How to Solve People-Problems Pt. 2
Behaviors, not theories, solve people-problems.
This is part-two of, “How to Solve People Problems.” Scan part-one here.
How to solve people-problems:
Let’s focus on the people-problem of low morale.
#1. Positive before negative:
Describe high morale.
#2. Negative after positive:
Describe behaviors that create and sustain low morale – behaviors to stop.
#3. Imperfect progress not theory:
Imperfect progress today is better than “perfect” progress tomorrow.
What specifically will you do this morning that takes a bite out of low morale? It has to be seen or heard in order to matter. Try:
Positive orientation:
You’re not solving low morale, you’re building positive morale.
Short-term vision:
At your next management meeting discuss and identify a short-term vision. For example, Create an environment where people love coming to work.
Setup imperfect progress:
Take fifteen minutes with your team to identify simple, imperfect, morale building behaviors. Choose something you can implement this morning. Try this:
Goal:
Have at least two “five-minute-morale-building conversations” a day, until next week’s management meeting.
Practice the behavior:
Outline and practice the five-minute-morale-building conversation with each other. For example:
“Hi Bob, I think we get so busy that we forget what makes us feel good about our work. Solving problems makes me forget that I enjoy solving problems.”
“What about you Bob? What makes you feel good about your work?”
Listen.
Ask a follow-up.
Listen.
“I enjoyed hearing what makes you feel good about your work. Let’s stay in touch. Have a great day.”
#4. Accountability
Let everyone know that next week’s management meeting begins with four questions.
- Who did you talk with?
- What did you learn?
- How might you do it better next time?
- What are we doing this week to build morale?
Warning:
Don’t try this if you don’t care for your teammates.
How might you add to or expand the four-step model of solving people problems?
I like the example given! Makes the point more real to me
Thanks David.
Good stuff; both articles.
I am reminded of that old quote, “Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and just annoys the pig.”
But I put that in context with Bob Mager’s, “If you put a gun to their head, could they do it?” Could they choose to do things differently if they WANTED to (motivation versus skills). The Round Wheels are generally already in the Square Wheel wagon. The ideas are there within the individual and the group.
The issues seem to be around ownership involvement and alignment to desired goals, having a congruent measurement and feedback system and having peer support aligned to clear behavioral expectations.
Lots can go wrong, but people can choose to do things right if they want.
Your post all over this stuff. Keep up the good work!
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Thanks Dr. Scott. Your point of “can” they do it vs. do they “want” to do it, is well taken. Sometimes the issue is the latter. Perhaps more often than we would like.
You can tell when it’s a lack of “want” by how many excuses/reasons people offer for why it can’t be done and why it won’t work. That’s one reason I like to talk about the “imperfect” path forward.
Cheers
Yeah, it is all about herding cats and frogs, for sure. People come from so many different directions and they carry many different kinds of lunch to the workplaces and are there for so many different reasons. I think that the positive peer pressure to support shared goals is a really powerful way to move them forward, but there is no silver bullet, for sure.
My favorite ones are the Spectator Sheep, who sound all negative and stuff. But they simply voice their negative feelings because they are NOT involved and engaged and they see the issues that simply need solving. Put them in charge of the teams working to correct the issues and you see Big Changes in them plus the people around them who they influence.
Herding cats and frogs. Yep. Have fun with that! (grin)
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When discussing a current People-Problem, a co-worker reminded me today:
It’s not how you handle the situation, but how you handle yourself in the situation.
Thanks Duane. Nice one! The question to ask, before we do something is, “Who do I want to be.”
Another great post! I love the idea of “imperfect progress”. I feels much more comfortable (even liberating) to think I just have to make one small difference today. I find that I can often get caught up in trying to figure out the solution to the problem. I don’t want to start until I know what the end looks like. This really helps. Thanks, Dan.
Thanks Joel. I call it polishing the worm. We spend so much time perfecting something before we actually take action that we miss our opportunities. Glad you liked it.
Susan Fowler has a book out dealing with motivation and it fits with your topic today. She says people can only motivate themselves but there must be 3 things must be met for this to happen: having choices, connecting to others and opportunity for growth. Even if one of the three are missing then a person’s motivation will go somewhere else (facebook, email, other interest).
She also explains that seeing these 3 things in a current situation is done through Self-regulation. In other words, people can choose to be motivated if they have the skills to be mindful of their feelings and connect their values and purpose with that of the organization. I like this concept because I understand we cannot motivate someone else and the art of motivating yourself can indeed be taught. The key is the organizations ability to create this culture and to have their ducks in a row when it comes to their values and purpose clearly defined and communicated.
These two posts were great Dan! I’m another that tends to “polish the worm”. I have learned that setting small goals along the way and celebrating thrm is so important. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
People act the way they act because of the way they feel.
People feel the way they feel because of the way they think.
Until you change the way people think, they will feel the same way, and act the same way!
Changing the way people think, now that is the challenge.
One of the professors in my MBA program at the University of Pittsburgh (I don’t remember his name). Used to say, there are three types of people in business: Heroes, Villians, and Victims. Most people in business think they are victims, they think their supervisors are villians, and they long for a hero. He encouraged us to be the heros.
So as long as your staff think you are a villian and they are the victim, their behaviors don’t change. If they think they have ownership of the business and the problems, then they may become heros too! For a different behavior, a different reaction, a different action, you have to change the way you think and the way others around you think, and there is the ultimate challenge!
This is why you see good salesman can change the way people think. We may be able to learn the most in changing the way people think by selling refrigerators to eskimos. Good salesmen make sales by changing the way people think!
I like the simplicity of your examples. It makes it easy to relate.