Motivating zombie learners and those practicing on-the-job retirement

February 28, 2008

carrot.jpgA question  (actually many questions) came up at a workshop I was leading earlier today. The question was about incentives and motivation. The workshop topic was ‘making elearning more engaging’. We critiqued a lot of content – both good and bad and talked a lot about writing and the use of multimedia.

So here’s a group of corporate trainers who are on-board, motivated, and on the verge of creating some kickass e-learning. They get it. They’re not cynical and seem excited with their challenges. People come to them to solve problems even!

However, the issue of incentives is brought up just about everywhere. And it was no different here. I was very unoriginal…

  • acknowledgment (‘atta boy)
  • certificates (does anyone have more magenta ink?)
  • personal communication (I am the VP of all things and I want to commend you on your recent completion of the e-learning course….Kowtow Skills for Pions)
  • competitive program (na na, our office completed more ‘learning’ than you!…meaning…we sat in our seats longer than you sat in yours?)
  • make it part of your performance goals (and the reason you only got a 4 out of 5 is because you never finished that anger management e-learning course…[watch learner break chair and blame LMS])
  • Public recognition in staff meeting (don’t forget your suck up sticker)

Others had a few more…

  • company (fake corporate bucks) money equivalent to vouchers to be used in an online store
  • level-type labels (I’m a level “2,” level “3″). Which some felt could lead to promotion issues, etc. Interesting discussion.

I don’t like the idea of paying someone to take courses. It smells like bribery. Or worse. What do you think? What do you do when you’re dealing with nearly dead employees? How do you motivate zombies and coasters-to-retirement to do something?

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  • http://christytucker.wordpress.com/ Christy Tucker

    For all that it’s cheesy, at a previous job we had “Grammar Games” in the course development team. It was an individual competition where we had worksheets to complete for various grammar & citation skills. Our editors offered training sessions as each skill was introduced. You could skip the training and still participate in the competition, but most people actually attended the training.

    In this case, for all that grammar is boring, everyone really was motivated to be a better writer. The skills being taught were ones that we used every day; that had a big impact on the success.

    We always did recognition within the team meetings for weekly winners, plus tracking the overall top scores. The highest scoring person for the week got their name on the team whiteboard as “Top Grammarer” or something like that. We gave out certificates, plus as you did more you could add stickers to your certificate–the stickers pictured our Senior Editor with a silly expression. This was a HUGELY motivating activity though, even with lame prizes. Some of the Flash developers were so jealous that they asked to be able to participate too, which of course we allowed.

    Some of this worked just because in that team it was cool to be a geek. I think the competitive part of it made it more like a game though, and was more engaging for most people. We didn’t require people to participate in the game, and some people didn’t because they didn’t like the competitive aspect. As a whole though, this was very successful both in terms of team building and in terms of improving the grammar and citations in the group.

    Would it work to motivate zombie employees though? I don’t know. That team was new enough and turnover was high enough that nearly everyone had been there less than 2 years. But for lifers? You’d have to figure out what would be fulfilling enough for them to get excited.

  • http://christytucker.wordpress.com Christy Tucker

    For all that it’s cheesy, at a previous job we had “Grammar Games” in the course development team. It was an individual competition where we had worksheets to complete for various grammar & citation skills. Our editors offered training sessions as each skill was introduced. You could skip the training and still participate in the competition, but most people actually attended the training.

    In this case, for all that grammar is boring, everyone really was motivated to be a better writer. The skills being taught were ones that we used every day; that had a big impact on the success.

    We always did recognition within the team meetings for weekly winners, plus tracking the overall top scores. The highest scoring person for the week got their name on the team whiteboard as “Top Grammarer” or something like that. We gave out certificates, plus as you did more you could add stickers to your certificate–the stickers pictured our Senior Editor with a silly expression. This was a HUGELY motivating activity though, even with lame prizes. Some of the Flash developers were so jealous that they asked to be able to participate too, which of course we allowed.

    Some of this worked just because in that team it was cool to be a geek. I think the competitive part of it made it more like a game though, and was more engaging for most people. We didn’t require people to participate in the game, and some people didn’t because they didn’t like the competitive aspect. As a whole though, this was very successful both in terms of team building and in terms of improving the grammar and citations in the group.

    Would it work to motivate zombie employees though? I don’t know. That team was new enough and turnover was high enough that nearly everyone had been there less than 2 years. But for lifers? You’d have to figure out what would be fulfilling enough for them to get excited.

  • http://www.jarche.com Harold Jarche

    Alfie Kohn has written a few books on the subject: “Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work (HBR)”; “Punished by Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes (2001).

  • Maria Hlas

    I don’t know if trainers and instructional designers can motivate others. First, I am of the opinion that motivation comes from the inside and it is almost impossible to motivate someone to do something they don’t want to do, don’t see the value in, etc. I do think that the things you mentioned help keep someone who is already motivated going. Nothing is worse than putting in the effort and not getting any recognition for it. If there is a motivation problem for attending/taking training, then I figure you should look to the managers to see if they can help, look at the objectives to ensure that the employees can see why it is important to their jobs, and look at who is attending to make sure it actually pertains to their jobs (and they only have to take the part of the training that is specific to them). I know we are often forced to put together training courses and programs in which people don’t see the value and in that case I guess you just try to make it as interesting as possible. And then try to use your influence (or your manager’s or your entire group’s influence) to make things are done differently.

    I like the idea of a competition if the group is up for it and likes that kind of thing. But like Christy said, I think the group already has to see the value in the training for this to work.

  • Maria Hlas

    I don’t know if trainers and instructional designers can motivate others. First, I am of the opinion that motivation comes from the inside and it is almost impossible to motivate someone to do something they don’t want to do, don’t see the value in, etc. I do think that the things you mentioned help keep someone who is already motivated going. Nothing is worse than putting in the effort and not getting any recognition for it. If there is a motivation problem for attending/taking training, then I figure you should look to the managers to see if they can help, look at the objectives to ensure that the employees can see why it is important to their jobs, and look at who is attending to make sure it actually pertains to their jobs (and they only have to take the part of the training that is specific to them). I know we are often forced to put together training courses and programs in which people don’t see the value and in that case I guess you just try to make it as interesting as possible. And then try to use your influence (or your manager’s or your entire group’s influence) to make things are done differently.

    I like the idea of a competition if the group is up for it and likes that kind of thing. But like Christy said, I think the group already has to see the value in the training for this to work.

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  • http://www.jarche.com/ Harold Jarche

    Alfie Kohn has written a few books on the subject: “Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work (HBR)”; “Punished by Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (2001).

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