Friday, February 10, 2012

Productivity-based Compensation A Motivation Killer?

Last week, I shared my experiences with staff motivation in my briefing post, Enhance Productivity! all members. If you missed it, my big theme was basing compensation on performance as a way to increase staff productivity.

Shortly thereafter, I got some great additional perspectives from OPEN MINDS Circle subscriber, Bill Milnor, Director of Business Processes at the Mental Health Center of Denver.

"I strongly resonate with much of your post," Mr. Milnor wrote. "We see we have unutilized capacity, therefore limiting potential access to services....Where I start to diverge is on performance-based compensation and reward. More and more literature keeps coming into my view that does not place pay for performance at the top [of the list of factors] improving motivation or of an employee's list of what is important to them. I think this is especially true in not-for-profit enterprise. I lean toward thinking that model is more dangerous to motivation. The focus and drive I hear from staff is more about the organization's mission and their personal missions to help others or make a better world....

"Albeit there is a basic threshold for economic quality of life, equity, and potential for advancement, however after those are met the heart beats for personal best and being part of something greater than themselves. Our organizations can expedite each employee's development and mastery of their craft. This provides great satisfaction and loyalty. Certainly the caveat is that they need to be on the 'right bus' and in the 'right seat'....

"We...see great need for routine and on demand tailored informatics at every level that informs that level and area of practice be it the direct service clinician or the CEO. This at best could translate effort into value being produced. Being able to identify who is struggling and who is excelling is critical to good management.

"We can have cultures that facilitate collaborative behavior and reduce angst and interpersonal competition. There are higher achievers and we would want them actively raising others' performance recognizing all of us are more impactful than any one of us. Here at The Mental Health Center of Denver we say, and believe, people go toward what they focus on. Quality and service can be a focus that motivates at a deep level. Great alignment produces a stronger motivation than any carrot and stick. I know that pay for performance does work for some industries and some people, just not convinced it works in ours."

I want to thank Mr. Milnor for sharing his view on the very complicated issues of productivity, performance, and compensation. And, for those of you who will be joining me at the OPEN MINDS Best Management Practices Institute in Clearwater Beach on February 16, I invite you to attend "Clinical Productivity Management: How To Promote Executive & Clinical Collaboration", which I will present with Jonathan Evans, President & CEO of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health.

Sincerely,
Rejean Carlson, MBA
President, OPEN MINDS

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