In 1999 Monster.com ran an ad "When I grow up" that was a series of black-and-white screenshots of adolescents completing the statement "When I grow up...", with mundane tasks for no recognition and not enough pay. It was amusing and even motivating, because of its universal appeal (1999 ad here). By all accounts it was a successful company initiative. The ad's impact was to give you a feeling of empowerment. If you are unhappy at work, and things have taken a turn for the worst, there is a better, bigger opportunity out there for you, come take a look! In addition to increasing traffic to Monster, this was one of the most popular Super Bowl commercials in history; nearly twenty-five years later, it often makes the top ten.
Though memorable, think about how little money it took to produce this commercial, with zero celebrities and special effects. These low production costs are a good thing because we all know the millions of dollars it costs to run a thirty-second ad during the Super Bowl. The large investment requires companies to be certain they will increase brand and generate sales. As it relates to the "When I grow up" campaign, advertisers knew their customer, the middle class, non-executive American worker, and the psychology that could get them to picture an alternate existence and use their services (and also permanently change the way we find employees). They spent millions of dollars presenting a memorable lesson on employee happiness! So, what is the worker psychology leveraged in this ad?
Well, it has its basis in Freud and Jung. The ego is very strong and deeply tied to dreams and aspirations. This ad reminded all of us how we once had (or should have had) ambitions and a vision of how our life would transpire. Monster was pretty careful to not insult the employee, but rather bring to mind the apparent demeaning treatment from employers and how they picked away at our once great dreams. This idea was subconsciously enhanced by the B&W film. Employers should pay attention. A mundane job, poor treatment, or too many constraints can trigger thoughts of an alternate reality with another employer. The greater the unhappiness, and the level of work invested in the alternate existence, the more vivid the potential rewards outside of your employment, and the more likely they will leave. To complicate matters, the dual role of work and home life, compete for employee attention and energy. The job, the balance of work and home, and the ego, all interact in the employee experience and happiness level.
The good news is that there are ways to supplement a good job and counteract a "bad" job. Rewards like benefits, promotions, salary, appreciation, learning etc. can boost the employee experience. It is also important to remember that independence, flexibility, and freedom have minimal cost and have the same balancing/enhancing impact. Lastly, and probably most importantly, employers can tap into this ego and history of hopes and dreams to increase the engagement and contribution of the employee (with reciprocity, of course). Know your employees and fulfill hopes and dreams and you will create a motivation machine.
Also evident, is that employees really do want big wins; employees dream of success. This desire to be something big and accomplish something great, might get buried within us, but once the feeling is triggered, it can be very productive. This isn't just personal accomplishment, but also corporate goal attainment. Multiple times in my career, once I figured out the right dynamic, my teams were tremendously competitive and had a "win" mindset. This dynamic is complex and minimally hinges on:
Communicating awareness of the current state (warts and all).
Communicating the crucial nature of the proposed accomplishment.
Creating a plan with good representation of the team-the more the better.
Assigning and committing the resources to get it done.
Constantly running interference (to anything and anyone who gets in the way).
Cheerleading by you, personally.
Working in mini-wins, like moments of camaraderie, laughter, genuine expressions of appreciation, advertising and reporting back to the team of feedback, "you were right" acknowledgements, etc.
Committing to consistent scheduled report outs of work status.
The "you were right" acknowledgement is no small thing. As leaders, sometimes cautionary statements by team members are construed as resistance and negativity. Often, what is said does occur and impacts the solution. If you can confirm this to employees, even publicly, you communicate you listen and accept, which supports any person-person relationship.
Lori G. Fisher
PLS Management Consulting
Purpose | Leap | Surge
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