Leadership Wisdom From The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: The 8 Rituals of Visionary Leaders (15 page)

“No, I thought I’d get another hot dog,” I said with mock sarcasm. “Of course I want to know the secret of highly motivated employees. Doesn’t every leader and manager?”

“Well here it is: Reward Routinely, Recognize Relentlessly.”

“That’s Ritual 3,” I said pulling out the third piece of the puzzle, which also had a pattern on it, like the first two.

“Yes, my friend. Ritual 3 in Yogi Raman’s ancient leadership system is the ritual of team building. All visionary leaders have made it a daily practice to reward and recognize their employees. They have the wisdom to know that employees who feel appreciated deliver superior results.”

“And I’ll bet that’s another reason that you picked this location for us to meet tonight, right Julian? It’s all coming together now.”

“You’re a fast study, Peter. I’ve always liked that about you. Even in the old days, when you were my golf partner, you were always one step ahead of the game. Yes. The head coach is most certainly applying the principle I am sharing with you. He has obviously discovered that when you honor employees, they will come to honor you. He clearly practices the twin leadership disciplines of rewarding and recognizing. That is why his team is so successful.”

“Where’s the starting point? I’ll admit it, I had no idea that rewarding and recognizing employees was so important. I’ve been so busy with other things that I’ve never really thought about ‘honoring my people,’ as you suggest. But I know from my own days as an employee, when I did something right and my manager noticed it, it made me want to perform even better the next time around. Sad to say, in our company, employees don’t really hear much from management until they do something wrong. Otherwise, they’re pretty much on their own.”

“Most companies are like that, Peter. The leadership assumes that the men and women who work for the organization are mature adults who don’t require a pat on the back. Managers
believe their job only requires them to spot bad behavior and correct it. They never tell their people about the many positive letters that come in from satisfied customers; instead they haul their workers into their offices to interrogate them the minute a complaint arrives. In so doing, they unwittingly invite their employees to spend their days trying to avoid bad behavior rather than focusing their energies on doing good work. And rest assured, such companies never grow to world-class status. Would it surprise you to learn that most people in our part of the world go to bed hungry every night?”

“That’s impossible, Julian. We live in the land of plenty.”

“Well, it’s true. Most people go to bed hungry every single night of their lives. Hungry for a little recognition and sincere appreciation for their efforts.”

“So what can I do to turn things around? I’m beginning to see the potential of our people peeking through the suits of armor they have donned in response to my old dictatorial leadership style. I am determined to free their strengths and let them be the kind of workers and people they are capable of being. But where do I start?”

“The starting point for motivating your employees is simple:
hunt for good behavior.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, you said it yourself: At GlobalView you and your managers are constantly looking for bad behavior to correct. The only indicator most of your employees have that they are doing okay is the fact that they have not been fired. Well, that’s not good enough. Your people deserve better than that. You need to shift your mind-set and start hunting for people who are doing things right. Get aggressive about finding employees who are performing
the way you know they should be. Be like a hunter relentlessly searching for his target. And when you find it, let the rewards and recognition flow freely.
Remember, you always get more of what you reward.”

“Do you have to acknowledge good behavior immediately?”

“Great question, Peter. Not necessarily, but I’ll tell you one thing for sure: the sooner you reward the good behavior, the more likely it is to be repeated. Keep rewarding the kind of behavior you want to see again and again. When you condition your people in this way, they develop a clear sense of your expectations. They will soon realize what success looks like.”

“But don’t most employees already know what they should be doing? Don’t they already know what success looks like? I’ve always felt that most are simply too lazy to achieve it. In my experience, they just want to make an easy buck and head home as early as possible.”

“You are dead wrong,” came the blunt reply. “Yogi Raman always told me that almost everyone wants to do good. Each one of us wants to contribute in a positive way and feel that our life has some meaning. We all have dreams and hopes and passions that we pray will be fulfilled one day. But the reality is that most people’s ambitions are stifled by the men and women who lead them. They are told what to wear or when to have lunch or how to do their work. Most employees in our part of the world are micro-managed to the point where they feel that it will be detrimental to their careers if they become free thinkers and innovators.

“What you need to start doing, to free the strengths and talents of your people, is to reward the behavior you want to see repeated. Let every single employee know exactly what success looks like by recognizing those who are doing it. You might not
believe it, but most workers lack a clear sense of what peak performance means, which further adds to their stress levels. Their leader has never provided them with a model to emulate. Then he or she criticizes them for not doing what they should be doing, making matters even worse.

“I’ve been in far too many companies where the expectations the leaders have of their employees bear little or no resemblance to employee job descriptions. Visionary leaders define precisely the kinds of results they hope to see from their people and then set them free to realize them. Like I told you earlier, nothing motivates and focuses the mind better than a clear purpose. Once people know where they are going and what is expected of them, they will fulfill their responsibilities.”

“But what about when they fail. Surely they need to be punished?”

“That leads me to another important point. In underperforming companies, people are so afraid of failing that they never take risks. By never taking risks, they never discover new things. And by never discovering new things, they spend the rest of their lives within a small zone of comfort, doing the same things with the same people in the same way every day. To add insult to injury, management then chastises them for their lack of creativity and innovation. Look, don’t get me wrong, Peter, you know I’m a pragmatisti no one is saying that leaders and managers should not correct bad behavior. But don’t miss the forest for the trees. Have the vision to understand that failure is essential to success. When one of your people tries something and fails, he or she is simply learning how to succeed. Failures are nothing more than lessons in disguise. They eventually lead us to wisdom and prosperity. Visionary leaders make work environments risk-free. They give
their people the freedom to fail. And by doing so, they ultimately succeed.”

“Wow, I’ve never thought of failure like that.”

“You might be surprised to learn that at Southwest Airlines — the spectacularly successful company I mentioned earlier — a young manager who came up with an innovative new idea that failed disastrously was actually promoted! The manager had proposed a same-day cargo service that would increase Southwest’s revenue by 50 percent. The president personally approved the program and significant sums were spent on advertising and setting up the new operation. Unfortunately, the business never came. But the company’s executives understood that while bold risk taking is necessary for massive success, it can also lead to big failures from time to time. It’s just a cost of doing business. They ensured that the lesson was well learned and then forged on. By not firing the manager, they sent out a powerful message that innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit was appreciated.”

“That’s an unbelievable example, Julian.”

“It gets even better. Guess how a Southwest employee is recognized when a complimentary letter arrives from a customer?”

“Let’s hear it.”

“The letter is immediately sent to the employee along with a memo from the president saying, ‘I think you’re great and my hat’s off to you. Keep up the great work. I love you.’”

“Amazing. But I don’t know about this loving-your-employees thing.”

“At Southwest, the president seizes every opportunity to tell his people that he loves them. The word ‘love’ is not used in a soft, sentimental way but as an expression of appreciation. However,
you don’t have to tell your employees that you love them to motivate and inspire them. Just thank them when they do the right thing and forgive them when they make a mistake. To quote the Tibetan proverb that Yogi Raman favored, ‘If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will avoid a hundred days of sorrow.’”

“I’d guess that the best way to reward positive behavior and peak performance is with money. True?”

Julian’s response was interrupted by the loud sound of the half-time buzzer. Our team was dominating the game and the fans began to applaud warmly. Since Julian had bought courtside seats, we were able to hear what the head coach was saying to the players as they came off the court: “Phenomenal job, guys. We’re playing our game, just the way we planned it in practice. Keep this up and we’re guaranteed a playoff spot. I know you’ve been on the road for the past two weeks and I know you guys are darn tired. Let’s wrap this one up for our fans.”

As the players began walking toward the hallway that led to their locker room, the coach added, ‘Hey guys … I’m really proud of you!’”

“Does that answer your question, Peter?” Julian asked. “Huh?”

“Did that coach just motivate his team?” “Definitely.”

“Did he pull out a sack of money and hand out bills to each player to do it?”

“No,” I said with a smile. “So how did he do it?”

“He praised them. And he did it sincerely. I really felt that he cared about them and felt proud of their excellent performance.”

“Exactly. You see, my friend,
praise is free.
Sincere praise can move mountains and revolutionize your entire organization. And it won’t cost you a penny. Too many leaders think that bonus checks and cash incentives are the only way to motivate their teams, and since money is tight, they do nothing. Yet, contrary to popular belief, money is not the strongest motivator of human beings. Research shows that people prefer simple praise to almost any other type of reward.

“In one landmark study of 1,500 employees, personalized, instant recognition was found to be the top way to energize staff. Yet only 42 percent received such feedback. In another survey, 58 percent of employees said they seldom received a thank-you note for a job well done even though they said that this form of recognition motivated them the most.”

“A simple thank-you note is all they want?”

“Maybe your people want more. You, as their leader, need to make the time to find out. Here’s a key lesson: don’t reward people according to the way you would like to be rewarded if you were in their shoes. Instead, find out what motivates
them.
Figure out what you and your managers can do to make your employees feel like heroes. Start asking yourself the Wow Question.’ It’s extremely powerful.”

“What’s the Wow Question’?”

“The Wow Question is every leader’s best friend. It simply requires that you ask yourself the following: ‘What could I do, in terms of rewarding and recognizing my people for excellent work, that would make them say ‘wow’ on receiving it?’ Remember that timeless truth, Peter:
the way you treat your employees determines the way they will
treat your customers.
If you have the discipline to make them feel special, to go ‘wow’ on a regular basis,
they will do the same for your clients. As I said earlier, giving starts the receiving process.

“Different people must be rewarded in different ways,” Julian added. “Gifts need to be customized. Giving a salesperson who hates to fly or is constantly on the road away from her family a trip to Bermuda might not be a great idea. A person who is well paid but working eighteen-hour days just might prefer a few days off over a big bonus check. There was one young guy on my own legal team back when I practiced law who just wanted to be acknowledged for his excellent work in front of the people he worked with. As Yogi Raman said, ‘Crack the codes of the people you lead and find out what makes them tick.’ Find out what specific things will make them feel good about any success they have achieved. For one it might be a trophy, for another it might be a day-pass to a local ski hill. Tailor the reward to suit the person.

“I can still remember Yogi Raman coming into my little hut one day, after I had been diligently studying under him and trying very hard to integrate the wisdom of the sages into my own life. ‘You have been a very good student, Julian,’ he said gently, ‘probably the best one we have ever had. You have been respectful of our customs and shown a very sincere interest in learning our philosophies on leadership and life. Every one of us has grown fond of you. We now see you as a member of our little culture. And though we have few possessions, I would like to give you a small gift as a reward for the progress you made. I would like to give you something that is meaningful, so rather than selecting the gift myself, I thought I’d drop by and find out from you what token would make you happiest.’

“You know, Peter, it was the first time anyone had taken the time to ask me to choose my own reward for a job well done. As a
result, I was one happy student. I started studying even harder, just so I wouldn’t disappoint this teacher who had invested such faith in me.”

“And what did you ask for?”

“I knew you’d want to know. It was something really simple. Inside the temple that stood in the center of the monks’ village, there sat a plaque made out of wood. In my quiet moments, I would go in and silently reflect on the words that Yogi Raman had carved onto it. They had great meaning to me. My wish was that Yogi Raman provide me with a similar plaque. He gladly complied, delivering it the very next day.”