Strategy #15: Keep raising the bar, but do it gradually

Something we know from the science of motivation is that goals lose their power to galvanize action once they are achieved. That’s why brilliant leaders begin raising the bar before the goal has been achieved, but do so gradually so as to not discourage those who are working toward the goal. One of the principles outlined in my book Your Dreams Are Too Small is the power of “dreaming the dream beyond the dream,” which was my way of saying the same thing.

Most people are not operating at their full capacity (and in some cases not even close), and we all know it.  It takes great courage for you as a manager to raise your expectations – to expect more friendly customer service, more cooperative teamwork, more productive performance, more and better of everything. Paradoxically, raising your expectations will enhance, not diminish, your ability to recruit and retain good people.  The most capable workers want to be challenged because they know is the only way they can grow.

When I was chief operating officer for Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, one of my fellow executives earned an A-plus in bar-raising. Thom Greenlaw was then Director of Environmental Service (he has since become Business Manager of the Buckingham, Brown & Nichols School). In response to a hospital-wide initiative to enhance patient satisfaction, Thom had his people conduct a survey of patients and staff regarding perceived facility cleanliness. The overall score was 70% a (a C-minus at best). Thom set out a challenge to his department. He would host an ice cream party for every team that achieved a score of at least 90%.

A departmental training program was instituted, quality discussion groups established, and the process for patient room cleaning reorganized to give one person ownership for the outcome. Within a month the first team hit the target, and within several months, ice cream parties were a regular occurrence. The stakes were raised to a pizza party for 92%, and then to a steak dinner for 95%.

At the annual Housekeepers’ Week celebration that year, the audience literally went wild when the winner of the departmental quality award was announced. Of course, people weren’t working so hard and getting so emotionally involved for an ice cream cone and a few slices of pizza, or even for a steak and baked potato. Rather, it was being made part of a team that was pursuing a clear and important goal, that was given considerable voice in determining how that goal was to be achieved, and then was honored by a victory celebration once it was.

Try this: Gather a group of your most effective, highest performing people (the people that I refer to as Spark Plugs). Ask them to comment on what they perceive as the general performance level of everyone else in the organization (beginning with the senior management team; yes, this does take courage and humility). Then ask them for their thoughts on how you can raise the bar for one and all.

And this:  Give your people a menu-driven challenge to raise the bar in their personal lives – for example, increasing their retirement savings by a certain percentage, or spending a certain number of additional hours each week with their children, or losing a certain amount of weight or shedding a certain bad habit. You know the old saying that if you want something done, you should give it to a busy person? I’m confident that you’ll find something analogous happening here. As people raise the bar in their personal lives, it will reflect in improved productivity and performance on the job.

“A muscle only becomes stronger and more effective if it is stretched and exercised. It’s the last repetition we do, after we can’t do any more, that causes the most growth. The muscle’s growth stops when it is given too much rest. Real motivation is impossible unless the person is steadily and consistently reaching for goals that require stretch and effort.”

Mark Victor Hansen and Joe Batten: The Master Motivator

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