How is it that we get excited by games and sports, but often not about work?
By way of example, let me share with you a situation I observed while I was at secondary school and university.
I grew up in Masterton, New Zealand. The town is known for producing a number of outstanding individuals such as musician Pip Brown (better known by her stage name of Ladyhawke) and Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords. (Little known fact: Jemaine and I went to the same secondary school. Admittedly, I finished my last year there just before he was born).
My parents were rather poor, though I didn’t notice it at the time. Consequently they couldn’t afford to contribute to my university education. So each summer I worked at the local meat processing plant (the Waingawa Freezing Works) for three months, to make enough money to pay my fees and survive for the year. I mostly worked on the lamb and beef processing chains.
Masterton is an inland rural community. Summer temperatures can get pretty high, and the meat processing industry was highly unionised at the time. So inevitably there was a union enforced rule that once the air temperature rose to a certain level on the meat processing floor, everyone would stop work until the temperature dropped again.
None of this made sense to me. As a student I was intent on making as much money as I could in the short space of time I had available. But for the guys who worked in this industrial environment year in and year out, work was a drudgery to be endured. If they could find a way to get a break, they took it. And if they could find an excuse to finish work early for the day, particularly on a gloriously hot summer’s day, they’d take it. High air temperature on the meat processing floor was one of the few legitimate excuses available.
And guess what people would do when they got off early from work. They played. They’d get a few guys together for a round of golf. Some went down to the tennis courts. While others picked up their children after school, got together with other families and raced to the local park for an impromptu game of cricket and a picnic.
Yet sport and work have many similarities. Take a meat processing chain, or any other similar industrial environment. You have a large building in which a number of people are carrying out repetitive tasks. Compare that with the sport of 10-pin bowling, for example. Here you have a large building in which a number of people are carrying out repetitive tasks!
After all, when you break down 10-pin bowling to its basics, here’s what happens. You pick up a heavy object, stride up to a lane and toss the object across the room. You then take a short break before picking up another heavy object, striding up to a lane and tossing the object across the room. You then take a short break before picking up another heavy object… You get the picture.
So how is it that people get excited by games, like 10-pin bowling, but often not about work?
The factors we’ve covered in the last two posts “What Drives Employee Engagement? Part 1” and “What Drives Employee Engagement? Part 2” are the key.
I suggest that often there are more environmental supports available in many sports that provide the motivation to participate. Environmental supports that are often missing in the workplace. Keeping with the 10-pin bowling theme, those supports are:
DATA
A clear description of what is expected of performance (Knock the pins over. The more the better.)
Relevant and frequent feedback about the adequacy of performance (Immediately after each bowl, see the pins get knocked down; track the score on the electronic scoring system; and track the score on your own scorecard if you wish)
TOOLS
Provide the necessary tools, materials or processes to assist people to perform their job (Everything from the shoes and bowling balls, to the alley, pins and scoring system is provided)
INCENTIVES
Make non-monetary incentives (such as praise and recognition) available (Notice how much immediate and spontaneous recognition is provided for a good bowl, or for improvement. Yells of encouragement, high-5s and well done’s follow nearly every effort)
Actually, at work people often have a clear description of what is expected and they frequently do have the necessary tools to enable them to perform. The factors that are frequently available in games and sports that are generally missing at work are:
- Immediacy of feedback on performance, enhanced by scoring systems that record and track how people are performing. So people know exactly how they are doing.
- Because of the scoring and tracking systems, the ability to compare individual and group performance on the fly. Which leads to higher levels of competition.
- High levels of immediate and spontaneous recognition for good performance. Which significantly enhances motivation.
There are real opportunities in nearly every workplace, not just the meat processing industry, to improve employee motivation and performance by applying what works in the games and sports that people choose to play.