The Science of Motivating People - Leadership in the 21st Century

The Science of Motivating People
Leadership in the 21st Century
Larry Port
MILOFest 2014
October 23, 2014

We ALL have
to lead &
motivate
larry@rocketmatter.com / @larryport

We’ll take a look at the literature…

…and old friends along the way.

Motivation is a
$50 Billion
Industry

Fast forward
six years and
thousands of
law firms
later…

…we are thriving and out-innovating
billion-dollar
companies.

MOST
IMPORTANT:
Make sure you
have the right
people on the
bus.

If you’re
going to
grow, your
people need
to grow too.

Find the
blockers,
and
WEED
THEM
OUT.

“The best
team attracts
the best
team, and
winning often
leads to more
winning.”
- Jack Welch

Core Idea:
Extrinsic
rewards often
don’t work or
negatively
affect
performance

Core Idea:
There is a
business /
science
mismatch

If-Then Rewards
Don’t Work

The Candle Problem

The Blood Bank

Kids & Drawing

Encarta vs Wikipedia

Rewards work with
largely routine tasks

What to do?
Pay people fairly &
get money off the
table.

People want
INTRINSIC
rewards

Autonomy
1

20%

Q: How can you have a
wicked cool cultures like
Google & 3M?
A: Get the right people on
the bus!

Mastery
2

Mastery
begins with
Flow

Grit:
best
predictor
of
success?

It’s about how
much you can
TAKE and
KEEP
MOVING
FORWARD

“I walk
slowly, but I
never walk
backwards.”
- Abraham Lincoln

Purpose
3

“I think evolution
has had a hand in
selecting people
who had a sense of
doing something
beyond
themselves.”
- Mihaly Csikszentmihaly

Many executives thrash about with mission
statements and vision statements. Unfortunately,
most of those statements turn out to be a muddled
stew of values, goals, purposes, philosophies,
beliefs, aspirations, norms, strategies, practices,
and descriptions. They are usually a boring,
confusing, structurally unsound stream of words
that evoke the response “True, but who cares?”

The core
purpose is
NOT your
father’s
mission
statement.

Core Idea:
Recognition is
an accelerant
that improves
employee and
company
performance

79%
cite lack of
appreciation
for leaving.

$1000
Anything shy = bupkis

The Carrot
Culture is
NOT your
father’s
recognition.

“Money is
not as
powerful
a reward as
people think.”

4 CRITICAL
Areas of
Leadership
1. Goal Setting
2. Communication
3. Trust
4. Accountability

Setting Clear Goals

Communicating Openly

Trust Openly

Accountability

“Rrrrrrr-ghghghghgh.
Arghhtgggtaa
rrgr.”
- Chewbacca

Core Idea:
Multipliers
access and
develop the
intelligence of
their
organizations

Core Idea:
Multipliers
stand in
contrast to
Diminishers,
who inhibit
performance

Have you ever
worked with
someone who
made you feel
smarter?

Have you ever
worked with a
tyrant?

Multipliers
…believe people will figure
it out.

Diminishers
…are absorbed in
their own
intelligence &
have little faith in
others.

Multipliers
…are genius watchers.

Diminishers
…put people
in boxes &
create “The
Walking
Dead”

Multipliers
…demand the best work
but in a positive way.

“My hunger is not for
success, it is for
excellence. Because
when you attain
excellence, success
just naturally follows.”
- Coach K

Multipliers
…restrain themselves &
listen MOST of the time.

Multipliers
…instill accountability

Multipliers
…challenge people

Multipliers
…encourage debate

Accidental Diminshers
Idea Guy
Always On
Rescuer
Pace Setter
Rapid Responder

I THOUGHT I WAS A MULTIPLIER
BUT I’M ACTUALLY A DIMINISHER

Leadership
Hacking

LEADERSHIP HACK #1
No monkeys on
desks.

LEADERSHIP HACK #2
When accepting praise, use
“WE.”
When accepting blame, use
“ME.”

“It’s amazing
what you can
accomplish if you
do not care who
gets the credit.”
- Harry Truman

LEADERSHIP HACK #3
Know your KPIs
(key performance indicators).

POSSIBLE KPI’s
Billable Time & Realization
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
Quality of Life Survey

LEADERSHIP HACK #4
Run (at least) annually and
(ideally) quarterly planning
meetings with CLEAR
OBJECTIVES as output.

Sample Quarterly Objectives
Begin “Using Clio causes Erectile Dysfunction” campaign
!
Play joke on MyCase where 10,000 ping pong balls fall from
ceiling

LEADERSHIP HACK #5
Know your core purpose and
core values.

LEADERSHIP HACK #6
Invest in continuous learning.
Send people away once a year
for training.

LEADERSHIP HACK #7
Incorporate cyclical processes
designed to facilitate feedback
and accountability.

Meeting 1: The Retrospective
!
What should we START doing?
What should we STOP doing?
What should we CONTINUE doing?

The Retrospective…
…is quick - 30 minutes.
…is NOT a whine session.
…needs to be written down.

ADDED BONUS!
The Retrospective
will lay bare the negative change
agents and stonewallers in the
organization.

Meeting 2: The Daily Standup
!
What did you do YESTERDAY?
What are you doing TODAY?
What is IN YOUR WAY?

Meeting 2: The Daily Standup…
…is quick - 10 minutes max.
…stays on topic.
…identifies dependencies.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
The Daily Standup
will reveal stuck projects and poor
performing employees.

1. Identify two techniques you
are going to employ.
2. Discuss / understand how
your leadership traits map to
those discussed.
Homework:

!
Let’s keep the
conversation
going!
Larry Port
larry@rocketmatter.com
@larryport
www.legalproductivity.com

The Science of Motivating People - Leadership in the 21st Century

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