Management Matters
Finally, “management” can achieve a lot. Perhaps an even better word is “accountability”—the notion that someone is observing and noting your behavior. In fact, it is a well-known phenomenon in a gym that everyone does more push-ups when someone else is counting. That is quite important—it almost does not matter who is counting. In the gym, the “counter” is more or less a stranger you will likely never see again. This person has no ability to reward or punish you. Still, chances are you will do at least two or three more because of that accountability factor. This is a big reason personal trainers and even consultants are effective—the accountability to another person.
Rather than creating incentives, most firms will be much better off if they simply set goals and create an accountability mechanism for tracking them. Yet so many firms are very reluctant to do that. Many fear that somehow the goals will be poorly received or that the managers who are charged with accountability will be seen as the “bad guys.” So instead they choose the passive-aggressive and largely ineffective approach of using Scooby snacks.
Management can go well beyond just accountability. Management can also mean training people and patiently developing their skills. In the case of the ever-difficult business development, this can mean persistent mentoring, encouragement and training. The management of a firm can be effective by helping professionals understand how to approach business development and by surrounding them with resources.
After all, even in the smoking cessation programs that GE paid for, the participants were not just given a check but were asked to enroll in coaching and educational programs that helped them achieve the goal they were paid for.
What To Do With The Snacks?
In my own experience, spending money to change behavior is an ineffective strategy. The money can and should be spent rewarding success or sharing success rather than sending wishful messages through complex bonus programs. I very much believe that most of the time we do what we believe is right, what we believe those around us expect from us, what we were told to do. Unfortunately, we also tend to do what we have always done.
To change what someone “always does” is very difficult, and we need to find a number of levers to move that giant rock. Culture and management to me are much more promising than money, but perhaps if we combine all three then we really have something!
Philip Palaveev is the CEO of the Ensemble Practice LLC. He’s an industry consultant, author of the books G2: Building the Next Generation and The Ensemble Practice and the lead faculty member for the G2 Institute.