The Performance Paradox

by Stephen Shapiro

Every leader dreams of finding the magic bullet that will increase creativity, boost productivity, and improve morale. Surprisingly, one of the most effective solutions may be the most counterintuitive: sometimes less effort, not more, yields optimal results.


Keep Your Eye on the Present

A few years ago, I worked with a Formula One racing team. Pit crews, consisting of 19 people, serviced the ultrafast, high-tech race - refueling cars, changing tires, and performing required maintenance in a matter of seconds. The crew members continually shifted positions to find the best combination for the optimal configuration of the team. As they practiced, they used a stopwatch to measure their time to milliseconds. Yet, ultimately, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't work any faster. They had hit their performance plateau.

Then, they tried a new approach. They decided not to concentrate on their time, but on their style instead. Now, their movements became more significant than their speed. Astonishingly, the crew shaved several tenths of a second off their best time, even though they "felt" they were moving more slowly. This experiment reinforces the concept that the more you focus on your goals, the less likely you are to achieve them. By worrying about the future, you take your eye off the present.

In higher intellectual activities, the results are even more pronounced. Take the true story of a high school student who became increasingly anxious over passing her upcoming final exam in math, always her weakest subject. She studied hard, all the time focusing on her goal of passing her exam. In spite of her efforts, she failed. She pleaded with her teachers to give her one more chance. They did. This time, instead of concentrating on the goal, she used a powerful creativity technique.

Her first conscious thought each day when she awoke was to visualize herself as Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, a very successful, highly educated woman. Dr. Rice wouldn't worry about a high school math exam, right? By imagining she was someone else, she stopped agonizing and gained more confidence daily. By focusing on the present rather than the result, she scored a 93%, her greatest performance with less effort.


Dare to Be Different

Does this also apply to sales? Can we perform better when we don't focus on our sales goals? A woman's clothing store had a competition to determine who among its employees could sell the most in two months. The winner would receive a bonus and, possibly, a raise. All had their eyes on the prize, except for one sales rep who decided on a different approach. Instead of trying to make a sale, she zeroed in on serving the customer. If a customer needed help for eight hours to pick out a blouse, that's what she would do. If she felt customers would find a better product at a competitor, she would send them there. After two months, this sales person who was not trying to make sales outsold everyone else by a significant margin.

We have seen similar results in many sales and service organizations. We all know (and believe) the expression, "You get what you measure." But a serious question arises: will you get what you want? Often, targets and goals create stress and dysfunctional behavior.


Less Motivation, More Performance

The concept of reducing goal-obsession to improve performance is not new. In the early 1900s, Robert Yerkes and J.D. Dodson developed the eponymous Yerkes-Dodson Law. The premise is performance increases relative to motivation only to a point, after which performance drops. Typically, it is drawn as an inverted U-shaped curve.

If you lack motivation, the result is low performance. This is not surprising. As your motivation increases, your performance increases - to a point. This point is the sweet spot of optimal performance. Then, as you become more goal-obsessed, performance paradoxically decreases. Goals increase stress and cause you to fixate on the future rather than the present.

Yerkes and Dodson suggest that different tasks require different levels of motivation. For example, physically demanding tasks often require higher levels of motivation. This explains why professional athletes are inclined to be very goal-driven. Even so, as demonstrated by the pit crew example, too much goal orientation will hurt even athletic performance. In 2004, the New England Patriots broke the records for the longest winning streak in NFL history - 20 games in a row. At a press conference after the game a reporter asked the team's coach, Bill Belichick, to comment on this winning streak. He replied, "We did not have a 20-game win streak. We had 20 one-game win streaks." His philosophy was for the team to play each game to the best of its ability. Setting your sights too far ahead is a sure recipe for failure.


Creativity Has its Own Rewards

Within the business world, Yerkes and Dodson found that intellectually challenging tasks required lower levels of motivation. The more creative the work, the less motivation required to hit peak levels of performance. Studies reveal that creativity diminishes when individuals are rewarded (externally motivated) for doing their work. Why? The desire to achieve the goal overtakes the personal interest in the endeavor. A myopic focus on the outcome overshadows the intellectual stimulation of the process. As a result, risk taking becomes reduced and creativity vanishes.

"Working hard" may not be the best way to improve productivity and creativity. Maybe it isn't even "working smarter." As we have seen, perhaps the answer lies in trying less. Or maybe it can be found in understanding human behavior and motivation, as illustrated in the following studies.


Your Loss Could Be Your Gain

Which magazine do you think American men are more likely to buy?

• A men's health magazine with the cover, "Lose Your Gut Fast" or
  
• A similar magazine with the cover, "Get Six-Pack Abs"?

Although most people intuitively think that the second cover, "Get Six-Pack Abs," is the sure winner, when a magazine did such a comparison, it found that "Lose Your Gut Fast" sold six times more copies. Why? The answer lies in the three requirements for individuals (or an organization or a society) to change:

1. They must be dissatisfied or uncomfortable with the current situation.
   
2. They must foresee a better future.
   
3. They must believe that they can reach that better future with a reasonable amount of effort.

Point #3 is critical. Using the "gut" example, when someone is 20 pounds overweight, as are many Americans, six-pack abs may be desirable yet seem inconceivable. It's just too much work, and the likelihood of success seems poor. Only when your gut is gone will the idea of six-pack abs seem like a possibility. Similarly, only when your organization is a lean, mean fighting machine will people embrace longer-term, strategic visions.

A question I ask when I address my audiences illustrates this concept further: "Which would you choose?":

• Option 1: A guaranteed gain of $75,000 or
  
• Option 2: An 80% chance to gain $100,000 with a 20% chance of getting nothing?

Seventy-five percent of audience members choose Option 1, consistent across all groups, regardless of demographics. People are risk averse when it comes to increasing gains. What would you choose if I worded the question as a loss rather than as a gain?:

• Option 1: A certain loss of $75,000 or
  
• Option 2: An 80% chance of losing $100,000 with a 20% chance of not losing anything

Over 80% of my audiences choose Option 2. People will take risks to reduce their losses. This explains why the status quo often wins over change. Although there may be a benefit in changing, the risk of losing what you already have is too great.

People will take great risks to minimize their pain/losses yet play it safe when the option is to increase their pleasure/gains. When your organization's change plans are utopian visions of a grandiose future, your employees move to the far end of the performance curve: high motivation, low performance. They become cynical about success and feel as though you are not addressing their current pains and frustrations. Instead, fix immediate problems first, then move on to more strategic visions.


The Bottom Line

To create a pervasive culture of innovation, you must first create an environment of performance and motivation. Achieving this is often, paradoxically, the result of less, not greater, effort. Although goals and performance targets are useful tools, they can also have a detrimental impact on results. When people are too future-fixated, their creativity and overall performance diminish. Find the sweet spot of optimal performance, and you will undoubtedly see an increase in employee productivity, creativity, and satisfaction - all with less effort.


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Stephen Shapiro is the author of three books, a popular innovation speaker, and is the Chief Innovation Evangelist for Innocentive, the leader in Open Innovation.

Don't Strive for Perfection

by Mike Brown

Last Thursday, I presented a session on 'Linking Blogs to Business Strategy' at Kansas City's Central Exchange. While discussing editing blog posts, one potential blogger asked about overcoming the problem of perfectionism when writing. I rather flippantly answered psychological help might be in order.

While trying to be funny, the answer wasn't completely facetious. I love when things happen exactly on strategy. Through years of observation, however, I've come to realize very few mistakes mean even a 'figurative' end to the world. Why drive yourself crazy trying to solve every little issue.

This realization began in earnest early in my career, when another person and I were working on a matrix comparing our company to major competitors. It was an arduous project, with many revisions and lots of eyes (including eyes senior to ours) reviewing various drafts. It was eventually published for several thousand sales and management people in the company.

Everything was fine until I received a call from someone who pointed out our company's goal of "reducing customer exceptions" was mistakenly printed as "reducing customer expectations." Figuring we were both fired, my co-worker and I went to our boss and informed her of the mistake.

We didn't get fired. In fact, no one else ever came forward as even noticing the problem.

Despite lots of effort to avoid them, mistakes happen all the time in life. Not that I condone poor performance, but don't waste your time seeking needless (and often self-defined, not customer-defined) perfection or losing your temper when mistakes do happen. You'll be much more content and better off if you use a different strategy.

When mistakes occur around you, look hard for what's actually better because of the mistake than what was originally planned.

In the case of the "lower customer expectations" gaffe, what was better was it made me a more careful editor. Does that mean I'm a perfectionist in writing. Not necessarily. It means I've learned and developed a whole repertoire of techniques for overcoming proofreading problems.

For you other perfectionists out there, what strategy do you employ to protect yourself from the tendency to be too correct?


Editor's note: Too often people try to make a potential product or service innovation perfect before they launch it. You know what? Often the last 10% of modifications that you make, generally take the longest and aren't always what the customer thinks will make it perfect - they're what YOU think will make it perfect. Instead, determine your potential risks, plan your risk response, get it in the hands of a customer sample, get ready for feedback you never expected, and love every bit of feedback you do get (it's a gift).


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Mike Brown is an award-winning innovator in strategy, communications, and experience marketing. He authors the Brainzooming TM blog, and serves as the company's chief Catalyst. He wrote the ebook "Taking the NO Out of InNOvation" and is a frequent keynote presenter.

Focus on Your Winners

by Holly G. Green


Four Ways to Keep Your Top Performers From Jumping Ship

Have you ever lost a top performer to a competitor?

I see it happen all the time, even in good companies. Surprisingly, it rarely has to do with money. More often than not, it's due to indifference, apathy, or neglect on the part of a leader or manager.

Why the neglect?

Because most leaders and managers focus the majority of their time and energy on the low performers. It makes no sense when you step back and look at it, but leaders are either trying to correct mistakes, deal with behavior issues, or simply get wayward employees back on track with the results they're supposed to be producing. As a result, they fail to give their winners the time and energy they deserve.

If you want to keep your winners, make sure they feel acknowledged and appreciated. Here's how:

1. Identify your winners.

Almost every company has the salesperson who regularly makes his numbers but leaves a trail of angry customers and disgruntled co-workers in his wake. And almost everyone knows the manager who gets the short-term results but drives good employees away with her abrasive personality. Clearly, there is more to winning than just producing results.

Performance consists of two distinct components - what employees do and how they do it. Many employees excel in one area or the other. Top performers excel in both. They produce outstanding results while demonstrating total alignment with the values and culture of the organization. They get things done AND do it in a way that respects, supports, and empowers others.

2. Show your appreciation.

The biggest mistake most leaders and managers make is taking their top performers for granted. Partly because they are absorbed in putting out the ongoing fires caused by problem employees. And partly because the winners are so busy getting things done that they rarely make waves.

To show your appreciation, recognize your top performers on a regular basis, both publicly and privately. Tell them how much you appreciate their hard work and ability to get things done, and hold them up as role models to other employees. Send them handwritten notes, small gift cards, or other incentives. They go the extra mile for you, so go out of your way to make them feel wanted and appreciated.

3. Remove their roadblocks.

For top performers and innovators, nothing is more frustrating than a lack of information, resources, or management support. Check in on a regular basis to make sure your best performers are getting everything they need from you and their co-workers to innovate and get the job done. At the same time, make sure their needs are getting met in the areas of training and professional development. Look for ways to give them new assignments and special projects that will broaden their skill sets and enhance their value to the company.

4. Get inside their heads.

When top performers leave to go to another company, it's rarely for more money. Far more often it involves dissatisfaction with something in their work environment. To keep your best people from jumping ship, get inside their heads and find out what really motivates them and what they enjoy most about their work.

Do they want increased authority or responsibility in their current position? Do they want more opportunity for professional development? Do they want to lead a team, department, or division? Perhaps they would like to have more time off to spend with family. Or maybe they want to get involved in some type of community service on behalf of the company.

Check in regularly to assess their morale. Ask questions like, "What do you like most about working here? What do you like the least? If you could change one thing about your work situation, what would it be?"

Obviously you can't make everyone happy all the time. And it may not be feasible to provide what your superstars say they want. But an honest effort on your part to understand and meet their needs will help your winners feel wanted and appreciated. And that can make a big difference the next time a competitor comes calling!


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Holly is the CEO of THE HUMAN FACTOR, Inc. (www.TheHumanFactor.biz) and is a highly sought after and acclaimed speaker, business consultant, and author. Her unique approach to creating strategic agility, helping others go slow to go fast, will change your thinking.

My Own Tiger's Tale

by Matthew E May

"Tiger-gate" is the media focus of the week. Looks like another one bites the moral dust. Another checkmark in the "how the mighty fall" column. A whole new meaning to Nike's tag line. Skootch over, Kobe. All that.

Be that as it may, I have my own Tiger's tale, and it's one that has stayed with me for the entire eight years since it happened. In fact, I use the story in many of my speeches. (You can view my presentation on YouTube HERE.)

The year was 2001, eight years ago to the week...

I walked into the small workout room of the country club I belong to in southern California, to find none other than Tiger Woods. Each year in December he hosts the last PGA event of the year: a small invitation-only challenge tourney at the course. Proceeds benefit Tiger's educational foundation for disadvantaged youths. (The big news this week, of course, is that he will not be in attendance at his own event). On this particular Monday, the Monday of the tournament week, it was just him and me in the gym. The fact that he was the only golfer in there pumping iron told me something. I guess I was watching him more intently than I realized, because he said "You obviously know who I am. Who are you?" I told him I was just a member, but that I had read an interesting Time magazine cover story on him the previous year, the gist of which was about how he took the biggest risk of his career immediately upon turning pro.

In 1997, with barely seven months under his belt as a professional golfer, 20-year old Tiger stunned the golf world. It wasn't that he had won five PGA Tour tournaments. Or pocketed a $60 million Nike endorsement deal. It wasn't that he had won the 1997 Masters by twelve strokes. It was his decision to reinvent his swing after achieving all that.

Pundits and peers thought he was crazy. Commentators speculated on his early demise. But Tiger knew his swing wasn't as consistent, controlled, or efficient as it could be. It took eighteen months of rewiring, practice, and frustration, during which time he was virtually winless. He knew he was getting better, and was quoted as saying, "Winning is not always the barometer of getting better." Slowly but surely, Tiger's new swing became a deadly controlled substance. With no loss of power, he could hit any type of shot on demand, better and more accurately than ever. The payoff was a record six straight wins starting in late 1999.

He's reengineered his swing now three or four times. Every time he does, he remains winless for a time - but then comes roaring back, usually with a string of wins like the one in 1999.

So I asked him: "What really drives you you to keep breaking what isn't broken?" He said, "The number 18." I immediately thought: "Aha, that's the number of majors Jack Nicklaus won. So that's the goal." I said as much. Tiger said, "That's what people think, and I let them. But 18? That's a perfect golf score."

That says it all right there. The point is this: The pursuit of perfection is not focused on achieving perfection, it's focused on chasing it. Approached as a process, it can drive breakthroughs. Approached as goal, it can actually block innovation. Perfection is unachievable...it'll never happen. Unless you're Buddha I guess. That's what throws people, at least in our Western culture. We've become impatient with mastery. If you can't achieve perfection, why bother pursuing it?

Answer: because you have to. Otherwise you'll always be a follower.

It's how the best get better.

In 2007, Tiger pocketed a cool $11,260,000.00 for taking first in the inaugural FEDEX Cup. He did it again this year. You don't mess with that kind of success, right? WRONG. As he accepted his millions for winning the Tour Championship and the FEDEX Cup, and after dazzling the gallery with one immaculate shot after another, he was asked if we can expect him to ever play any better than he is right now. Instant response: "Yes. I think my game is moving in the right direction."

If only his personal life was following alongside...

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Matthew E. May is the author of "IN PURSUIT OF ELEGANCE: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing." He is constantly searching for creative ideas and innovative solutions that are 'elegant' - a unique and elusive combination of unusual simplicity and surprising power.

Human Capital x Social Capital = Productivity and Innovation

by Meri Gruber

As a culture we like to think of our achievements as the triumph of the individual. But last week I used a memorable chicken breeding example to show you that group performance outweighs individual performance in a group environment because a focus on individual performance comes at a cost to the group performance.

The reality is that company performance is a complex group effort. Without positive group productivity, companies under perform. And most companies under perform. We are used to seeing numbers like 90% of companies fail to execute on their goals, that excellence in business execution is the chief concern of CEO's. What's going on here? "Companies assume people are atomistic and economic, versus social creatures", writes Stanford professors Jeffrey Pfeffer and Bob Sutton in "The Knowing-Doing Gap, How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action."

There are two things going on here that get in the way of group productivity, two deeply held organizational operating assumptions that are completely out of sync with reality. The first is that company performance is atomistic. The atomistic model assumes individual control and that company results are the consequence of individual decisions. The second is that individual performance is motivated largely by extrinsic, (financial) rewards based on individual performance." Companies operate on oversimplified or incorrect models of human behavior relevant to shareholder (short term) interests, irrelevant or counterproductive for ultimate success of the business."

In "Managing the 21st century organization", Valdis Krebs of orgnet.com reminds us that what you know (human capital) multiplied by who you know (social capital) creates productivity and innovation. Traditional company hierarchies have an up-down formal information flow: you report up the chain, you receive information down the chain. But to actually get your work done, you tap into the organization sideways so to speak, leveraging your informal contacts across the company.

Research sited by Krebs found that "the ability to reach a diverse set of others in the network through very few links was the key to success for both individuals and teams." We know this from our own experience. A good networker gets more stuff done because companies are not atomistic, they are complex group environments. So if you think about it, with the exception of the few jobs in the company that don't interact with anyone, you should be interviewing people for their social skills, not their functional skills.

We might be done there, but we're not. Because relying on social skills and ad-hoc networking is terribly inefficient and capricious. And all too often, it is down right discouraged by performance targets that misunderstand human motivation and pit employees against each other in an endless game of internal competition. At a recent TED talk, Dan Pink, author of "A Whole New Mind, Why Right Brainers will Rule the Future", made the case for businesses to rethink their "business operating system":


"There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. And what worries me, as we stand here in the rubble of the economic collapse, is that too many organizations are making their decisions, their policies about talent and people, based on assumptions that are outdated, unexamined, and rooted more in folklore than in science. And if we really want to get out of this economic mess, and if we really want high performance on those definitional tasks of the 21st century, the solution is not to do more of the wrong things. To entice people with a sweeter carrot, or threaten them with a sharper stick. We need a whole new approach."


Innovation and productivity doesn't happen by carrot or stick, it happens through connectivity. What Pfeffer and Sutton found was that "firms where measurement helped measured things that were core to their culture and values and intimately tied to their basic business model and strategy, and used these measures to make business processes visible to all employees."

To close the group productivity gap and foster innovation, enable and empower connectivity in your company. This requires you to revisit your assumptions about company performance and individual motivation. So before your write "superstar wanted" in you next job tweet, read the chicken story one more time. Hopefully you will come to realize that "super collaborator" is what you really need. And before you start your quarterly/annual performance goal setting process, listen to Dan Pink's TED talk one more time on what really motivates and stimulates the kinds of creative solutions you need today.

Finally, think about group productivity as part of an overall business execution platform. The mindful implementation of Enterprise 2.0 emergent social software platforms and performance management solutions are components of a connected company, and a connected company outperforms its peers. What does this kind of emergent business execution platform look like? Stay tuned.

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Meri Gruber is a leading expert on business execution. She blogs on the intersection of innovation and business execution at www.competingonexecution.com

Visible and Invisible Innovation - Cirque Du Soleil

by Andrea Meyer

Point: Behind-the-scenes innovation makes visible innovation shine

Story: I saw the premiere of KOOZA in Denver last week. Actually, it was my second time seeing KOOZA (the first was in Boston), and it was even better the second time.

The first time, I was mesmerized by the overt innovations in the show, like the "Wheel of Death." Imagine two connected hamster-wheels, each of which spin while both together revolve vertically as well. Suspended high above the stage, the performers run, dive and somersault inside the wheels. And just when it looks like the act couldn't get any more thrilling, the performers switch to running on the outside of the wheel.

My second time at KOOZA, I sat in the second row, so I had a closer look at the costumes. Even from the very last row (where I sat the first time), I remember the dazzling shine of the juggler's suit. The second time, I had a chance to see the intricacy of all the costumes, which led me to wonder about the R&D that must go into them. The costumes hug tight body lines yet flex with all the contortions the performers make.

How does Cirque Du Soleil create these amazing costumes? First, Cirque hires talent: specialists in textile design, lace-making, shoemaking, wig-making, patternmaking, costume-making and millinery all work together to combine their knowledge.

Second, they actively seek out new materials which can be used. A "technological watch team" tracks global advances in adhesives, batteries and miniature lights to see how they could be incorporated into costumes. The team looks beyond boundaries of standard textiles to encompass fields such as avionics, plumbing, water sports and even dentistry for components that achieve the imagined task.

Third, the artisans of Cirque Du Soleil's Costume workshop custom-make all the costumes, dyeing the colors in-house or painting costumes directly. They mold each individual hat on a plaster model of the artist's head for a perfect fit. They consider comfort during these very athletic shows: the wig-making team, for example, builds wigs one hair at a time to achieve optimal ventilation. The attention to detail is staggering: the Bungee costumes used in Cirque's Mystre each have over 2,000 hand-glued sequins. The juggler's suit in KOOZA consists entirely of mirrored squares, like a disco ball.

Whether visible or hidden, Cirque du Soleil innovations shine.

Action:

• Hire specialists in multiple related disciplines to work as a creative team


• Explore beyond the expected. Cirque's costume team doesn't just use fabrics but expands into composite materials such as silicone, latex, plastics, foams and urethane


• Let team members be hands-on to devise ways to make an innovation work

Further information:

The show has moved on to Santa Monica, CA in October and will be in Irvine, CA in January. Info on future cities is here.

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Author of more than 450 company case studies and contributor to 28 books, Andrea Meyer writes & ghostwrites about innovation, IT and strategy for clients like MIT, Harvard Business School, McKinsey & Co., and Forrester Research. Follow her at www.workingknowledge.com/blog and twitter.com/AndreaMeyer.

The Golden Rules of Innovation

Like any other core business process there are some 'rules' of innovation management which will maximise the probability of success. These come under what we call "The 6 Ps":

PLANNING - Innovation must be linked to strategy

• Successful leaders link core business processes to their strategic goals and annual business planning targets, and innovation is no exception. Use a product-market matrix to clarify the extent and direction of your innovation. Without a strategic direction you run the risk of coming up with innovations that run counter to your businesses best interests!

PIPELINE - Maximise your sources of ideas

• Once you have linked innovation to strategy you need to generate ideas for performance improvement - but where do your best ideas come from? Ideas come from any part of your organisation; from Open Innovation to internal brainstorming activities. Whatever the source of the idea, you need an effective process to capture, screen, prioritise and resource your ideas.

PROCESS - Ideas to evaluation to execution

• Once exciting new ideas have been generated, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing them 'fall through the cracks' due to poor implementation. A rigorous approach based on good principles of project and management is required; schedule, sequence of activities and stakeholder management and ROI calculation are all key, as is Risk Management.

PEOPLE - Leaders and Champions

• The most important factor in creating an innovative culture is having leaders with ability and commitment to succeed. Managers must understand what innovation is, how to manage it and how to motivate. It must go further than the Board - every department or team should have an Innovation Champion. This role should be seen as a career enhancing opportunity and rewarded accordingly. Pick your best people.

PLATFORM - Technology as the accelerator

• IT systems are not the starting point for implementing an innovation framework, but they are critical enablers. Without an effective web-based innovation tracking system you cannot manage the ideas pipeline and people properly. Look for a solution that manages the overall innovation process from ideas to implementation, and provides key decision makers with the level of visibility and control they need.

PERFORMANCE - Measure, manage, improve

• Innovation is a business process, like any other. As such it has to be managed. Create a structure that monitors the effectiveness of your innovation process. From monthly or weekly meetings through to team rewards, put in a process. Performance management is the oil that makes Innovation Management happen, so take time to set the right Innovation Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Now is the time for western businesses to embrace Innovation Management as a core business process. Link innovation to your business goals, follow the golden rules and overcome the barriers to innovation, and you stand a very good chance of not only surviving the recession but becoming stronger in the process.


Also by Andy Bruce - Innovating Your Way out of a Recession

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Andy Bruce is widely acclaimed as an authority in 'Innovation Management', the author of "Fast Track to Success - Innovation", and the Director of two specialist innovation companies: SofTools and Project Leaders International.