What really motivates people at work? Is it money? Is it recognition? Not according to Daniel Pink.

Pink, in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, maintains there are three things that truly motivate us:

1. Autonomy – the freedom to choose task, time, technique, and team
2. Mastery – the desire to get better and better at something that matters
3. Purpose – the desire to pursue a cause larger than ourselves

read more…

HR Hero Line editor Wendi Watts reviews Brains on Fire by Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, and Geno Church, finding useful insight into engaging both employees and customers.

Do your customers and employees love you? Do you love your customers and employees?

Most HR people would readily admit that a large number of their employees are burned out from all the layoffs, hiring freezes, and constraints the economy has put on businesses. When employees are doing the same work that used to be done by three or four (or more) employees and they haven’t had a raise in more than a year — more than three or four years for some — is it realistic to think that you can get employees passionate about doing their jobs, interacting with your customers, and working for your organization? Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements says, yes.

read more…

In her book Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing in Your Workforce, Canadian researcher Jody Heymann analyzes hundreds of interviews with front line employees to C-suite executives and concludes that your company can profit more from improving worker conditions than cutting wages, benefits, and other workforce expenses.

As an example of that theory Heymann gives the example of a small manufacturing company in Europe that used flexible policies and a team approach in production. The team approach rewarded the team for performance and gave everyone an incentive not to take time off if they didn’t need to, while flexible policies made it possible to take time off if needed. After three years with the two factors in place, absenteeism dropped by 28 percent in the summer and 39 percent in the winter, Heymann reported.

HR practitioner Paul Knoch reviews The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki. He finds that while the book is a bit heavy on theory and light on real-life examples, the examples that are provided are revealing and the book raises the important question of whether businesses should look beyond a small field of experts or managers when making decisions.

Remember the game-show sensation “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” Contestants vied for a prize of one million dollars by answering a series of questions correctly. The questions started out fairly easy and became increasingly difficult. When stumped, a contestant could choose from three “lifelines” for help. One lifeline removed half of the possible answers, leaving the contestant with a 50/50 chance of guessing correctly. Another lifeline allowed the contestant to call a more knowledgeable friend and ask for help. The third lifeline simply polled the audience. If you watched the show, you may recall that the audience was almost always right.

read more…

Sarah Hulsey, PHR, reviews Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by David Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright, finding it insightful and a must-read for HR and management at all levels.

It isn’t often that I read a business management book that I can’t stop talking about, but I absolutely loved Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by David Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright.  Over a 10-year period, the trio studied 24,000 individuals in 24 organizations, researching employee behavior in terms of the groups they form (tribes) and those who assume leadership roles (tribal leaders).  In particular, the authors wanted to find some link between the tribes and their leaders that explains how great leaders emerge, develop new skills, and leave a standing legacy where they work.

read more…

Sarah Hulsey, PHR, reviews Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh’s book Delivering Happiness and finds it uplifting and motivating but not necessarily belonging in the business section of the bookstore.

You’d have to be living in a cave to not have heard about Zappos and the work CEO Tony Hsieh is doing to improve customer and employee satisfaction. Regardless of whether you drink the Zappos Kool-Aid, his first book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose is a worthy weekend read, but perhaps not for the reasons you’d think.

read more…

Employment law attorney Michael Maslanka reviews Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s book Rework, finding that the authors offer valuable lessons for changing the way your organization works.

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson is a fascinating book. It consists of around 100 chapters, each two or three pages long, with some cool illustrations. As you can tell from the title, the authors’ goal is ambitious: to change the way companies work, including HR departments. Their ideas are heretical. But as George Bernard Shaw once said, “Every truth started out as a heresy.”

read more…

Employment law attorney Michael Maslanka reviews Chip Heath and Dan Heath’s book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, finding it both interesting and useful. Maslanka particularly focuses on the authors’ idea of fighting “the negative” by focusing on “bright spots.”

In the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, authors Chip and Dan Heath use a great acronym: “TBU” — true, but useless. They astutely note that people find it easy to list their organization’s problems and why the problems can’t be solved, then basically say, “I’m helpless, you’re helpless. We’re all helpless.” It’s the way we’re wired.

read more…

Sarah Hulsey, PHR, reviews the book Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, finding it easy to read but more appropriate for a novice HR practitioner than the seasoned professional.

I just finished reading Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles (the authors that brought you Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service).  The book recounts the story of a plant called Walton Works #2, and the imminent plant closure and layoffs of its 1500 employees.  Desperate to save the factory, General Manager Peggy Sinclair learns a new technique, called “Gung Ho,” from finishing department manager Andy Longclaw.  As Peggy learns the technique, she applies it to Walton Works #2, ultimately resulting in saving the factory, increasing productivity, and creating unbelievable enthusiasm amongst the employees.

read more…

Employment law attorney Michael P. Maslanka reviews the book The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath.

I’ve been reading an interesting book, The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath. It’s a good read, and I recommend it.

read more…