Motivation at the Workplace - Maybe We Missed Something?

Source: Canva AI

The word 'motivation' has always given me a bit of discomfort.  I can't say why exactly.  Maybe it was the idea of motivating other people that made me think of people who have a high need for control (who I don't really like).

"The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you."

Neil deGrasse Tyson

I came across this quote on #motivation, and it reminded me that in the corporate world, it seems we are not on course when it comes to "motivation practices" particularly since the incentives and bonuses that are used to generate (motivate?) an increase in #performance are short-lived and ineffective.  For eg. Sales Incentives tend to be revised  / increased every quarter, particularly in sales-driven organizations, which, along with the time spent in redesigning and cascading these incentives, adds to the organization's costs with not much corresponding increase in performance. I realized that the top performers will continue to be at the top of the game, because of how they apply their natural talents and adapt to situations.  But even they need time to adjust to the culture and start delivering performance when they move to competitor organizations.  "Hit the ground running" seems to be a meaningless term that indicates more of "wishful thinking" rather than anything realistic.

Source: Pixels

Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) rarely improve the employee's performance, though it mostly has the effect of demoralizing said employee and prompting them to move out of the organization because PIP is considered as the need for fixing and therefore a stigma of sorts - leading to another loss that in turn leads to more costs.  I'm not referring to wrong hires here, but if you think about it, this increases the organization's costs as well.

What managers and leaders (all functions) refuse to accept is that the carrot gets digested and the stick withers over a short time. - Ryan Barretto (That's me)

My own exploration to understand this topic took me to many theories, starting with Abraham Maslow's work, Herzberg's two-factor theory, and others.  I then came across the work by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, which, given my background in strengths, really made me stop and think if we're getting motivation wrong in the corporate world.

Self-determination theory (by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci) emphasizes instead the importance of fostering intrinsic motivation through satisfying these specific core needs. It suggests that all humans have three basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—that underlie growth and development. 

• Autonomy means that the employee has some freedom of choice in his work (not the "take it or leave it" sort that exists in many organizations). 
• Competence is about whether the employee can do the work required and deliver adequate results
• Relatedness is about the feeling of connectedness and sense of belonging that the employee has with others.

In my experience, the main key is to help the employees uncover the #alignment of their #strengths to the #goals of the organization, which has the benefit of positively impacting the #employeeengagement and #employerbrand. This transcends working for more than just a paycheck. - (Also me.)

For each of the above three areas, it is the Reporting Manager that bears the major amount of responsibility, because of the frequency of contact they have with their team members.  Let's keep in mind:

1. When a manager or leader micromanages a competent employee, that creates uneasiness and over time, frustration, because the employee feels shackled while doing his work. The only thing worse than this is to be micromanaged by someone who knows far less about the job than you. In some cases, a totally hands-off approach would not be effective especially if the employee is new to the role, which would also lead to frustration again.  So a balance is required in getting work done from others.  The #situationalleadership model provides great insight on this.
2. The Manager / HR / Leader has to clearly articulate and define the level of competence required for the role, and hire accordingly. If this is missing, it can create additional ambiguity for everyone concerned, and it might result in everyone trying to do everything and do everything.
3. Additionally, if the manager doesn't spend much time conveying the importance and relevance of the employee's role to the organization's goals and vision, it creates apathy and casualness in behaviour from the employee.  This again negatively impacts performance.

HR also bears a joint responsibility and should support the manager / HOD by being flexible about job descriptions and jointly defining KRAs and KPIs.

Here are some practical ways to Increase Intrinsic Motivation (IIM)-

This is most effective when jointly addressed by HR and the Function Heads.  Firstly, all employees at all levels should have a deep awareness of their strengths.  Next, based on what we now know from applied neuroscience, leaders can intrinsically motivate themselves or their teams—and coaches can help their clients increase their sense of intrinsic motivation—by exploring these three tactics:

1) Increase a sense of autonomy

Explore any perspectives where they see their work, project or task as being forced upon them. Then, help them to choose a more motivating perspective. Based on the leader's / manager's / HR understanding of their strengths, reflect on:

• What do they have control over? What could they be given control of over a period of time?
• What should they never be given control of? 
• How could they approach the work in their own way?

2) Include Mastery Goals that stimulate their sense of being positively challenged

A Mastery Goal is a goal that challenges the employee to think about making a positive attempt to achieve a goal, even when they know it is something newer and/or larger for them to achieve than they normally would. Of course, it's the manager's job to ensure that it doesn't #burnout their people.  This would enable them to deliver performance that would be more than what they otherwise might have done. Stimulate their sense of intrinsic motivation by asking:

• What interests them?
• What skills or knowledge could they improve upon or attain that's aligned with their strengths?
• How do they wish to grow in their work and capabilities?
• What would make the task at hand feel like less of a chore and more of a positive challenge or chance to explore and accomplish something new?
• What organizational support would they need to achieve those new stretch goals?

3) Bring meaning into their work

Ask questions that connect leaders to a deeper personal purpose:

• What values come into play here? For example, how does their work or task align with their core values? What values could they draw on to help feel more aligned with their work or with a team or project? What values-based goals could they set?
• Also, what makes their work feel purposeful? What is important in it? What might the work result in? Whom might it help in a broader societal sense?
• What makes their work or a project feel fulfilling? How is it a part of their bigger vision?
• What will enhance their sense of connection—to the team, to a higher purpose, to the people they serve?

Now you may think, this is all fine, but what about an employee's motivations? What motivates an employee in the first place? For that you could use the framework of David Maclelland which speaks of the a person's need for Affiliation, Power and Achievement.

Of course, the culture of the organization also plays a huge role in influencing the motivation of the employees at all levels. Check out the Three Factor Theory of Sirota that highlights the importance of Fairness / Equity, Achievement and camaraderie in motivating employees.

As you can see, there are many paths to motivation, and a blend seems most appropriate.  However - 

The manner in which the leaders motivate their people or enable their people's motivation plays a huge part in the perception of the culture of the organization, the engagement levels of people and whether it would be a #greatplacetowork.

Want to have a discussion around motivating your team?  Write to me at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com or call on +919820155778 and we'll fix a mutually convenient time.

A Leader worth Admiring

Who do you consider to be a leader worth admiring? By admire I mean that you are so impressed by them (vision, accomplishments, style, etc) that you celebrate them, become their fan and would like to adopt some of their behaviours into your life.  

So... Gandhi? Hitler? Churchill? Your neighbourhood businessman? A preacher / priest? A film actor? A family member? A friend?  Well, that's your choice.

Now, consider this Ted Talk by Martin Gutmann (the trigger for this short article) that tries to understand this by asking if, by actually celebrating the wrong leaders, we are thereby creating an aspiration to become what might actually be an ineffective leader? If so, what could be the repercussions (on self / team / organization / society) when we celebrate the only shiny (media / social media) side of leadership?

There's a lot of food for thought in this video.  For me, one of the most provoking ideas was about what are the measures by which we tend to judge leaders.  Or rather, which measures are most appropriate to evaluate leaders?  

This further reminded me of discussions I have had during my corporate days while hiring candidates at any level or promoting employees. Practically everyone at the discussion had a different criterion preference when evaluating the person, and it would frequently take us time to understand the other person's perspective when we didn't understand and disagreed with the evaluation.

Things moved forward only when we shared our perspective on the factors we looked at when evaluating the candidate.

And the two final thoughts that struck me from this video:

• Is there a leader authentic enough to be worth admiring, particularly when we look at the current behaviours of some of the world's politicians and business leaders?
• How do I leverage my strengths to become a leader authentic enough to be admired?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Practical Guide to Develop Ethical Leadership

Ethics and leadership are regularly discussed together, especially over the past decade or so.  Corporate scams that have led to C-suite leaders facing jail time are in the news often.  

One often wonders what if any ethics were considered and why ethics were not followed by those leaders.

Here's a superb and practical article on how to develop #ethicalleadership.

I love the questions for self-inquiry provided in it. 

From the article: "It’s important to remember that whatever we think, say or do has consequences on ourselves and others – however small our actions are."

Read the article here.

How You build Accountability as a Leader?

 First - you set an example by showing how you are accountable in your role. 

Next - you set expectations according to the capability of your team and the results you need. Applying the Situational Leadership Model is an excellent way to do this. (Ask me how)

Then - convey your willingness to listen to suggestions from them. Allow them this facility so that both they and you can learn, even if you already know a better way. If you have to reject their ideas, please do provide a clear explanation. This will allow the team to grow confidence & share ideas that will benefit the department & organization. 

pexels-rdne-stock-project-7821498

Finally - set up formal review dates and times, along with the option for your team to come to you anytime for clarifications / updates / emergencies.  Informally, talk to the team everyday (morning or evening as per their convenience) so that you and the team are on the same page.

This question came up on LinkedIn and I am one of the people who contributed to it.  You can view it here.   

Why I answered it like this? - because leaders get best results when they lead by example. 

What it means to lead by example? "QBQ - The Question Behind the Question" is the name of a great book by John G. Miller where he describes personal accountability in clear terms.  I have used his wisdom in workshops (with positive results) where Personal Accountability is part of the topics to be covered. Do check it out.  Disclaimer- I don't earn from endorsement of the book.  I am just recommending a great resource to those who want to improve their personal accountability. 

Want to improve leadership skills in your organization? Let's talk. Connect with me on +919820155778 

Leadership Authenticity Starts With Knowing Yourself

Here's a must read article if you want to develop yourself as an "Authentic Leader".

From the article - "Authentic leaders are always investing in strengths -- their own strengths as well as those of their followers." 

When you think about it, you realize that trying to fix weaknesses wastes time, causes unhappiness, dissatisfaction and disengagement, and building on strengths can accelerate growth while having a positive energy experience.

Read the rest of the article here

How to get the most out of your team.

Here's a super read with practical pointers about #teammanagement, particularly #motivation of the #team.

Click here for the article

Some of these are a part of a #managerialskills / #leadershipdevelopment #workshop that I run for organizations.

Inbox or call me on +919820155778 for a discussion to do this type of #intervention for your organization.

#strengthsdecoder #leadershipstrategy

Why Great Bosses rarely give Negative Feedback.

An intriguing article about giving negative #feedback to your team (the sandwich doesn't work).

I think one has to be clearly aware of the team members' readiness and ability to work on the task, before assigning it to them. This means that it would be good to have a discussion with the employee when assigning the task so that expectations are clear.

Otherwise, the feedback when given, may not be applied in future, for the reasons mentioned in the article. Read it here

Seven leadership development areas the C-Suite should not ignore

The job of the C-Suite folk just got tougher over the past 2 years.  Well-being is one of the many items at the forefront of the already numerous things they have to focus on in 2022 and beyond.  They have to really, really prepare themselves for all these challenges.

This article talks about 7 areas they can focus their self-development efforts on.

Read it here.

My thoughts - The C-suite has to work as a well-oiled team, simply because no one person has all the answers.  The need to hire people with #complimentingstrengths is stronger now than ever before. So there must also be focus on building this team of complementing talents through strengths based hiring.

Giving Feedback that Works

Interesting read on how #leaders can become a #confidencebuilder  for their #team members.

From the article: "Most managers dread giving feedback. Offering a blend of praise and criticism is supposed to help your team members do more of what they’re good at and improve in areas where they’ve missed the mark. But research shows it rarely works that way"

Read the article here

How to be a better Leader

Here is how the traditional choose one #leadershipstyle stacks up against the Four Domains of Leadership from Gallup's #cliftonstrengths assessment.

Makes a whole of sense to me, especially since I am able to blend it with the #situationalleadership model that I'm certified in.

Read the article here

Glad to answer any questions you have around this.

Article - What makes a Good leader? (my hint: Strengths-based and Situational Leadership)

Here's an excellent read on what can help a leader excel as a #leader. The article talks of the leader being able to leverage both his #strengths and his team's strengths, which in turn leads to better results. Read on... here

Feel glad that I am a #strengthscoach and a #situationalleadership certified trainer.

Facweek Feedback - Resilient Leader Session

As a member of the IAF (International Association of Facilitators), we celebrate FacWeek every year in the month of October where we facilitators go out and do 90 minute sessions for corporates, NGOs and Educational Institutes - probono.

I have been doing this for IAF since 2018, and this year was no exception.  I did four sessions on topics chosen by that organization.  Here is the feedback from "The Resilient Leader" session that I did for two organizations.  In one of the sessions, I had the pleasure of having Hardy Alexander as my co-facilitator.

Have a look at the feedback and let me know what you think.

If you want me to do this session (it's actually a full two-day workshop, write to me at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com

Managing Anger

 In a recent webinar, during a group discussion on leadership behaviours, I articulated this thought -

"A Leader must be carefully angry."

What do you think? From the list in the image, which is most easy and most difficult to do? Please comment.

Get Ready to Really Lead - Using Your Strengths

Why this webinar?

Despite the lockdown, organizations are still hiring people.  But managing people isn’t getting easier with different generations in the workforce.  The best way is to lead with your strengths while leading your team.

Why not prepare to grab that promotion or next new role, by signing up for this journey of 2.30 hour interactive Zoom webinars on 05th December 2020 from 5.00 pm to 7.30 pm.  Subsequent sessions would be held on the following Saturdays or as per participant’s needs.

Who should attend?

Working Professionals with minimum 7 years experience who aspire for leadership positions.

In 10 sessions of 2 Hrs 30 Mins each :

• Knowing Myself Through PRISM Brainmapping Inventory
• Identifying Leadership Competencies
• Leveraging EQ To Lead Others
• Hiring a well-rounded team
• Collaborating For Success
• Goal Setting For Excellence
• Decision Making for High Effectiveness
• Delegating Effectively
• Leveraging Conflict For Success
• Reviewing Performance for Accelerated Growth
• Giving And Receiving Feedback
• Thriving on Difficult Conversations

Your Investment

Regular Price - Rs.14,999/-

Early Bird - 12,999/- (21 Nov to 30 Nov)

Diwali Offer - 9,999/- Till 20 Nov 2020

Register Here:

https://www.townscript.com/e/lead-with-your-strengths

What kind of Teamwork does your Organization have?

Hopefully, not like the picture above.

Have you noticed that when examples of Teamwork are discussed by learning professionals or those from other functions, the following are most often quoted?

1) River rafting crew
2) Rowboat race (different countries have different types of boats so I'm simply saying "rowboats")
3) Flock of flying geese.
4) Formula One (F1) Pit Crews
5) Sports teams - cricket / football / hockey / basketball (take your pick).
6) The armed forces

7) A colony of Ants

Most folk focus on the output and the interchange between the team members, and don't really notice the different skillsets required for these teams to function.  I'll talk about two particular teams viz. the rowboat and the F1 Pit crew a little more to illustrate my point.

Here is the image of a rowboat race

And here's one of the F1 Pit crew

What I like about both images:

• The hallmark for both these teams is synchronous precision. This is poetry in motion, to me.  I'm not referring to winning, but getting the job done.
• There's heavy focus on learning and preparation - without which a team or individual cannot succeed.  
• Every person knows his role inside out, on both teams.

What I see as different between the two:

• In the rowboat team, the task to be performed is of low or medium complexity.  But with the F1 team, the tasks are comparatively of a fairly high level of complexity.
• In the rowboat team, the tasks are the same for most of the team members, except the navigator.  Therefore hiring for this team, will not be a really a complex activity.  Compared to this, each member of the F1 team must have specialized knowledge to execute his or her task. Hiring for this team will take special effort.

As a leader, which of these teamwork variations would be most useful for your organizations?

I particularly like this quote by Ray Dalio

Think of your team the way that Sports Managers do - No One person possesses everything to produce success, Yet everyone must excel.

With the idea that "everyone must excel", the answer is both - for certain conditions.

In startups, since you can't hire that fast, you need people to perform like the F1 crew.  So specialized folk are the key hires here.

When the organization grows to a midsize or large organization, this would be a time to standardize tasks, and bring more of the rowboat team members on board.

Here are a few questions to help evaluate your organization's teams and where you need them to be:

• What is the projected pace of performance expected from your team?  Will it be sufficient to take the organization closer to it's vision every year?  If not, what's the backup plan?
• Are there any upcoming challenges in the external business environment that will impact your organization's progress this year (other than COVID19)?  What is the contingency plan here?
• How many rowboat teams and F1 Pit crew teams do you need?  Are they sufficiently staffed?  Are they being provided with robust, business-linked learning interventions?
• Which are your critical positions? Are they all filled? What is the backup / contingency plan for these positions?
• Is your organization's attrition data available, understood and actioned upon? If not, by when will it be?
• And since I'm a strengths strategy coach - Are the strengths of your team members balanced with the weaknesses of other team members?

Please share your perspectives about teamwork and manpower planning.  Have I raised more questions in your mind?  I'd be happy to have a chat.  Write to me at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com or call me on +919820155778 for a discussion.

Balanced Leadership for Crises

Cometh the Hour, Cometh the person!!


With the current COVID19 crisis, leadership in different spheres has been pushed under the lens of scrutiny.  Political and medical leaders are the first to be watched - what are they doing / planning to do? Does their plan make sense? Or worse still - do they know what they are doing?

Now, there was really nothing in the past few decades to prepare any leader or individual for such a situation.  So we cannot really point fingers at leaders who don't seem to be doing a great job.  This post is not about finger-pointing at all.

This post is about how the leaders are acting or reacting.  To put it simply, every leader has had to REACT. There wasn't any choice.  However, once the initial stage of reaction passed, what was the next step?  This next step (according to me) clearly showcases the two types of leaders:

• A Transactional Leader.

A Transactional leader is one who takes care of business as it is required in the moment.  This is pretty much the formula in the Situational Leadership Model, where the leader's style is dictated largely by the willingness and readiness of his team members.

Make no mistake - this leader is critical to get the business plans and day to day operations executed.

• A Visionary Leader.

A Visionary Leader is one who provides direction to the organization for the long journey ahead. S/he is able to look beyond the pressures of the current storm and plot out a course. Perhaps revise the old direction completely and create a new one. Alternatively, s/he would coach the immediate reports to think and plan alternative means of getting to the future they have already identified and worked towards till the start of the COVID19 crisis this year.  Perhaps s/he and her/his team will decide to personally call their best customers, understand their situation, ask what support they might need - AND NOT SELL in the first call.  I am sure this will strengthen customer relationships and energize the team by giving them something clear to focus on to build or rebuild the business.


While the leader would have to perform both roles, a balance is required.  Too much focus on transaction may lead to too many unhealthy cuts of manpower and budgets and growth plans.  Too much focus on the new future (which no one really knows anything about, no matter what the experts say) will lead to some crucial decisions being missed out.

I guess the important question is - How does one develop this Visionary ability?  Here are my thoughts:-

• Be completely human in your approach. So - acknowledge your emotional side, speak about the feelings that people are going through, and share yours too.
• Be totally clear about your personal values and those values that the organization stands for, and talk about how your plans and actions are in line with those values.
• Develop analytical skills, make use of data modeling and AI to partway support your visionary journey.
• Re-evaluate your internal processes to see what can be done to increase customer satisfaction to both survive and thrive. This would have the added benefit of making your customers your brand ambassadors.
• Focus on realigning staff (instead of retrenching) as processes are changed so that the impact of the effectiveness increases.
• This means ensuring that the most effective employees are retained, along with those who are not that effective, according to your resources and balance sheet.  Ricardo Semmler's book "The Seven Day Weekend" gives interesting insights about this critical aspect.
• Please don't look only at Performance Management ratings when taking people decisions. Try and adopt a Potential Assessment approach so that you don't end up sending away an average performer today, who could, some months ahead, end up being a critical contributor. HR folks - your opportunity to let your strategic side shine, not to mention your ability to make HR data valuable beyond the compensation budget.
• If you have to let people go, please ensure that their dignity is intact - and this applies to all levels. You will definitely enhance the Trust Factor within and outside the organization, and enhance a supportive Employer brand image in the departing employees' minds.
• Review the organization's culture and processes and see what can be done to improve the ease of doing business or reduce the associated bumps and scars.

I haven't numbered these to allow the leader to rank them in some order of importance, according to his business.  In fact, it would be a great exercise to do with your top team, and some of you may have done it already.  You want help to do this? Write to me on ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com or call +919820155778 for a discussion.

You have more ideas?  Please do share.  

Employee Engagement for All Situations

When people are financially invested, they want a return.  

When they are emotionally invested, they want to contribute

- Simon Sinek

Employee Engagement has been in the conscious mind more and more over the past decade, ever since it was talked about by Gallup's Curt Coffman and Marcus Buckingham in their ground-breaking book "First Break all the Rules".  It has frequently been quoted in HR conferences and HR initiatives along the lines of "X percentage of employees in organizations are disengaged".

Here's a simple definition from Google - "Employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work". 


And Forbes.com - "Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals".


Here's what it looks like:

This means that employees put in more than required effort in their work, because they're not just working for a salary or bonus or promotion, but job satisfaction, transparency, along with fulfilling personal growth goals and other things.

A cursory google search will turn up loads of links on the topic, including definitions, how to do it, things to watch out for and so on.  And this article is not really about those things. This article is about what managers can do to drive engagement.

While we're at it, I would like to clearly state that Employee Engagement has nothing to do with fun activities (birthday celebrations, festival contests, annual day events) run by HR and / or line managers every month / quarter.  These are stress buster activities, nothing more, nothing less.  For those who think that these fun activities are employee engagement, ask yourself - "How many candidates will join my organization or take back their resignation because we are running these fun events?"

In my experience of twenty years in HR across different industries, Employee Engagement comes down to the relationship between the manager and his team. This is applicable to for all departments including HR.  Employee engagement is not the responsibility of HR, but the responsibility of anyone who leads a team, irrespective of organization level or delegation. When you come to think of it, it's also the responsibility of those who don't have teams, but work across the organization.  HR can provide a framework of Talent Management (Hiring, Performance Management, Rewards, Learning), but the actual work has to be done by the manager personally.

Why the manager?
The manager has to set goals for the team, ensure discipline, manage and monitor performance regularly, provide effective feedback, groom and develop his team members, and ensure goals are met.

So how does the manager drive engagement in his team ? (the term "he" is interchangeable with whatever term you like)

• He has to know his team, beyond their resumes.  
• He has to let the team get to know him / her - beyond the designation.
• He has to develop a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.  
• Define the goals
• Monitor and manage performance
• Enable them to understand and use their own motivation in their work.

Some may say - Who has time for all this?  It seems a lot of work, and it definitely does require substantial investment of time from the manager. Unfortunately, there's no shortcut from this time investment.  There is of course, the Situational Leadership Model by Dr. Paul Hersey  (Center for Leadership Studies) which can help the manager do all of this.

Here's an image of the model:

The #SituationalLeadership model will enable you to:

• Allocate the appropriate task to the correct employee
• Adopt an appropriate management style with each employee (not a one style fits all approach)
• Get employees to participate in the planning the execution of the department's work.
• Identify high performers
• Manage low performance
• Develop the capabilities of the team members

In a crisis or in Business As Usual (BAU), a leader / manager has to take frequent decisions in many areas where he and his team have to get things done.  The Situational Leadership model is an excellent guide for doing all the above-mentioned points. 
For Situational Leadership to succeed, the manager must know both his own Strengths and Weaknesses, as well as those of his teams. A tool such as the #CliftonStrengths or the #PRISM Brainmapping Professional (or DISC, FIRO-b, etc) is necessary as a precursor to ensure that the team becomes an engaged, smoothly-oiled unit. A few reflective questions to start  could be :

1. "What do I need from my team?"
2. "How do I support my team so that they deliver what I need from them?"

Of course, Team Coaching and Individual coaching will also help, along with regular conversations which treat the employee as a person and not just an employee.

Want to know more? Leave a note here, or write to me on ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com to set up a call. I can also be reached at +919820155778 for a conversation.