In Part 1, I discussed how managers today need to be aware of not just the technical requirements of heat treating in order to fulfill quality goals, but also the audience they are working with. That is, age differences in the workforce imply different expectations and approaches to being successful.
Companies are stuck in the past if they believe real motivation comes from yelling and instilling fear into their employees. That is bad motivation. No one likes to be yelled at or be afraid when they come to work.
Generations can be thought of as the following:
Generational Differences in Motivation
As mentioned in Part I of this series, connecting with employees isn’t as simple as looking at the generational chart above and using it like AMS2750 to determine how to “process” another employee. There is no clear specification for how to calibrate them to make sure they are converting the work in an efficient manner or perform an SAT to verify the system by which they are doing it is accurate. Therefore, as mentioned before, the importance of communicating with the team is critical — but another component of that must be added: How to motivate them.
My brother has a dog, and you can say all the words you like to the dog, but until you say them with the proper inflection and provide the treat, the dog won’t do anything. Obviously, people aren’t necessarily like dogs, but many do appreciate a little attention beyond just the paycheck they receive.
Dale Carnegie illustrates this concept very well in his classic book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” He enjoys eating strawberries and cream, but when he goes fishing, he doesn’t bait the line with what he wants. He baits the line with what the fish want. Employees are individuals — they may not always want the same thing that motivates other employees to show up to work.
Not every employee is going to be satisfied with a bigger paycheck; they want to stay motivated (and if you still think they only want the check, you’re stuck in the past). They want to feel invested. It’s certainly a good start, but not every employee is fulfilled by simple praise or getting a promotion or company-wide recognition. Thus, we need to take a step back and look at some generational tendencies from the psychology literature.
Bridgers want the team to be innovative, while Busters will value work that is pragmatic so they can develop their skills (Ballone, n.d.). For Builders, focus on their past achievements to motivate them, while Busters will be more interested in forward thinking (Ballone, n.d.). Boomers are motivated by a sense of status and want to talk in terms of growth and job titles to work toward (Ballone, n.d.).
It is up to the heat-treat management team to seek out the best factors for work. The ultimate goal is delivering the best product to a customer. It has been shown that both performance in quality and quantity can go up when you increase the intrinsic motivation in the team (Cerasoli et al, 2014). Setting goals is critical. If there is an upcoming Nadcap audit, make sure it is clear what checklists are required to complete. (And don’t forget the AC7000 now!). Goals make the target clear and, fortunately with Nadcap, the questions in the checklist are black and white. You either conform, you don’t, or it does not apply to your team.
With these goals it is important to reinforce what you want to see done — for example, the desirable ways of taking comparison method SATs and simultaneously viewing the instrument displays. In psychology, it is called the Premack principle: People do not want the undesirable activities (such as tediously setting up the survey with all the thermocouple wires for five furnaces). But if they are educated on how that tedium leads to the desirable activity of reviewing a successfully passed TUS (the more desirable behavior) because all the requirements were met, a major goal has been met.
Therefore, Busters desire not just the time in the office, but the desire to be measured on outcomes (Ballone, n.d.) — maybe focus on the Nadcap audit results. Bridgers might see that work can be performed anywhere and at any time (Ballone, n.d.); focus on the ability to complete the Nadcap checklists anywhere, but before 30 days prior to the audit.
Motivation is not permanent. It takes the generation of intrinsic motivation and not just the paycheck or medal you get when you cross the finish line. I have run 12 marathons and every time I ran one, it required me to not only motivate myself during the training leading up to it, but also the continued motivation during all 26.2 miles of the race. Employees are the same way during the work week as they work through the Nadcap checklists every year for compliance.
Giving an inspirational talk at the beginning of the new business quarter or before a Nadcap audit is great, but that needs to be kept up. Just as in sports, upper managers are coaches today and need to find ways to better motivate their employees beyond the carrot and stick approach.
We have to make the team believe they can pass the Nadcap audits and, more importantly, make quality parts for the customers. Builders are slow in speaking up, and Bridgers want a good reason for change (Ballone, n.d.). Boomers, on the other hand, will want to know the work will impact them, while Busters will want to know what difference this work will even make as it has a tendency to change (Ballone, n.d.) (Flavor of the month anyone?) Stay consistent and get to know your team and learn to motivate them as individuals, not just as employee numbers to achieve arbitrary production and audit goals.
References
- Ballone, C. (n.d.). Leading & Motivating A Multi-Generational Workforce. Leadstar.
- Cerasoli, C. P., Nicklin, J. M., & Ford, M. T. (2014). Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives jointly predict performance: A 40-year meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140(4), 980–1008. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035661
