Housekeeping... Would you like a Towel?

by Don Harkey

Got another good comment from "Church" (the blog reader, not the place) yesterday. She wrote:

This is interesting...
http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2009/06/encouraging_pos.html

What does this say about motivation? What are the motivating factors in these types of statements? Social belonging? It's more than just doing the "right" thing or the statements at the beginning would hold more weight.

The link takes us to a study that was posted in the Wall Street Journal recently. The study showed the results to various approaches used by hotels to get guests to reuse their towels during longer stays. Here are the results of various signs posted in the bathrooms...

1. "Help the hotel save energy" results in 16% towel reuse.
2. "Partner with us to help the environment" results in 31% towel reuse.
3. "Almost 75% of guests reuse towels" results in 44% towel reuse.
4. "75% of the guests who stayed in this room reuse towels" results in 49% towel reuse.

As "Church" says, what does this mean about motivation?

Actually, this gives some great insight into how people are motivated. From past articles, motivation is generated from 3 conditions or needs that are met; competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

"Help the hotel save energy" is too vague and doesn't build on any of the 3 needs. What can I do to help the hotel save energy? Why do I care? This statement doesn't invoke a feeling that I have control. It is almost an instruction robbing me of making a choice to help out.

"Partner with us to help the environment" is considerably better and is almost twice as effective. It helps to explain why I would care about reusing a towel and it builds on my sense of autonomy with the use of the word "partner". I have a role in this one. However, this does nothing to build relatedness. I am only one person and I probably won't have that big of an impact on the environment.

"Almost 75% of guests reuse towels" is even more effective. It builds on my sense of relatedness. If other people are doing this, it must be important. Since it doesn't give an instruction (although it is implied), I still have my sense of autonomy. It still makes you ask yourself "why", but the truth is that most people probably understand why it is important.

"75% of the guests who stayed in this room reuse towels" was the most effective statement, beating out the last statement by a hair. This is similar to the last statement except that it further builds on my sense of relatedness because it refers to people in the same situation I am currently in (staying in this room using a towel).

So, this study makes sense when we apply competence, autonomy, and relatedness as key motivators. A couple of comments on this. First of all, the last 2 statements are lies and therefore should not have been used (sure its a small lie to save a lot of money, but how much is integrity worth?). Second, if you wanted to improve on the above statements (ignoring my first point), you might say, "75% of guests who stayed in this room partnered together to help the environment by reusing towels". (Again, I wouldn't use it unless it was true, but this type of statement really hits all 3 needs).

Motivation is a tricky thing. We often mistake "importance" as a key factor. The truth is that our sense of being a part of something bigger (relatedness) is a much larger component to motivation.

Thanks, Church for the comment and link!

Surfing to Productivity

by Don Harkey

I want to thank "Church" for the comment and link on yesterday's article (she's always a valued contributor!). The linked article references a study that found that people who were allowed to "surf the internet" up to 20% (up to 1.6 hours of an 8 hour day) of their time at work were 9% more productive. What's going on here?

This makes sense within a framework. Remember the 3 factors that lead to motivation? Competence, Autonomy, and Relatedness. A bit part of relatedness is feeling like you are part of something bigger than yourself. Handling emails, chatting with a friend, reading blogs, watching videos of others, scanning through Facebook status updates, Tweeting... these are all ways to build relatedness in people. The issue I see is "what are you becoming related to?".

I have had friends with addictions to the internet. One in particular that I know used to spent 10 hours or more every day playing an online role playing game. He certainly felt competent, autonomous and related to playing the game. The online interaction gives us something that computers used to lack... the ability to relate to others while sitting alone.

A good question for businesses and organizations is how to do use this tool to build relatedness to the tasks at hand (ex: doing your job). The answer is challenging because of the sea of information available. Looking up information online is often very helpful, but more recent applications give us the opportunity to do more than that.

Imagine that I am given a new task at my job. I'm told to organize a fundraising event for a local charity. I've never done that before. I am feeling less than competent and, if there is no one else in the organization who has organized a fundraiser, I am also feeling a lack of relatedness. So I go to the internet.

Let's say I Google "fundraising". I quickly find links to companies who sell fundraising supplies as well as links to sites that give fundraising ideas galore. The information is overwhelming, but potentially valuable. I spend several hours reading articles, building up my competence.

The next step is I go to my Twitter account and post (a post in Twitter is called a "Tweet", discouraging thousands of serious business people from using this powerful tool) a simple message, "I need to plan a fundraising event and I don't know what I'm doing. Help!". Within a few hours, local resources for fundraising have contacted me with advice and words of encouragement. Even a few friends offer their 2 cents. I just discovered that I am not alone and am interacting with others who have done the same thing I am about to do. I am starting to feel able to relate to the task!

To sum up, social online networking is more than interacting with information, its about interacting with people. With some focus on tasks at hand, it can be powerful and motivating tool for your people!

Vision and Mission

by Don Harkey

It is estimated that there are over 300,000 churches in the United States. This makes churches the most common non-profit organization in this country, and probably in the world. Most people have been to a church at some point in their lives, but have you ever thought of a church as an organization or even as a business?

About 6 years ago, Messiah Lutheran Church in Springfield, Missouri hired a consultant. The consultant interviewed many members of the congregation to assess the overall health of the organization. The results were presented in a report. The report did not contain any earth shattering news. The congregation was healthy, but stagnant. There were no major rifts in the church... no issues that threatened its existance... only a steady attendance record over its 45 year history.

The report contained one critical piece of advice; develop a Vision and Mission. Where are you going? What is your purpose? Why are we here? These were the question posed before the congregants of Messiah Lutheran Church only 6 years ago.

6 years later, the congregation is transformed. It is still the healthy congregation with a strong culture of family that existed during the study. However, today, the church is alive with excitement about the future. This summer, the church will complete a $2.7 million building project at its existing site in Springfield, for which its congregation raised almost $1 million over the previous 3 years.

Almost 100 members of the church spent almost 2 years working on the answers to those original questions and the resulting answers lead to the new energy. The congregation learned a lot about itself in its Mission Statement.

"Guided by the Gospel we: Welcome All to Worship, Make Disciples, Hunger for Ministry, Nurture Youth, Gather Resources for Growing Ministries, and Offer Healing and Care to All in Need"

This simple Mission statement is said after every worship service and is repeated in congregational meetings, team meetings, and anywhere where a little vision is needed. The organization is focused on utilizing its people to find its mission. It knows that its "economic engine" is members of the church who see that the church is fulfilling a need.

Would this type of process work for a "for profit" business? Would it be benefitial for leaders within a business to sit down and discuss the answers to questions like "why are we here" and "what is our purpose"?

The answer is "absolutely"!

As Jim Collins pointed out in "Good to Great", a company that knows what it is passionate about is more successful than companies who focus too much on their dashboards. This is intuitive to anyone who has ever worked with people. People are much more creative and energetic when they are working together toward a common purpose. Remember that "relatedness" is a major factor in personal motivation. Within an organization, profit or not, understanding the passion and common purpose is critical.

Still... non-profits are very different entities. There can't be too much more in common... can there?

Want to learn more about Messiah Lutheran Church? Visit www.messiahmo.org.