Motivating high performance with high expectations

The Pygmalion Effect helps you think about how your expectations of other people can influence or motivate their performance. It argues that by setting and communicating high performance expectations, you can motivate better performance from the people you lead and manage.

The effect was originally studied in context of teachers’ expectations of their students: Students who are expected to perform well usually do so. Those students of whom teachers have lower expectations will generally perform less well. However, this approach has clear application in the corporate world.

This effect is named after George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”, which is the basis of the film and stage musical “My Fair Lady”. Shaw summarizes the effect by character Professor Higgins’ observation that:

“…the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she’s treated.”

Understanding the Theory

As a manager or supervisor, your aim is to get the best performance from the people who work from you. If you have high expectations of a member of your team, this can reinforce your efforts. On the other hand, if you convey lower expectations of an individual, this can undermine your efforts to improve his or her performance.

Without knowing it, you may show low expectations by delegating less challenging and interesting work. You may pay less attention to team members’ performance and give them less support and praise. In return, the team member may feel undervalued and untrusted, and his or her confidence may be undermined. And so your lower expectations, albeit unconsciously communicated, can demotivate the team member, creating the exact opposite effect of the performance improvement that you want.

More than this, the effect of low expectations can create a vicious circle – you expect less, you get less, you lower your expectations and further demotivate, and so on.

The good news is that the opposite is also true. By setting and communicating higher expectations, you can motivate team members and create a virtuous circle leading to continuously improving performance.

Using the Theory

To use this new technique to shape the way you express your expectations, follow the steps below:

1. Make a list of all of the members of your team, and then write down your expectations of the job-related performance of each team member on the next task you allocate to him or her.
2. Next, take an objective look at the outcomes of the last three tasks you delegated to each team member. Were these outcomes positive or negative? Again, write down this objective measure of outcomes against each performer.

3. Plot each team member on the grid in figure 1 (above). Don’t worry too much about scale: Just ask yourself which of the four quadrants (boxes) reflects your expectation of the team member and his or her objective performance. The quadrants are:

1. “High Performers, As Expected”:
   These people meet your expectations and continuously improve their performance. This can be a “virtuous circle”, where high performance is subtly motivated by your high expectations.

   “Low Performers, As Expected”:
   Here, you have lower expectations of people, and they tend to perform and improve less well than others. This can be a “vicious circle”, and there’s a risk that these people are subtly demotivated by your lower expectations of them.

   “Self-Motivated Performers”:
   Despite your lower expectations of this group, these team members perform well. Perhaps their last three tasks were unusually successful, or perhaps you need to adjust your expectations.

   “Under-Performers”:
   Despite your higher expectations, this group are failing to improve their perform.

2. Now consider and write down all the ways in which you may be consciously and unconsciously motivating or demotivating the members of your team. This will include factors such as:

• The work you delegate
• The responsibility and trust you give
• Praise and recognition
• Support and guidance given
• Opportunities for development given
• Fair treatment in relation to other team members.

1. For the factors you identify, what are the (obvious or subtle) differences in the way you treat people in your “High Performers, As Expected” category compared to your “Low Performers, As Expected” category? What can you learn from how you treat your “High Performers, As Expected” that could help you better motivate others?

1. Now you have analyzed the impact of your expectations, you can use what you have learned to make subtle changes to how you treat and motivate people and so improve performance. Here’s how to consider each category:“Low Performer as Expected”
   By expecting more of this group, you can help motivate better performance in many areas. Using the information from steps 4 and 5, write down how you can signal and express higher expectations.

   “Self-Motivated Performers”
   These people are potentially some of your biggest stars. Write down how you can more clearly signal positive expectations and recognize their achievements, and so motivate even better performance.

   “Under-Performers”
   Why do these people underperform? Are you expecting too much from them, or is something stopping them perform to their potential? Talk to these people and be prepared to expect less or provide more support and guidance.

   “High Performance As Expected”
   Don’t forget the people in this category! Keep up your “virtuous circle” expectations and motivation to help this group keep on performing.

Key points:

“Pygmalion Motivation” helps you apply the principles of the Pygmalion Effect to alter the way you express your expectations of team members, thereby motivating them to improve their performance.

Using Belbin’s Team Roles

When a team is performing at its best, you’ll usually find that each team member has clear responsibilities. Just as importantly, you’ll normally see that every role needed to achieve the team’s goal is being performed fully and well.

But often, despite clear roles and responsibilities, a team will fall short of its full potential.

How often does this happen in the teams you work with? Perhaps some team members don’t complete what you expect them to do. Perhaps some team members are not quite flexible enough, so things ‘fall between the cracks’. Maybe someone who is valued for their expert input fails to see the wider picture, and so misses out tasks or steps that others would expect. Or perhaps one team member become frustrated because he or she disagrees with the approach of another team members.

Dr Meredith Belbin studied team-work for many years, and he famously observed that people in teams tend to assume different “team roles”. He defines a “team role” as “a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way” and named nine such team roles that underlie team success.

Creating More Balanced Teams

Belbin suggests that, by understanding your team role within a particular team, you can develop your strengths and manage your weaknesses as a team member, and so improve how you contribute to the team.

Team leaders and team development practitioners often use the Belbin model to help create more balanced teams. Teams can become unbalanced if all team members have similar styles of behavior or team roles.

If team members have similar weakness, the team as a whole may tend to have that weakness. If team members have similar team-work strengths, they may tend to compete (rather than co-operate) for the team tasks and responsibilities that best suit their natural styles. So you can use the model with your team to help ensure that necessary team roles are covered, and that potential behavioral tensions or weaknesses among the team member are addressed.

Tip 1:
Belbin’s “team-roles” are based on observed behavior and interpersonal styles.

While Belbin suggests that people tend to adopt a particular team-role, bear in mind that your behavior and interpersonal style within a team is to some extent dependent on the situation: It relates not only to your own natural working style, but also to your interrelationships with others, and the work being done.

Be careful: You, and the people you work with, may behave and interact quite differently in different teams or when the membership or work of the team changes.

Also, be aware that there are other approaches in use, some of which complement this model, some of which conflict with it. By all means use this approach as a guide, however do not put too much reliance on it, and temper any conclusions with common sense.

Understanding Belbin’s Team Roles Model

Belbin identified nine team roles and he categorized those roles into three groups: Action Oriented, People Oriented, and Thought Oriented. Each team role is associated with typical behavioral and interpersonal strengths.

Belbin also defined characteristic weaknesses that tend to accompany the team-role. He called the characteristic weaknesses of team-roles the “allowable” weaknesses; as for any behavioral weakness, these are areas to be aware of and potentially improve.

The nine team-roles are:

Action Oriented Roles:

Shapers (SH)
Shapers are people who challenge the team to improve. They are dynamic and usually extroverted people who enjoy stimulating others, questioning norms, and finding the best approaches to problems. The Shaper is the one who shakes things up to make sure that all possibilities are considered and that the team does not become complacent.

Shapers often see obstacles as exciting challenges and they tend to have the courage to push on when others feel like quitting.

Their potential weaknesses may be that they’re argumentative, and that they may offend people’s feelings.

Implementer (IMP)
Implementers are the people who get things done. They turn the team’s ideas and concepts into practical actions and plans. They are typically conservative, disciplined people who work systematically and efficiently and are very well organized. These are the people who you can count on to get the job done.

On the downside, Implementers may be inflexible and somewhat resistant to change.

Completer – Finisher (CF)
Completer-Finishers are the people who see that projects are completed thoroughly. They ensure there have been no errors or omissions and they pay attention to the smallest of details. They are very concerned with deadlines and will push the team to make sure the job is completed on time. They are described as perfectionists who are orderly, conscientious, and anxious.

However, a Completer-Finisher may worry unnecessarily and find it hard to delegate.

People Oriented Roles:

Coordinator (CO)
Coordinators are the ones who take on the traditional team-leader role and have also been referred to as the chairmen. They guide the team to what they perceive are the objectives. They are often excellent listeners and they are naturally able to recognize the value that each team members brings to the table. They are calm and good-natured and delegate tasks very effectively.

Their potential weaknesses are that they may delegate away too much personal responsibility, and may tend to be manipulative.

Team Worker (TW)
Team Workers are the people who provide support and make sure the team is working together. These people fill the role of negotiators within the team and they are flexible, diplomatic, and perceptive. These tend to be popular people who are very capable in their own right but who prioritize team cohesion and helping people getting along.

Their weaknesses may be a tendency to be indecisive, and maintain uncommitted positions during discussions and decision-making.

Resource Investigator (RI)
Resource Investigators are innovative and curious. They explore available options, develop contacts, and negotiate for resources on behalf of the team. They are enthusiastic team members, who identify and work with external stakeholders to help the team accomplish its objective. They are outgoing and are often extroverted, meaning that others are often receptive to them and their ideas.

On the downside, they may lose enthusiasm quickly, and are often overly optimistic.

Thought Oriented Roles:

Plant (PL)
The Plant is the creative innovator who comes up with new ideas and approaches. They thrive on praise but criticism is especially hard for them to deal with. Plants are often introverted and prefer to work apart from the team. Because their ideas are so novel, they can be impractical at times. They may also be poor communicators and can tend to ignore given parameters and constraints.

Monitor – Evaluator (ME)
Monitor-Evaluators are best at analyzing and evaluating ideas that other people (often Plants) come up with. These people are shrewd and objective and they carefully weigh the pros and cons of all the options before coming to a decision.

Monitor-Evaluators are critical thinkers and very strategic in their approach. They are often perceived as detached or unemotional. Sometimes they are poor motivators who react to events rather than instigating them

Specialist (SP)
Specialists are people who have specialized knowledge that is needed to get the job done. They pride themselves on their skills and abilities, and they work to maintain their professional status. Their job within the team is to be an expert in the area, and they commit themselves fully to their field of expertise. This may limit their contribution, and lead to a preoccupation with technicalities at the expense of the bigger picture.

Belbin’s Team Roles

Action Oriented Roles

Shaper   –  Challenges the team to improve.

Implementer   –   Puts ideas into action.

Completer Finisher  -  Ensures thorough, timely completion.

People Oriented Roles

Coordinator  -  Acts as a chairperson.

Team Worker  -  Encourages cooperation.

Resource Investigator  -  Explores outside opportunities.

Thought Oriented Roles

Plant  -  Presents new ideas and approaches.

Monitor/Evaluator  -  Analyzes the options.

Specialist   –   Provides specialized skills.

How to Use the Tool:

The Belbin Team Roles Model can be used in several ways: You can use it to think about team balance before a project starts, you can use it to highlight and so manage interpersonal differences within an existing team, and you can use it to develop yourself as a team player.

The tool below helps you analyze team membership, using the Belbin team roles as checks for potential strengths and weakness.

Use Belbin’s model to analyze your team, and as a guide as you develop your team’s strengths, and manage its weaknesses:

Over a period of time, observe the individual members of your team, and see how they behave, contribute and behave within the team.
Now list the members of the team, and for each person write down the key strengths and characteristics you have observed. (You may also want to note down any observed weaknesses).
Compare each person’s listed strengths and weakness with the Belbin’s descriptions of team-roles, and note the one that most accurately describes that person.
Once you have done this for each team member, consider the following questions:
Which team roles are missing from your team? And from this, ask yourself which strengths are likely to be missing from the team overall?

Is there are prevalent team role that many of the team members share?
Once you have identified potential weakness, areas of conflict and missing strengths, consider the options you have to improve and change this.Consider:
Whether an existing team member could compensate by purposefully adopting different a team role. With awareness and intention, this is sometimes possible.
Whether one or more team members could improve how they work together and with others to avoid potential conflict of their natural styles.
Whether new skills need to brought onto the team to cover weaknesses.

Tip 2 – Prevalent team roles:
Among teams of people that do the same job, a few team roles often prevail. For example, within a research department, the team roles of Specialist and Plant may prevail. A team of business consultants may mainly comprise Team Workers and Shapers. Such teams may be unbalanced, in that they may be missing key approaches and outlooks.

If the team is unbalanced, first identify any team weakness that is not naturally covered by any of the team members. Then identify any potential areas of conflict. For example, too many Shapers can weaken a team if each Shaper wants to pull the team in a different direction.

Tip 3:
Remember not to depend too heavily on this idea when structuring your team – this is only one of many, many factors that are important in getting a team to perform at its best.

That said, just knowing about the Belbin Team Roles model can bring more harmony to your team, as team members learn that there are different approaches that are important in different circumstances and that no one approach is best all of the time.

Using Locke’s Theory

Goal setting is a powerful way of motivating people. The value of goal setting is so well recognized that entire management systems, like Management by Objectives, have goal setting basics incorporated within them.

In fact, goal setting theory is generally accepted as among the most valid and useful motivation theories in industrial and organizational psychology, human resource management, and organizational behavior.

Many of us have learned – from bosses, seminars, and business articles – to set SMART goals. It seems natural to assume that by setting a goal that’s Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound, we will be well on our way to accomplishing it.

But is this really the best way of setting goals?

To answer this, we look to Dr Edwin Locke’s pioneering research on goal setting and motivation in the late 1960s. In his 1968 article “Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives,” he stated that employees were motivated by clear goals and appropriate feedback. Locke went on to say that working toward a goal provided a major source of motivation to actually reach the goal – which, in turn, improved performance.

This information does not seem revolutionary to most of us some 40 years later. This shows the impact his theory has had on professional and personal performance.

In this article, we look at what Locke had to say about goal setting, and how we can apply his theory to our own performance goals.

Goal Setting Theory

Locke’s research showed that there was a relationship between how difficult and specific a goal was and people’s performance of a task. He found that specific and difficult goals led to better task performance than vague or easy goals.

Telling someone to “Try hard” or “Do your best” is less effective than “Try to get more than 80% correct” or “Concentrate on beating your best time.” Likewise, having a goal that’s too easy is not a motivating force. Hard goals are more motivating than easy goals, because it’s much more of an accomplishment to achieve something that you have to work for.

A few years after Locke published his article, another researcher, Dr Gary Latham, studied the effect of goal setting in the workplace. His results supported exactly what Locke had found, and the inseparable link between goal setting and workplace performance was formed.

In 1990, Locke and Latham published their seminal work, “A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance.” In this book, they reinforced the need to set specific and difficult goals, and they outlined three other characteristics of successful goal setting.

Five Principles of Goal Setting

To motivate, goals must take into consideration the degree to which each of the following exists:

Clarity.
Challenge.
Commitment.
Feedback.
Task complexity.
Let’s look at each of these in detail.

Clarity
Clear goals are measurable, unambiguous, and behavioral. When a goal is clear and specific, with a definite time set for completion, there is less misunderstanding about what behaviors will be rewarded. You know what’s expected, and you can use the specific result as a source of motivation. When a goal is vague – or when it’s expressed as a general instruction, like “Take initiative” – it has limited motivational value.
To improve your or your team’s performance, set clear goals that use specific and measurable standards. “Reduce job turnover by 15%” or “Respond to employee suggestions within 48 hours” are examples of clear goals.

When you use the SMART acronym to help you set goals, you ensure the clarity of the goal by making it Specific, Measurable and Time-bound.

Challenge
One of the most important characteristics of goals is the level of challenge. People are often motivated by achievement, and they’ll judge a goal based on the significance of the anticipated accomplishment. When you know that what you do will be well received, there’s a natural motivation to do a good job.
Rewards typically increase for more difficult goals. If you believe you’ll be well compensated or otherwise rewarded for achieving a challenging goal, that will boost your enthusiasm and your drive to get it done.

Setting SMART goals that are Relevant links closely to the rewards given for achieving challenging goals. Relevant goals will further the aims of your organization, and these are the kinds of goals that most employers will be happy to reward.

When setting goals, make each goal a challenge. If an assignment is easy and not viewed as very important – and if you or your employee doesn’t expect the accomplishment to be significant – then the effort may not be impressive.

Note:
It’s important to strike an appropriate balance between a challenging goal and a realistic goal. Setting a goal that you’ll fail to achieve is possibly more de-motivating than setting a goal that’s too easy. The need for success and achievement is strong, therefore people are best motivated by challenging, but realistic, goals. Ensuring that goals are Achievable or Attainable is one of the elements of SMART.

Commitment
Goals must be understood and agreed upon if they are to be effective. Employees are more likely to “buy into” a goal if they feel they were part of creating that goal. The notion of participative management rests on this idea of involving employees in setting goals and making decisions.
One version of SMART – for use when you are working with someone else to set their goals – has A and R stand for Agreed and Realistic instead of Attainable and Relevant. Agreed goals lead to commitment.

This doesn’t mean that every goal has to be negotiated with and approved by employees. It does mean that goals should be consistent and in line with previous expectations and organizational concerns. As long as the employee believes the goal is consistent with the goals of the company, and believes the person assigning the goal is credible, then the commitment should be there.

Interestingly, goal commitment and difficulty often work together. The harder the goal, the more commitment is required. If you have an easy goal, you don’t need a lot of motivation to get it done. When you’re working on a difficult assignment, you will likely encounter challenges that require a deeper source of inspiration and incentive.

As you use goal setting in your workplace, make an appropriate effort to include people in their own goal setting. Encourage employees to develop their own goals, and keep them informed about what’s happening elsewhere in the organization. This way, they can be sure that their goals are consistent with the overall vision and purpose that the company seeks.

Feedback
In addition to selecting the right type of goal, an effective goal program must also include feedback. Feedback provides opportunities to clarify expectations, adjust goal difficulty, and gain recognition. It’s important to provide benchmark opportunities or targets, so individuals can determine for themselves how they’re doing.
These regular progress reports, which measure specific success along the way, are particularly important where it’s going to take a long time to reach a goal. In these cases, break down the goals into smaller chunks, and link feedback to these intermediate milestones.

SMART goals are Measurable, and this ensures that clear feedback is possible.

With all your goal setting efforts, make sure that you build in time for providing formal feedback. Certainly, informal check-ins are important, and they provide a means of giving regular encouragement and recognition. However, taking the time to sit down and discuss goal performance is a necessary factor in long-term performance improvement. See our article on Delegation for more on this.

Task Complexity
The last factor in goal setting theory introduces two more requirements for success. For goals or assignments that are highly complex, take special care to ensure that the work doesn’t become too overwhelming.
People who work in complicated and demanding roles probably have a high level of motivation already. However, they can often push themselves too hard if measures aren’t built into the goal expectations to account for the complexity of the task. It’s therefore important to do the following:

Give the person sufficient time to meet the goal or improve performance.
Provide enough time for the person to practice or learn what is expected and required for success.
The whole point of goal setting is to facilitate success. Therefore, you want to make sure that the conditions surrounding the goals don’t frustrate or inhibit people from accomplishing their objectives. This reinforces the “Attainable” part of SMART.

Key points:

Goal setting is something most of us recognize as necessary for our success.

By understanding goal setting theory, you can effectively apply the principles to goals that you or your team members set. Locke and Latham’s research emphasizes the usefulness of SMART goal setting, and their theory continues to influence the way we set and measure performance today.

Use clear, challenging goals, and commit yourself to achieving them. Provide feedback on goal performance. Take into consideration the complexity of the task. If you follow these simple rules, your goal setting process will be much more successful. Bonus: your overall performance will improve.

Hiring the right people for the right job can be like throwing darts at a board. Sometimes, you get a bullseye. Want to increase your percentage of accurate hires? Read on my turnover troubled friend…..

Today in the Wall Street Journal there was a great article on how companies are using behavioral surveys to identify and match up in individuals work style and behavior with company needs. “It has helped me to learn how to interact better with work teams and to leverage my strengths in the workplace,” said Dana Lund a client-relations manager with Acxiom Corporation, a global interactive marketing firm. These days about 25% of midsize and large hospitality companies use personality and behavioral surveys for entry and mid-level decisions as either a pre-employment or new employee orientation tool.

Ultimately these tests aim to help the company hire a specific type of person for a job that might require particular traits. Or conversely, to rule out traits that are likely to lead to job failure. “Companies understand that the right personality fit is a critical criteria for good performance,” says Scott Erker, a senior vice president at a global human resources consultancy. Getting that right person in the right job, reduces turnover costs (which are typically a lost employee’s one-year salary) required to recruit and train a new professional. “You can reduce turnover up to 50% with the right pre-employment assessment,” Mr. Erker says.

Companies are also using these tools to screen candidates as they apply candidates won’t even get an interview unless they match the behavioral job model for the position. By simply outsourcing this process companies can save money and a valuable employee time pre-screening applicants that would not make the first cut. As young people face the hurdle of behavioral surveys many may be tempted to try and manipulate their answers. While it may be tempting to study up on what kind of answers, you should give to score well, experts caution against doing so. “Don’t try to psych out the test,” says Jo Bennett, an executive recruiter from New York. Be honest and open in your answers. If you lie or try to manipulate your answers to land a job and doesn’t fit you or your personality, you’re more likely to be miserable at work.. If you land a job and then try to fudge a companies new employee orientation tool, you could find yourself misunderstood by your boss.

Some applicants may be a bit anxious when asked to take, a behavioral survey. “I didn’t really know where the behavioral assessment factored into the application process,” says Matt Rion, a 29-year-old marketing and operations manager who now realizes the incredible benefits, such surveys offer. ” I understand now that we just want to make sure that someone has the capability to do the job.”

Many companies choose not to share the results of the pre-interview assessments. However, if your assessment was given after you agree to take the job as part of a new employee orientation, then the results should be shared. This gives the new employee valuable insight into their future coworkers. A few companies have even taken the behavioral survey data and incorporated it onto an employee’s name tag. if the employee is working with a person who is a high extroversion than they would know that they should communicate with friendly comments, present things persuasively and as beneficial to people, give them a recognition and avoid being harsh or insulting. And employee communicating with a person who is high pace would understand that they need to give the person time to think about the process and present the benefits of change, showing that it is fair and reasonable and to give concise and clear priorities and directions.

“We see the assessment as an opportunity for our professionals to better understand themselves,” says Debbie Pyle, a human resources training and development leader. Bottom line, behavioral surveys assist you and your company in making better hiring decisions. There are a variety of behavioral assessments and surveys on the market. Here are some key factors to take into consideration when looking to implement a behavioral survey into your company:

In general,, stay away from companies that use the term assessment or test. A behavioral survey is not a test, it merely measures the four cornerstone behavioral traits that all of us possess. There is no pass or fail, there is no right or wrong. It just gives an insight to where your natural strengths maybe.
Ask the company for documentation on their initial research. Many of the tools on the market, used college students as their base research. Look for a company that has based their research on a cross-section of working adults-not students.
Asked the company, the number of people included in the initial research. If it is less than 1000, you may want to look at other companies. There is currently on the market, a company that is currently marketing it’s behavioral assessment as a “highly accurate” report. Yet, when you look into the number of people they used to conduct their initial research study…it was 40. That’s not a typing error, only 40 people. How accurate could that really be?
Research the ease of use. This is huge. Many of the behavioral tools on the market take anywhere from 10 minutes to 90 minutes. There is one well known assessment tool on the market that is 298 questions! That can be intimidating to an applicant.
A behavioral report can be a powerful tool in hiring, training and developing high performance teams.

As competition rises for top talent, many companies are simply filling positions without following a solid hiring practice and procedure. Here are a few tips to make sure your company is getting the very best:

Do not panic hire! Filling a position, just to fill an empty position is one of the bonehead moves that are so common today.
You have to get the right people hired and get them in the right position that plays to their strengths.
If possible, try using a pre-hire behavioral screening program. The system first creates a job model, which defines the position in terms of the behavioral dynamics most likely to succeed in the job. The behavioral survey is easily made a part of the application process. These systems help managers match people to positions, increasing hiring success and decreasing turnover
Recently I had a project where I was hired to come in and work with the company’s corporate executive chef. He had not been performing up to the expectations of upper management. One of the tools I use when doing such work is a behavioral survey called ProScan. After going over the report, first with the corporate chef and then with his supervisor it became quite apparent that he was placed in the wrong position. The ProScan survey revealed that while he could perform the duties of a corporate chef, it went against his natural strengths. After discussions with all the parties involved we decided it best to move him into an executive chef position at their highest-volume unit. In the end, it was a win-win situation all around. The employee repositioned flourished. He reported reduced stress and increased job satisfaction. We created a job model for a corporate executive chef and used the ProScan survey with the new applicants. We located and interviewed a candidate with the traits most likely to succeed. So far, it’s been quite a success. The owners are happy with the new chefs results, the new corporate executive chef thrives on the challenge of the job as it parallels his natural strengths.

I have always had a saying, that hiring in the hospitality business is a lot like mining for gold. You have to dig through a lot of dirt to find the gold nuggets. However, when you find one treated for what it is… gold.

As a consultant, I get paid to produce results. Nothing is more frustrating for me then to waste valuable resources. Trust me, when you are on a week long survival exercise in Iceland and you only have food for 4 days, you appreciate the resources you have……big time.

I did a consulting project recently and the so called “director of operations” was not schooled in resource allocation. For a few hours I went along with his time wasting requests and then I reminded myself what a consultant’s job is: to protect the owner’s investment. Sometimes we also need to protect people from themselves. In this case the owner had no background in the food service industry. Let’s just say he had a more medical background. Now, I’m a big believer in “support the team you play for or play for another team”. Owners also need to subscribe to the belief that “if you don’t trust the people you hired to do their job, hire people you do”. So I had the what I call the “consultant’s reality” talk.

I explained how his operations director was tearing apart his operation and gave supporting data on the turnover and unrealized financial opportunities overlooked by his upper management team. The directors “old school” management style was not getting positive results. Sometimes the problem when companies bring in an outside consultant is some managers feel I’m there to show them up. The truth is I am an impartial observer there to get their operation back on track. The issue is one that is prevalent within the hospitality industry, they don’t think they need to change their behavior or management style. Unfortunately most managers are still using techniques that were designed for the 1990′s worker.

During the 1990s, several trends influence the way American managers did business. At the beginning of the decade, rounds of layoffs led to sweeping reductions in employee numbers. Positions were eliminated and managers were told to increase productivity instead of hiring someone for the vacant spot. Somewhere along the way, either because of excessive efforts to retain workers or because of the excessive elimination of organizational structures, managers lost their ability to lead. In an effort to remain profitable corporations asked managed to make do with what resources they had. This has led to the high burnout, turnover and low satisfaction ratings the hospitality industry is currently experiencing.

In the end, the owner of the restaurant could not see past the friendship and incompetence of his director of operations. I finished the objectives that we had established for the consulting contract and was asked if I wished to extend. It would have been easy just to stay and take the money. Unfortunately, I am a big believer in getting paid to produce results. When you take a job or a commitment, remember you’re getting paid for results. To deliver less is not fair to the owner or yourself.

We all know that hospitality professionals are working more, longer, and harder than ever before. It’s often presumed that while the demands in productivity that today’s workplace have ushered in may be good for business, they are wreaking havoc on the social and emotional lives of those in the industry. The truth, however, is not quite that simple.

In fact, each one of us has our own unique stress threshold. For everyone who starts to feel worn down and emotionally depleted after a few weeks of double shifts, there’s another who only truly starts to feel engaged and invigorated when the pressure’s really on. According research done by Professional DynaMetrics Systems if the demands of your natural energy level doesn’t line up with your work schedule, it’s very likely that you’ll reach burnout much sooner in your career.

What Does Life Balance Mean To You?

Just as each person has their own idea of what defines the perfect job, most people also have a unique conception of the type of schedule that their dream job would entail. Whether your idea of the perfect job is a leisurely part-time position with virtually no “on-call” expectations, or a demanding dawn-to-dusk role with lots of opportunities for overtime and double shifts, it’s important that you define your unique work/life balance needs and perhaps have a behavioral assessment done before you begin your next job search.

By including work/life balance priorities and your natural energy level on your list of job-search criteria, you’ll be better-positioned to find a role that you can thrive in. Here are some tips to help you land the job that will be a perfect fit with your unique work/life balance needs.

Assess yourself.
Take a ProScan survey*. It unlocks the key to your natural strengths, energy levels, leadership style and how you tend to make decisions. It also helps you identify what motivates your actions and defines your primary needs. Truly understanding yourself is the first step to finding work/life balance.
Do a reality check.
After you’ve gotten some insight into your natural strengths, make sure that they are compatible with the type of work you’re looking for. For example, if you’re the easily-stressed type who prefers a laid-back work schedule, it’s going to be very hard to find a position that meets your criteria. If you identify a potential mismatch, it may be best to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm a few alternative career directions that offer schedules more in keeping with your preferences.
Bring up work/life balance in performance reviews.
Talk to your supervisors about the priority environments that are causing stress. Remember that you place some if this on yourself (that’s called eustress). Does the company have any productivity or performance training programs already in place? Who can you speak to in getting a “life coach” to help you achieve balance?
Your work/life balance needs are as unique as your fingerprint. By pinpointing your personal motivators and needs, you can use them as a road map to help find the fulfillment you need at work and at home. It’s a smart play for companies that want to retain top talent.

*ProScan survey is a non-threatening, quick, easy and reliable tool that is one of the most advanced instruments available. It takes statistical research of working adults that accurately gives feedback to a person’s basic and preferred work styles. The ProScan survey also examines combinations of specific traits that affect how a person works most effectively and reacts to stress. The survey focuses on strengths and motivators to help employers create an enviroment that reduces employee stress while increasing energy and morale. You can get more information on other peak performance driven programs by emailing us at: dburns@highperformancehospitality.com