The Key
August 7, 2008

Entelechy's Newsletter for Trainers, Managers, 
HR Professionals and Others Responsible 
for the Performance of Others.

Letter from the Editor

I am either the hardest working person at the airport – or the dumbest.

That’s what I told the customer service representative at the United Airlines counter in Chicago. I had arrived at the airport 1½ hours before my flight back to New Hampshire; the shuttle from the hotel was on time; security was no problem; in fact, NOTHING was the problem. There was no reason for missing my flight. But there I was, standing sheepishly in front of Molly, looking for the next available flight back home.

When I called my wife to explain my situation, she understood all too readily. In fact, she thought that it was all rather funny – and predictable. I was early and found a power outlet for my laptop. I could get ahead of the work week by doing a few odds and ends on the computer. Ooooh, a Boingo hotspot would allow me to send my emails. Ooops; looks like a couple of incoming emails need to be answered….

Add the complicated mathematics of a different time zone and, voila, here I am talking to Molly who’s looking at me like I’ve gotta getta life.

The thing is, I’ve got a number of people on my staff – and you may have a few yourself – where this situation make not be too far-fetched. You have people who like the work so much that they lose track of time.

The focus of this newsletter is discretionary effort – how to get employees to do more than the minimum. Think of it this way: if everyone in your company gave 10% more, produced 10% more, made 10% fewer errors, or got things done in 90% of the usual time, how much more competitive would your company be?

The big question is: how do we as managers and supervisors and trainers encourage discretionary effort from our employees?

And how do I get home?

Terry

What is Discretionary Effort and Why is It Important?

It’s so difficult when I have to and so easy when I want to.

Discretionary effort may very well be the difference in successful organizations and also-rans. Towers Perrin, a New York-based consulting firm, concluded from surveying 35,000 U.S. workers that only one-fifth of workers are highly engaged in their jobs. While an equal amount of surveyed workers are disengaged in their work, Towers Perrin suggests that the middle three-fifths – “the massive middle” – offers the best opportunity for managers and supervisors. “Strengthening this group’s level of engagement may be the most critical task virtually every employer faces today.”

Our job as supervisors is to get results through people.

People will do what they have to in order to get paid and keep the job.
Some people perform more – better, faster – because they want to. We call this discretionary effort. Discretionary effort is the additional effort expended by your teams beyond what they “have to do.”

Why do these people perform because they want to? We think it’s because of leadership behavior.

This view is echoed by others in the industry. Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, authors of the critically acclaimed best seller, Contented Cows Give Better Milk, state, “In purely economic terms, discretionary effort is by far the most profitable morsel of human effort ever offered up to employers. By definition, you can't pay for discretionary effort; you can't beat, cajole, or entice it out of anyone. It's what we do willingly, because we want to.”

At the same time, it’s clear that there are certain things that seem to attract, elicit, or at the very least support discretionary effort. Perhaps it’s institutional. Companies like Wegman’s Supermarkets, Southwest Airlines, and FedEx seem to have more than their share of exemplary performers. Why?

Maybe it’s the way we’re wired – our character. Call it work ethic or commitment or devotion, it seems that some people simply give more. What drives these people to consistently give more? We all have an “A” Game and a “C” Game; for some folks, the “A” games just seems to be their default.

Catlette and Hadden provide the following tips for getting discretionary effort.

1. Hire people with a proven record of going the extra mile. Look for it in resumes, and listen for it in interviews. Watch for signs of self-initiated development efforts like taking courses outside of work, taking on unpopular assignments, and volunteering in the community.

2. Take strident efforts to build, maintain, and protect trust between you and the people you work with. We'll do an awful lot for those we trust, and precious little for those we don't.

3. Don't take undue advantage of those who customarily give their all. Everyone has a limit. The fastest route to an "A" player's "C" game is to make "heroic" efforts the norm. If you expect people to work 70 hours week after week after week, with no end in sight, you'd better be putting something mighty tasty in the Kool-Aid.

4. When people do, indeed, go above and beyond the call of duty, let them know you appreciate it. Really appreciate it. Thank them, genuinely. Reward them, acknowledge their work as truly special, and let them know you know the difference between doing the minimum required, and playing one's "A" game.

Want discretionary effort? Follow the above tips and get more effort from more of your team!

Discretionary Effort – An Environmental Issue

By Joanne Casino

It seems that every company we are dealing with is being pressured to do more with less these days. Goals are being set aggressively and little or no additional resources are being added to accomplish those goals.

Managers are aware that the only way to accomplish these “stretch” goals is to have each and every employee performing at their utmost capacity. We, as managers, are used to focusing on our weakest employees. We know that if someone is not performing up to standard we have a performance issue that must be addressed.

But what about the rest of our employees? Do they come to work and do what they have to do but no more? Are they engaged with their work to the point where you can see behavioral evidence that they go above and beyond to do their part to achieve the goals the company is striving to achieve?

When employees do everything they are asked to do, are good workers, and fulfill the requirements as laid out by their job description, they are performing at the “have to” level (see graphic). They do what they have to in order to fulfill their obligations as an employee. The problem is that there is a gap between what most employees are currently achieving and what they would like to achieve or are capable of achieving. This gap is their discretionary effort.

Many of today’s business goals require employees work at a higher level of performance than what is spelled out in the job description. How can you ask for more than what they are required to do? You can’t. However; if you have set the right environment and built the right culture, employees will offer their discretionary efforts. Employees, who, without asking, will mentor another employee, go out of their way to find the root cause of a problem, volunteer for extra hours, and take that little bit of extra time and attention to make sure there are no errors are offering their discretionary effort. They are performing at the “want to” level.

Setting the right environment requires effective motivation and positive leadership behaviors. In Entelechy’s Introduction to Motivation training we examine how to build this environment and what each individual leader (executive, manager, or supervisor) can do to create an environment that retains and motivates employees to operate at an industry-leading level of performance.

For more information or to discuss employee engagement at YOUR company, contact Joanne Casino at info@unlockit.com.

Managing Upward

• Take time to understand your boss’s:

  • Goals: What are his aspirations? How can you help him achieve them?

  • Problems: What common problems prevent your boss from being more effective? Are any of your boss’s problems your strengths? Can you take responsibility for meetings, communication, planning, follow-up, etc?

  • World: Describe the world from your boss’s perspective. Who are the players?

  • Pressures: What pressures are placed on your boss? How might these pressures affect him? How might they affect priorities? How might they affect your job?

  • Boss: What kind of a boss does your boss work for? How might this affect your boss?

• Proactively approach your boss with a way you can help solve one of his or her problems.

Get in Back

• Recognize that your boss is in his position because of past successes and demonstrated competence.

• Check your attitude. Are you supportive? Or do you complain?

• Check your ego. Do you really have a difficult/incompetent boss? Or does your boss have difficult/incompetent employees?

• Show support and encouragement.

• Be specific in your positive reinforcement.

• Always provide constructive feedback in person and in private.

• Recognize that your relationship with your current boss is critical to your future success.

Get Alongside

• Understand and work with your boss’s style:

  • Give the “doer” boss results and don’t waste time.

  • Support the “speaker” boss’s intuition and need for recognition; provide assurance.

  • Accommodate the “listener” boss’s need to talk things out before getting to business.

  • Present the “thinker” boss with logic and detail.

• Recognize that your relationship with your boss is a relationship of mutual dependence by two human beings with strengths and weaknesses. Get to know your boss’s and get to know yours.

• If your boss comes to you with a crisis, remain calm and collect pertinent information: what is really wanted? By whom? By when? How will it be used?

• Communicate what you are doing, especially information that may impact your boss (customer problems, project slippage, etc.). Your boss should NEVER be caught by surprise resulting from your failure to communicate.

• When raising problems, come with alternative solutions and your recommendation already identified.

• Always be honest and dependable.

Be the employee that you would want your employees to be. Model the behavior you would expect from your employees.

And Now for Something Completely Different

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Terence Traut, President of Entelechy "unlocking potential"
ttraut@unlockit.com   
phone: 603-424-1237
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