary. Experiments such as hackathons or judgment-free brainstorming sessions can inspire a learning mindset.
 Did You Know
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Be sure to read “Stop Pissing Me Off!” and learn what to do when the people you work with drive you crazy.
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Make It Difficult For People To Avoid Change: Smoking in the workplace used to be tolerated. Now most workplaces don’t allow workers to smoke inside. Because their employers have taken this step, millions of workers have quit or reduced smoking, simply because they didn’t want to walk outside and/or endure the cold.
