by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®

“CIGFAM breeds zombies and financial junkies.

PEACAM breeds initiators and eager beavers.”

   CIGFAM has been our increasingly traditional way of motivating people pretty much over the past 100 years: where C= Competition; I=Incentives; G=Goals; F=Fear; A=Accountability; M=Measurement. While this formula has its place and can provide “push” for simple and straight forward production lines: in today’s organizational environment, dealing with speed, ambiguity, complexity and doing more with less, it’s likely to be inadequate. The reality is that CIGFAM is more likely to create zombies and financial junkies.

Quite aside from more simple workplace activities: for CIGFAM to work well, it requires a strong “command and control” presence, based upon policies, procedures, controls and compliance, to sustain a heavy “push” effect. In its purest form, CIGFAM produces a bureaucratic system that creates zombies. As one historical philosopher put it: “There’s no expedient that man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.” Assuming this point holds true, then the majority of people will gladly accept red-tape, rules and regulation to avoid the “labor of thinking”…even though they are perfectly capable of thinking, when nudged in the right way.

CIGFAM also creates financial junkies, where people become mesmerized by the possibility of “more dough.” Even when faced with paying more taxes, or losing out on family time, or scrambling against the odds: people have been so conditioned by incentives that they ask for them, even if they don’t need them. It’s like “pot” for drug users, cigarettes for the smoker, beer for the alcoholic, or more cans of cola for the soda drinker. Incentives are a form of addiction, with who knows what side-effects.

In his best-seller “Drive,” Dan Pink points out that, when we use CIGFAM in an “if…then” mode: that is, if you do this, then I will give you that: the “push” effect disappears once to you take it away. Like a child, when faced with a “bribe,” we either comply or rebel. He also, rightly, points out that people’s tendency, when faced with “if…then” incentives, are more likely to be focused on reaping rewards than giving due thought to their tasks.

Another option is to pursue PEACAM: where P=Purpose; E=Equality (reward fairly and involve wherever possible); A=Achievement (regular sense of accomplishment); C=Camaraderie (people friendly surroundings); A=Autonomy (people feel trusted and empowered); M= Mastery (knowledgeable enough to fully contribute). Such factors truly “light fires within people,” whereas CIGFAM “lights fires under them.” You would dislike the heat, too.

Rewards and recognition can still be offered with PEACAM, but more on a basis of Dan Pink’s “now…that.” This is where a leader has many reward options – for example: a requested training program, time-off, a relevant piece of equipment, a “thank-you” note, visiting colleagues for learning purposes in other areas, a new assignment, recognition among colleagues, and so on – for special contributions. “Now you’ve done this, we’ll do that for you.” Even so, they should be varied and more of a surprise than an expected outcome. (NOTE: The reward is only discussed after the task has been accomplished, not before.)

With such an approach, people are not mesmerized by the potential reward, therefore it doesn’t block their ability to find the best solution or achieve a job well done. “Now…that” used judiciously encourages people to put their best foot forward. Equally, they are awarded after the fact with thoughtful gestures for exceptional initiative and productive activity; consequently it produces eager beavers.

“Well,” some executives may ask, “if we have such a range of rewards, we will have too much disparity within our organization?” Fair point, but that can be easily handled by those same executives and other leaders agreeing on a “menu of Atta boys” that can be awarded at the appropriate time. In fact, the less expensive and more genuinely awarded the better.

This all works well in a genuine environment of appreciation. All too often executives are looking for their own accolades at the expense of recognizing meaningful contributions by their own people. True leadership is enshrined in a degree of humility, where attributes are also given to the people that participated in any given success. That’s one thing the better politicians are good at: recognizing everyone who contributed to their success.

The bottom-line is that PEACAM builds a resilient, self-sustainable level of motivation within an organization owing to its intrinsic nature. Whereas, CIGFAM, due to its extrinsic nature, only engenders “push” while it’s present. When CIGFAM is removed or downplayed, the right level of activity either stops or is reduced. Such a reality makes it hard to understand why so many of today’s organizations are ratcheting up CIGFAM, in order to get the results they want. Careful thought makes it evident that this is self-defeating.

There are examples of companies out there that go a long way to apply PEACAM.  Take SouthWest Airlines; it operates primarily with a PEACAM approach:

» It has a compelling purpose: to give its passengers a friendly, enjoyable, on-time experience and it puts great effort into hiring people with the right attitude around its customers.

» It gives its people a sense of equality, through paying them fairly and involving them in all key matters that affect the future of the airline – after 9/11 many in its workforce chipped-in to help the airline buy aircraft that were being furloughed by other less successful airlines.

» Operating staff feel a sense of achievement and pride as they turn aircraft around quickly and have high levels of on-time performance. There has been a tradition of regularly celebrating milestones and other successes within the airline.

» Not only do passengers sense the friendly approach but staff experience a great sense of team and camaraderie at the airline. There has been a tradition of encouraging staff to put up pictures of family and pets in the corridors of the home office. The company also has a family feel to it.

» Because staff at all levels are properly recruited, trained and continuously trained, they act with a degree of autonomy and trust. There’s a strong sense of empowerment and contribution to SouthWest’s daily successes.

»The high caliber of people recruited are constantly being challenged to upgrade their skills, so they enjoy a sense of mastery within their domain.

All of this has contributed to SouthWest’s incredible success. The airline has always remained profitable, despite the ups and downs within the airline industry and is still expanding today.

To contrast it with a CIGFAM approach. A Wall Street reporter in recent times attended the AGMs of two adjacent airlines in Dallas during the same week: American Airlines and SouthWest Airlines. He noted: At American he and shareholders were greeted by union picket lines and sour investors: whereas at SouthWest it was like one big love-fest.

On the other hand, at American, union reps. commented how the airline was “always nickel and diming and bringing a lot of stress to its members,” the CIGFAM world.

To learn more about PEACAM, talk with: