HOW TO MOTIVATE PEOPLE --- THE TEAM STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS
Tarkenton, Fran. Harper & Row, 1986
INTRODUCTION --- This book is about the missing ingredient in management, which is "how to achieve
effective reinforcement of DESIRABLE BEHAVIORS, especially when those desirable behaviors are thought
to be "givens." In other words, this book is about "what turns people on!" (p1-22)
[1] Motivation --- the key to performance (p5-7)
[2] The "ABC Model" --- beyond "attitude" (p7-10)
[3] Motivate and demotivate (p11-13)
[4] The 4:1 syndrome --- and the reverse (p13-18)
(1) Behavior that is reinforced by POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES tends to continue
or to increase! (p16)
(2) Behavior that is demotivated by NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES tends to decrease!
(3) Good, PRODUCTIVE BEHAVIORS, that are NOT REINFORCED in any way tend
to decrease over time! (p17)
The last learning principle is called "EXTINCTION EFFECT" and it has enormous importance
for anyone who wishes to motivate others (p17)
[5] Productivity through people (p18-22)
The principles of leadership in this book will show you how to affect an employee's behavior,
not in a simply manipulative or rigidly controlling manner, but in a way that ultimately benefits
your subordinate also.
The acronym "PRICE" refers to the "P.R.IC.E. Motivation System," which stands for "Pinpointing,
Recording, Involvement, Consequences, and Evaluation."
1) PINPOINTING --- Generally, pinpointing means "aiming" or "focusing precisely." Specifically, the word
"pinpointing" is used to highlight the need to focus on:
(1) Individual OBJECTIVES, either personal or collective, that can feed into organizational goals;
(2) Individual BEHAVIORS done by one or more of the people whose performance concerns you;
(3) Individual OUTCOMES which are the result of those BEHAVIORS and which may or may not
coincide with the OBJECTIVES you want! (p25-42)
[1] Pinpointing definitions (p27-28)
[2] Pinpointing and objectives (p29-35)
[3] How to pinpoint an objective --- FIVE CRITERIA:
(1) Can the objective measured accurately? (p36-37)
(2) Is the objective realistic? (p37-38)
(3) Is the objective meaningful? (p38-39)
(4) Is the objective easily understood (p39-40)
(5) Is the objective "owned?" (p40-42)
The OBJECTIVES that work are the ones that everybody agrees can and should work!
The reason this principle is true is based on the facts involved in GOOD POSITIVE MOTIVATION!
(1) When you feel an OBJECTIVE to be your own, you are going to make it a FACT!
(2) So, you are going to be MOTIVATED to perform those PIN POINTED BEHAVIORS that can bring it into being!
(3) The reverse DEMOTIVATION PROCESS is equally true --- No ownership, no motivation. No motivation,
no behavior change. No behavior change, no results!
Summary of Pinpointing Process:
You start with PINPOINTED OBJECTIVES that are easily identifiable and measurable. Then, you check to make sure that they are also realistic, meaningful, simple to understand, and perceived as personally worthwhile by everyone involved in their implementation!
This process comprises the first essential step in motivating employees toward their achievement!
2) RECORDING (p43-61)
The second step in motivating employees is "record keeping." It is essential to establish a score keeping
system by which employees and supervisors can tell how fast and how far and in what direction their motivation
is taking them!
[1] Why don't organizations keep score? (p45-52)
[2] How record keeping is done --- GRAPHING (p52-57)
[3] The BENEFITS of score keeping (p57-61)
3) INVOLVEMENT --- Making each team player a part of keeping the scores as high as possible! (p62-77)
Three Essential Assumptions:
(1) Attitudes toward authority are changing (p63-64)
(2) "Work" is no longer at the center of a worker's life (p64-65)
(3) Workers expect to participate in decision-making (p64-65)
[1] Involvement --- why people resist it! (p66-68)
[2] Benefits of "participative" management (p68-74)
[3] The "Synergy Effect" is the fact that people seem to perform better when they function together instead of alone (p74-77)
4) CONSEQUENCES --- Making teamwork an everyday working reality! (p78-99)
[1] The "Extinction Effect" --- unless you reward good behavior, it will inevitably decrease! (p79-81)
[2] Punishment and constructive criticism (p82-89)
[3] Fighting the "Extinction Effect" using "Positive Reinforcement" (p89-94)
[4] The "Reinforcing Memo" --- a checklist (p94-99)
Writing a "reinforcing memo" is one of the best ways to get a critical motivational task done.
A "Reinforcing Memo" is designed to reinforce a "good behavior" or good results in a more formal
way than a face-to-face comment would. Thus, it is a good tool when you have relatively little direct contact with
an subordinate whose behavior you are expected to reinforce!
A "Reinforcing Memo" is extremely valuable when you are trying to reinforce exceptional or
continuously high behavior or when you want a record of the behavior for performance
evaluation use.
The following seven guidelines can be used to increase productivity:
(1) Keep it short (p96)
(2) Be precise (p96)
(3) Say why you are writing the memo (p96)
(4) Quantify it whenever possible (p96)
(5) Keep it personal (p96-97)
(6) Make it timely (p97)
(7) Make and/or post copies so colleagues and administrative superiors know of the highly motivated
employee's productivity. If superiors make positive comments and return them to the employee being
praised, then the technique of "Synergistic Reinforcement" kicks in and their will be a multiplication of the
benefit of the focused praise! (p97)
One Negative Guideline --- Don't "reward" or praise a highly motivated employee by giving him or
her more work to perform, unless the task is something that the employee eagerly wants to do!
Otherwise, it will in the long run.(p98)
5) EVALUATION --- You can consolidate the motivational drive of your work teams and ensure that they
will operate at peak performance when you deliver predictable positive consequences! (p100-115)
[1] The "ABC Model" revisited (p101-104)
[2] Trends, range and cycles (p104-107
[3] Fine-tuning the system (p107-112)
[4] Evaluation and evolution --- in the context of "Real People Management" (p112-115)
PART 2 --- TWO ESSENTIAL MOTIVATING SKILLS (p117-161)
6) REFLECTIVE LISTENING --- the specific interactive skills and techniques essential for implementing
the "P.R.IC.E. Motivational system as a working reality (p120)
[1] Reflective listening --- how it works (p121-126)
[2] Reflective motivational strategies (p126-138)
(1) Prompting (p127)
(2) Open-ended Questions (p126-132)
(3) Rephrasing (p132-135)
(4) Empathy statements --- their focus is feelings so don't assume that you have to
"agree" (recognize that the expression of feelings in this situation is not only valid but also appropriate
as well) with the speaker! You can avoid the misuse of Empathy Statements if you realize that you
need to understand enough about the person's situation to be able to link it to his or her feelings, but
that you don't have to agree with his or her analysis of the situation or acknowledge that his or her
feelings are justified by the situation! (p135-138)
[3] Seven don'ts of reflective listening (p138-141)
The single most important problem encountered in human communication is the LACK of
a receiver's ATTENTION to what a sender is saying! All problems of communication derive from this
basic problem of INATTENTION! (p138)
(1) Don't rehearse (p138-139)
(2) Don't defend (p139)
(3) Don't interrupt (p139)
(4) Don't change the focus to yourself (p139)
(5) Don't discount (p139-140)
(6) Don't judge (p140)
(7) Don't solve the problem --- yet! (p140-141)
Listening is a learned skill and improves with practice!
7) MOTIVATIONAL ASSERTIVENESS (p142-161)
Anyone can learn a set of simple "Assertion Skills" (no matter what the extent of his or her unresolved
superego conflicts) so they can lead in a more assertive rather than aggressive way (p144)
[1] Beyond the "Fight or Flight" response! (p144-147)
[2] The "Assertion Scale" (p148-154)
[3] The assertive motivator (p155-161)
(1) Broken record (p155-156)
(2) Fogging --- yielding at the right time is a powerful way to assert oneself (p157-158)
(3) Negative Assertion --- don't shift accountability --- simply acknowledge error,
apologize for oversight, and get back to work (p158-160)
The real lesson of "Negative Assertion" is that resistance to external attacks can sometimes
merely intensify those attacks, while absorbing any criticism (p158-160)
(4) Negative inquiry --- ask the critic to elaborate on the complaint (p160-161)
PART 3 --- PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER (p163-232)
8) BUILDING YOUR TEAM (p165-186)
9) CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING (p187-206)
10) CONFLICT MANAGEMENT (p207-225)
11) MOTIVATING TO WIN (p226-232)
INDEX (p233-243)