Let us go back a few thousand years to before “Management Guru” meant anything and consider pre-historic Hunter societies. The pursuit of large creatures and their dispatch with sharpened sticks was a dangerous way to earn your next meal. But given the choice starve or hunt, the motivation is obvious.
This happy, and easy to manage, situation changed when one caveman was found with a particular skill in sharpening sticks to a deadly point. His sticks made it much easier to bring down the hunted animal.
It seemed a good idea to have him stay at the base to sharpen sticks, rather than spend his time hunting animals. In this way all the Hunters had his special sharp sticks and the hunt was more effective.
Immediately the Tribe Elder had a problem. How did he ensure the Stick Sharpener produced a good amount of sticks of good quality in exchange for food and a safe working environment? Luckily, he didn’t know about SMART objectives as the Management Guru tribe hadn’t come into existence yet.
Limited in understanding of how to measure things left few choices so a simple weight for weight system evolved. Whatever weight of sharpened sticks was made, the same weight of meat was given to the Stick Sharpener.
This was a crude motivational system and to improve his food supply the Sharpener made each stick a little heavier. This wasn’t so good for the Hunter, but the Sharpener was happy.
The sharpness of the stick was so important that the Elder decided to send his Sharpener round the nearby tribes to learn their sharpening technology. That did improve his skill and he was now able to make sharp sticks more quickly. As a result, he could get all the meat he needed in less time.
The Tribal Elder saw this behaviour with escalating concern. Good sticks were always in limited supply, yet the Sharpener had meat going to waste. The Elder had also heard that the sticks needed to change to accommodate the different prey throughout the year. A light sharp stick for the fast-moving animals and a heavier stick for the massive animals would improve the food supply. Clearly the crude measure that motivated the Stick Sharpener had to evolve.
While the Elder had not heard of SMART objectives he had heard of DUMB ones. He needed DUMB objectives that ensured the supply of sticks matched the hunting environment as perfectly as possible, while making the Sharpener perform well.
The Elder thought of a system that would Drive the Sharpener to meet the requirements. The system requirements would Unfold as circumstances changed and sharpening technology evolved.
Sometimes sticks broke or got lost so the supply of sticks and their variants was a constant source of irritation. The requirements changed every day, so the objectives had to be Micro-manageable as well as Broad in scope.
The Elder did have to communicate the requirements to the Sharpener every few hours, but it did make the Sharpener feel part of the team again. While there were times the demand for sticks was light and the Sharpener had an easy life, at other times he worked extra hard, so his friends didn’t have to face their prey with the wrong, or blunt, stick.
The Tribe ate well, and the Sharpener felt the praise of his peers.
That’s why motivation matters.
If your Stick Sharpeners aren’t performing, call us, Motivation Matters, +44 (0)1787 378851