- So when I was in my early 20s I was what is
classically called a slacker.
I was rudderless,
I only dabbled in college.
I worked at a variety of different jobs.
Everything from driving a delivery truck,
to temp office work.
Now I could tell that my father,
who was by then, a world famous author
of job hunting books, disapproved.
But he quite appropriately wouldn't
tell me what he thought.
However, being young and stupid
I kept pressing him.
And finally, I found the right question.
If you were my age, I said,
what would you be doing?
He gave it a beat
and with perfect delivery, looked at me
in the eye and said, "More."
Give it a minute, it'll sink in.
Now, I eventually went on to co-fund three companies,
five magazines,
and help start one or two movements along the way.
But I've never forgotten the power of that simple word
more.
Adaptive performance management
is based on one simple premise.
Everything is dependent
on your own personal drive to do more.
You have to want to continually improve
your own performance.
No other approach is sustainable.
So where does that motivation come from?
Think of one axis of motivation
a being the reign from internal
to external motivations.
And another axis is being from
positive to negative.
There are numerous performance management approaches
and most of the strategies can be places
somewhere on that landscape.
Some psychologists will argue that
internal motivation is the most important.
Because it comes within drivers within yourself.
While others will tell you that external motivation
is potentially more valuable
because it externally validates your goals
and the process you followed to reach them.
Some managers believe that negative incentives
are the most important
focusing on each person's drawbacks
and continually pointing out where they fall short.
While others will say, that positive incentives
are the most effective.
Accentuating what each person does well
and helping them to do even more.
Think of the last time you achieved an important goal.
What was your motivation?
If you were driven by the need to
meet someone else's expectations,
were those expectations reinforced with positive,
or with negative incentives?
Were you in line for a bonus,
or did you risk getting a poor evaluation if you fail?
If you are driven by your own need to please yourself
did you give yourself an incentive for completion,
like, a meal, or a movie,
or some other award for getting it done.
Or, did you create negative consequences for yourself
if you didn't get it done
like having to give someone money,
or forgoing an outing you would have enjoyed.
What I've found through decades of working with
individuals and organizations
is that the most useful performance motivation
comes from positive internal incentives
that are externally validated.
So what does that combination mean?
To be motivated to continually improve
your own performance
means you are deeply committed
to your own growth and change.
That usually comes from having extensive knowledge
about what makes you tick.
What you most enjoy doing in a work environment.
And having the opportunity to use
your best loved skills
and other unique characteristics.
The most effective positive internal motivation
comes from a desire to compete with yourself.
To compare your actions against your own performance.
And to continually try to improve.
So let me give you a really simple example.
When I was young, I was that weak spindly kid
with the glasses who could only do a single push up.
I used to dread gym class because there was
hardly a single physical activity I could do
with any regularity.
Now, I eventually grew`into my body
and now I do things like
100 mile bike rides with regularity.
But, that inability to do push ups when I was a kid
was still nagging at me.
So I started off by just doing a few push ups.
And the next day, I added another one.
And the next.
And if I missed a day I had to do two more.
So sure, some days were pretty tough.
But now I can do a lot more push ups
than I ever thought I could when I was a kid.
Now for you, it might be more motivation
to watch an online video
with an instructor urging you on.
Or, it might be more valuable
to compete with someone else.
Comparing your own progress.
No matter what works for you
what's your push up?
What's the goal you could set for yourself
where you could add small,
incremental increases
and help to push yourself
past whatever you thought might be possible.
That's the best kind of motivation
competing with yourself.
Oh, and don't forget to externally validate your goal.
Whenever you can, tell someone else
about what you're trying to achieve.
It certainly helps if that person can offer you support
and encouragement.
But what's most important
is that you legitimize it by including
someone else in your commitment.
It's easy to convince yourself to procrastinate
but the simple act of taking it beyond yourself
changes the context
by which you follow through
on those commitments to yourself.