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

“In our second experiment, someone posing as a busy professor rudely admonished some of the participants…for bothering him. Their performance was 61% worse on word puzzles, compared with our control group, and they produced 58% fewer ideas…”       Dr. Christine Porath, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, from WSJ Review article ‘Civility at Work Helps Everyone Get Ahead,’ November 2016.

    Articles like Porath’s really strike home relative to momentum building. How often have you been on a roll, when someone weighed in on you and really gave you a verbal dusting? It was probably sometime later or even days later, when you finally got yourself back on track. Many studies show that when workplace people feel disrespected, their performance suffers. Why is it then that workplace abuse is still commonplace?

Professor Porath went on share that in another study, where she published a 2014 survey of  20,000 workplace people across various industries in Harvard Business Review, that: “When people felt respected by their leader, those people reported 92% greater

focus and prioritization, 56% better health and well-being, and 55% more engagement.” How much do you think these remarkable numbers added to their organizations’ bottom-line?

Treating people with respect is one of the key cornerstones of the intrinsic motivation paradigm PEACAM: where P= purpose, E= equality, A= achievement, C= camaraderie, A= autonomy and M= mastery. Intrinsic motivators are synonymous with a person’s nature. Quite opposite to extrinsic ones like competition, incentives, goals, fear, accountability and measurement. Extrinsic ones are coercive; therefore last only as long as you apply them.

Intrinsic motivators, on the other hand, are more natural and durable and can inwardly excite people without the use of external pressure. Managers are trained to rely on extrinsic motivators, while leaders are more naturally inclined to utilize intrinsic ones. That’s why the latter generally do a better motivational job and are more appreciated by their people.

Coming back to respect and civility: these would usually be associated with equality. Where you treat people with dignity and seek their views on many things, such that they feel valued. When people feel valued, they are more likely to put their “best foot forward.” So the question is: What are some of the ways you can encourage people to feel more valued? Let’s consider such ideas as:

» Knowing more about them: their interests, family and friends, and regularly chatting to them about these factors of interest within their lives…to the degree they are comfortable.

» Consult with them on a regular basis regarding current and future organization intentions…acknowledge them.

» If you have a ‘beef’ with them: use a sandwich rather than a broadside – a sandwich is where you share things you like about them at the outset, then focus on the issue(s) you’re unhappy with, and then return to things that you like about them. That way you finish on a positive note and lift their “tails” back up.

» Have regular brainstorming sessions with executives and team leaders within your organization to discuss the clear benefits of civility and respect, such that it becomes a top-of-the mind issue and eventually becomes instinctive to the majority of them. Only when it becomes instinctive will it appear genuine to all their team members; thereby producing an even bigger pay-off.

Just imagine the pay-off if most team members within your organization had their “tails-up” and felt they were consistently valued. They would have bounce in their steps, there would be many smiles around the place, and there would even be some friendly banter among colleagues to keep spirits up. Chances are that this would happen that much more when the chips are down and people are expected to meet certain crucial objectives or deadlines. Organizational momentum will naturally build; all in the names of civility and respect.

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“Being One Step Ahead of the Game!”

“It takes nine months to gestate a baby, right? Why is that? Because Mother Nature’s clock has predetermined that it takes 9 months for a couple to become used to the idea of becoming prospective parents.”

Does this mean it takes humans 6-9 months to adjust to other major events in their lives? Most likely. All this writer’s experiences of working with executives and their teams, where they have had to make key adjustments, point to this reality. Expecting people to turn on a dime, other than in an absolute emergency, is foolhardy thinking: especially when a fair amount of thought, discussion and buy-in will be necessary.

Just think back on some of the more challenging moments in your life and how tough it was for you to make a significant shift in your circumstances. It probably took a good degree of soul-searching, time and reconfiguring of your normal life before you made the

switch? The same goes for your people.

Assuming therefore that this pretty much holds true; executives and team leaders will be wise to think as follows when trying to sustain momentum and when it comes to change leadership, such as – taking a leap forward, a mid-course correction, or revamping today’s business:

» Start talking about  visioning or strategic sessions 6-9 months ahead of  your intended discussion point…and keep mentioning it in different ways to build anticipation and affirm it will happen.

» Three months ahead of an event, start sharing topical articles every two-weeks to start winding-up people’s thoughts.

» One month before – Send out specific invitations with all relevant details, such as likely topics, prep assignments, on-site versus offsite, logistical issues, etc.

» On-site; Offsite retreats – Think through carefully what you wish to accomplish relative to the obvious merits or demerits of pursuing one or the other.

» Now it will probably take another 6-9 months to implement.

So what started out as something just around the corner is now going to take 12-18 months to conceive, do it really well, and put things on an even better track. Such a line of thinking reinforces the need for “being one step ahead of the game.” That way you are likely to get the full attention and participation of your people. After-all, if you are an enlightened leader, you will be expecting your team members to implement most of the changes: with you very much involved, interested and monitoring their gains. Enlightened momentum building relies on these principles and practices.

To learn more about civility and getting ahead of the game, talk with: