John Nash’s Game Theory Applied To HR & Leadership

Nash’s Game Theory has intrigued me of late. I like how although it is often used in economics, Nash’s Game Theory can be applied to everyday situations including how people can make engaged and thoughtful businesses decisions.

That said, this theory wasn’t all 100% Nash’s. Using a technology term, Nash “upgraded” an existing theory proposed by von Neumann and Morgenstern.

von Neumann and Morgenstern Zero Sum Game

Von Neumann and Morgenstern proposed that the best decisions is when individuals approached decision-making as a zero-sum theory, or (in my interpretation), if I win you have to lose. The concept is that if we as individuals all work at winning, in the long run we will all do better.

Thankfully, most real-life situations are not usually zero-sum so this theory often falls short.

Nash’s Game Theory

Bruce Mayhew interpretation: Nash’s Game Theory vs. von Neumann and Morgenstern Zero Sum Game

Nash saw a better way to make decisions by pushing the zero-sum theory closer to altruism (again in my interpretation), altruism being an ethical philosophy in which the happiness of the greatest number of people within the society is accepted as the greatest good (source business dictionary). Nash believed that the best solution is when we consider what is best for the individual (zero-sum), AND the group.

I agree that zero-sum is a poor way to run a company or a department. Considering that when one person wins and the majority lose is disheartening. From the point of view of a business leader, my belief (and there are many general studies that support this), is that if work is a zero-sum game, it destroys collaborative team dynamics, individual motivation, costs go up, production & quality goes down and soon employment turnover goes up.

But Nash’s theory provides a simple mathematical equation for modeling any number of competitive situations. Nash’s equilibrium as it is sometimes called, offers the idea that a best response equilibrium exists. Again, from the point of view of a business leader, consider it a theory that guides us to use empathy and our listening skills to prioritize our actions so that we can make decisions that serve our purpose and do the best to support others impacted. Those impacted can represent our co-workers, clients, investors or even the environment.

Fredrick Herzbers Motivation – Hygiene Theory

If you let me take a leap of faith, in the HR world we can better support the collaborative idea of individual and team benefit by using elements of psychologist Fredrick Herzbers Motivation – Hygiene theory as guides to what benefits the company (ROI because it is important and what almost all decisions include), AND the greater good.

Fredrick Herzbers Motivation – Hygiene theory studies Factors for Satisfaction and Factors for Dissatisfaction (which are not opposite and which I promise to write on soon). For example, Herzberg’s research identified true Factors for Satisfaction motivators were:

1. Achievement
2. Recognition
3. Work (as in respectful work)
4. Responsibility
5. Advancement

How many times do you make decisions also considering the impact those decisions make on Herzberg’s 5 Factors for Satisfaction? If you don’t, you may be making decisions that have short-term gain but long-term negative impact on productivity, employee engagement, quality, customer satisfaction and employment turnover… all things that are very expensive costs for the organization.

Staying with the idea of HR, motivation and job satisfaction, one of Nash’s truisms is that even when working toward the greater good, there is often more than one best response. This was an early criticism of Nash’s theory, but one that I think we should celebrate. Why? Because choice and change are exciting. Because our personal and professional needs, goals, likes and dislikes are different which means that within a collaborative team where each person giving their unique best, there will be many ways for the team to meet their goal. If one person was taken away from or added to the team – the team would still find a great solution… but it would likely be a bit different.

Conclusion

The long and the short of it (that sounds like my dad speaking), is that if the purpose of economic theories is to predict which one (single), outcome will occur, Nash’s methodology doesn’t help. But, what it does do is give us space to explore options where we try to find a solution where we all win.

Happy communicating.

Click here to join our priority list to receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like:

• How To Change Pre-learned Biases
• How To Begin Difficult Conversations
• Mindfulness At Work
• How To Motivate Millennials: 7 Best Practices
• 5 Essential Email Etiquette Habits
• Collaboration Is A Work Ethic That Needs Empathy

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates courses including Business Writing, Email Etiquette, Time Management and Mindfulness.

Click on the image to watch us on Canada AM.

Find answers to your Professional Development questions / needs at brucemayhewconsulting.com.

Call us at 416.617.0462.

I’d enjoy reading your comments on this post.

 

Who Should You Promote Next? A Case Study

You have a recent job opening for a team leader and two interested internal candidates; who should you promote?

• Mary is your top financial expert – her associates go to her when they are stuck for a solution and you wish you had 5 more just like her.
• John knows finances as well as anybody – he’s a great team player and his associates trust and respect him and his work.

All other things are equal between Mary and John. Who should you promote as the new team leader?

In a traditional environment, Mary is usually the person that gets the promotion. Most traditional organizations still recruit based on technical knowledge and past performance, and put low value on soft skills / emotional intelligence… but this is changing. We’ve all heard about someone being promoted to their level of incompetence… and this may be one of those times.

In my opinion, the right candidate depends heavily on what Mary or John want out of their personal and professional lives… and what the company wants to invest in them.

If Mary Gets The Promotion

If Mary is motivated because:

• She is looking to grow in the area of leadership and managing people… AND if the company is ready to invest in ongoing (ongoing is critical), Leadership training and coaching, then Mary may be right for the job… in time.

If this is the case I would suggest Mary’s training and coaching should have started long ago as part of a professional development plan. If Mary gets the job now she is going to be studying and growing for the next 6 months (at least). Her team will not have the hit-the-ground-running leader that it should from an internal hire, and the company will not benefit from her significant financial expertise as they used to (she’ll be doing more ‘leading‘ and less ‘doing‘). The opportunity losses to the organization will be significant.

If Mary is motivated because:

• She sees all her friends and peers climbing the corporate ladder and thinks success means moving up, then I’d say there are many ways to satisfy Mary’s needs while also keeping her from making a mistake by becoming a leader. The great risk is that if she is promoted without previous leadership skill or training, everyone including Mary may discover she’s not built for management. So, rather than be demoted Mary will quit to save face and go to one of your competitors. And you don’t want that to happen.

The added risk is that if John really did want the job and he has to work for Mary (someone who doesn’t know how to motivate and lead the team), this natural born leader may quit and go to one of your competitors out of frustration.

If John Gets The Promotion

John seems to have some of the natural emotional intelligence that translate well into being a great leader – skills like technical skill, trustworthiness, ability to communicate, respect and creativity. If John gets the promotion, he will still need leadership training and coaching. It’s likely that John is going to be able to motivate his team and that with some training, John could make the transition into an official and successful leadership position.

If Mary’s real need of peer-status is taken care of creativity, Mary will likely be very happy to also save her reputation as the brightest financial expert on the team.

Everyone Should Have A Professional Development Plan

As I was suggesting earlier, companies should want to get this figured out long before there is a vacancy, not only with Mary and John but with the whole team. The organization should be thinking about a professional development plan for each employee as well as what is best for the company, each individual and team.

By having open dialogue with employees about their needs, dreams and professional aspirations, the organization leaders can prepare a professional development plan that increases employee engagement, lowers turnover and increases profitability. The added beauty is that some of the best employee engagement motivators (like a need for recognition), are no or low cost.

Conclusion

Success for people and organizations is all about the leadership – promoting growth and development for themselves (the leaders), and all employees throughout their career. To drive employee commitment, engagement and therefore profitability and organizational success, it’s critical for leaders to always consider the potential of the people and the potential of the group.

Happy business development.

Click here to join our priority list to receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like:

• Leadership: A Leaders Responsibilities Have Changed: Part 1
• Time Management Training
• How To Begin Difficult Conversations
• How To Motivate Millennials: 7 Best Practices
• 5 Essential Email Etiquette Habits
• Collaboration Is A Work Ethic That Needs Empathy

Bruce Mayhew Consulting coaches leaders and facilitates business etiquette courses including Business Writing, Email Etiquette, Time Management and Mindfulness.

Click on the image to watch us on Canada AM.

Find answers to your Professional Development questions / needs at brucemayhewconsulting.com.

Call us at 416.617.0462.

I’d enjoy reading your comments on this post.

 

Time Management Quiz

This Time Management Quiz may be just what you need to help you focus on your priorities.

At 15 questions, this time management quiz will only take you a minute or two to complete. It’s a snapshot of the time management questions I’ve designed when I customize time management training and quiz’s for clients.

Time management is about what you do with the time you have – and how you feel. Do you feel good about what you accomplish – or stressed? Are you inspired, engaged and enjoying your time at work and with family/ friends – or are you not quite there?

This time management quiz will help you evaluate your priorities and best of all, it will help you immediately identify any areas of your time management where you need assistance.

Before you do one more thing, take this short time management quiz and see how you are doing.

Time Management Quiz by Time Management Facilitator, Bruce Mayhew Consulting.

Thank you for taking our time Management Quiz.

Do you feel there is no way for you to be both productive at work and fulfilled in your personal life? Especially now since you took this time management quiz, do you want to make sure things change for the better?

You may be ready for time management training. Time management is less about bad behaviour as it is about habits we learn from others. So in time management training we learn how and why we can form new habits – better habits. For example: Do your coworkers expect you to drop everything to help them with their work when they ask? Time management training shows you how and why you can stay focused on your important work and still be helpful.

Our goal at Bruce Mayhew Consulting is to provide you support to improve your time management and by extension your productivity, success and happiness. We have many blog posts on this topic as well as other business etiquette topics like Managing Difficult Conversations, Working With 4 Generations, Email Etiquette and Leadership Development.

Happy Time Management and business etiquette.

Click here to join our priority list to receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like:

• Leadership: A Leaders Responsibilities Have Changed: Part 1
• Time Management Training
• How To Begin Difficult Conversations
• How To Motivate Millennials: 7 Best Practices
• 5 Essential Email Etiquette Habits
• Collaboration Is A Work Ethic That Needs Empathy

Bruce Mayhew Consulting coaches leaders and facilitates business etiquette courses including Business Writing, Email Etiquette, Time Management and Mindfulness.

Click on the image to watch us on Canada AM.

Find answers to your Professional Development questions / needs at brucemayhewconsulting.com.

Call us at 416.617.0462.

I’d enjoy reading your comments on this post.

 

Leadership: A Leaders Responsibilities Have Changed: Part 2

Just as all great athletes have a natural athletic ability, they still must study, practice and make a few mistakes; the same goes if you want to be a great leader. Investing in leadership development always pays off because while there may only be one big winner at the Olympics, companies are able to have many great leaders.

There are 20+ Leadership attributes to be a great leader that I explore, however, to keep this blog simple, here are 2 critical leadership styles. A great leader:

• Has and shares a vision
• Keeps project teams moving forward

The responsibility of a great leader is as a visionary, a communicator and a mentor, not a taskmaster.

Employees want to be proud, contribute and get better/learn. So, how do companies not only support/retain/mentor promising employees, but prepare employees to be their leaders in 1,2, 5 years? The simple answer is to invest in leadership training and leadership development.

A Leader Has And Shares A Vision

Leaders define goals, teams create project solutions.

An important trend we see in leadership style is to break larger projects into smaller projects (discussed in Part 1). Smaller projects can be managed more easily and they provide employees with an sense of achievement, creativity and collaboration.

Smaller projects also work well for people from different generations. For example, Millennial and Generation Z generations typically enjoy a faster pace and more frequent wins/accomplishments.

1 large project broken into 5 smaller projects.

As tasks are broken down into smaller components, the overall vision of the project and the company must be clear to the leader and shared with the team members. Each team is set with a project – and yes, some team members may overlap and be on multiple project teams. Nevertheless, effective time management focuses each persons efforts.

The vision of the leader allows for each individual contribution to fit into the bigger corporate plan, even though the pieces are designed independently. Similar to how guitar strings are designed and manufactured in different places and perhaps different companies, they still sound as expected because standards are set and followed – they are part of a greater global vision.

A Leader Keeps Project Teams Moving Forward

The objective of the small, collaborative team is to make decisions quickly. Only if the team is stalled does the leader get involved or to remind the team of the goals and help them move on.

Define work goals before work begins.

• The leader defines the goal.
• The team decides what to do to achieve the goal.
• The team estimates how much time the work will take.
• The team decides how to do the work to achieve the goal.
• The leader gets involved if the teams work will risk success but does not get involved if the team follows a path that’s different from how they would accomplish it.

What we find with a collaborative team is that the ideas are what become important – decisions are made based on merit of the idea vs. who had it. This often results in the smaller project exceeding expectations.

Leaders Lead – They Don’t Do

A common challenge we see is when leaders get busy doing the work their staff should be doing. As soon as that happens a leaders focus is taken away from their important work; project vision and supporting/retaining/mentoring employees. Also, the project solutions often become less creative, take more time and cost… why? Because instead of the best solution being adopted, the team feels pressure to adopt their leaders solution. Employee engagement also drops and employees have less pride in the solution (and this is a precursor to turnover of valuable talent).

Conclusion

Understanding generational differences at work is only one of the challenges leaders have, but it is important when a leader is working out how to keep valuable talent engaged. No matter what generation your employees belong to, having a clear vision and instilling a sense of pride and accomplishment is one of the best ways leaders can create value for customers and shareholders.

Happy leadership and communication.

Click here to join our priority list to receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like:

• Leadership: A Leaders Responsibilities Have Changed: Part 1
• Time Management Training
• How To Begin Difficult Conversations
• How To Motivate Millennials: 7 Best Practices
• 5 Essential Email Etiquette Habits
• Collaboration Is A Work Ethic That Needs Empathy

Bruce Mayhew Consulting coaches leaders and facilitates business etiquette courses including Business Writing, Email Etiquette, Time Management and Mindfulness.

Click on the image to watch us on Canada AM.

Find answers to your Professional Development questions / needs at brucemayhewconsulting.com.

Call us at 416.617.0462.

I’d enjoy reading your comments on this post.

 

Leadership: A Leaders Responsibilities Have Changed: Part 1

Being a leader isn’t glamorous or easy. Changing your leadership style is even more difficult… but the rewards of both are immense.

If you are an individual or a company, your leadership qualities and leadership style are essential if you are going to survive and thrive. Stats show that half the companies in the S&P500 are different from 1999 (Source Sam Ro). Said another way, the world is changing around us and longevity demands our leaders promote responsible change and keep their teams adapting.

Lets think back a few years when Blackberry (Research In Motion), was leading the smartphone market. Many Leadership Coaches agree that Blackberry’s leaders had become comfortable that their main core competency (their security protocols), would continue to lead market demand. Then Apple innovated the market and gave mobile users new features like cameras, an ipod, touch screen, useful apps and high-definition for movie watchers and gamers. Almost overnight Blackberry became one of the smallest players in the mobile market.

Apple, a company known for a non-traditional approach to almost everything focused on customer delight, not how to keep doing the same thing and maximize existing revenue. Apple won because their leaders and by extension their employees looked at tomorrow and built a solution for tomorrows customer. Apple leaders gave their employees the freedom to look at what individuals were doing within their lives and explore solutions. By doing this Apple leaders and employees did far more than maximize existing revenue – they created a whole new revenue stream. HOOYAH!

This is a good segue into one of the key things leaders need to do.

Put Your Customer And Employee Needs First

Before you think about maximize existing revenue or cost cutting to increase ROI, are you preparing for what customers will want tomorrow? How can you make life better for them? When you make life better people see value, and when they see value they will buy your stuff.

The world is going to be different tomorrow!

Not only are customer needs changing, employees’ wants and needs are changing… really quickly. So, your leadership qualities and leadership style also has to change if you want to survive.

Great companies run on great employees. Products don’t think or make themselves – and they don’t innovate themselves.

Innovation happens in months not years, and to keep up leaders need their employees to grow, contribute, innovate and collaborate. Todays leaders need to create a vision and instead of telling their team what to do and how to get it done, todays leaders / mangers are successful when they empower their team and remove roadblocks.

Great leaders have learned how to hire and motivate great employees… and stay out of their way.

Conclusion

Customers want great products. Employees want to be proud, contribute and get better/learn.

Doing the same thing and/or just putting in more hours isn’t going to… work; it’s not 1958. So, how do companies attract, motivate and retain promising employees who build great customer solutions? How do companies prepare employees to be tomorrows leaders? The simple answer is to invest in leadership training and leadership development for todays leaders – and tomorrows leaders.

Happy leadership and communication.

Click here to join our priority list to receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like:

• How To Change Pre-learned Biases
• How To Begin Difficult Conversations
• Mindfulness At Work
• How To Motivate Millennials: 7 Best Practices
• 5 Essential Email Etiquette Habits
• Collaboration Is A Work Ethic That Needs Empathy

Bruce Mayhew Consulting coaches leaders and facilitates business etiquette courses including Business Writing, Email Etiquette, Time Management and Mindfulness.

Click on the image to watch us on Canada AM.

Find answers to your Professional Development questions / needs at brucemayhewconsulting.com.

Call us at 416.617.0462.

I’d enjoy reading your comments on this post.

 

5 Ways Productive Email Dialogue Breaks Down

Productive email dialogue is not complicated if you are mindful of yourself and the people you communicating with.

Have you ever had a face-to-face conversation that seemed to only flow one-way? You just sat there as the other person talked and talked about their job or their family or their vacation… or whatever, never giving you a chance to participate.

When we write email, what we write is almost always about our needs, experiences, ideas. That makes sense of course, but that isn’t dialogue – that is telling, and if you have one simple message to tell (like Thursdays 10:30 Sales meeting agenda attached), and your audience is expecting it, then that works. But, if you need to communicate… email dialogue is more complicated and you have to think about different things.

To have a productive email dialogue, great communicators go beyond their needs to intentionally have a conversation… and this is a lot more difficult than we think. For example, an above average communicator is self-aware, they take the time to confirm their message is understood… and they constantly evaluate the emotional impact of their message (email always have an emotional impact). Writers also acknowledge that no two people are alike, so they consider the communication styles, needs and work environments of the people they email. That’s a lot to consider.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To help you do all of this, the following are 4 ways productive email dialogue breaks down so that you can avoid them.

Not Engaging The Individual

If someone is not engaged a productive email dialogue is not possible.

This may be because someone may have no interest in the subject. It may also be that their attention may be distracted by something or someone else (speaking with or listening to someone else or if they are reading your email on a smart phone).

If you know this may happen, find ways to make your email relevant to their success. Bottom-lining is one great solution (see below).

Discounting Information

When someone dismisses the information being shared.

This may be because the reader / listener doesn’t value or respect the person or the information being presented. If the reader doesn’t care about your story they are not going to read your email with their full attention.

Make sure you send your email only to the people who need to know… and use Cc: properly. Don’t automatically send to people as a way to escalate your need/request… and bottom-line your message (see below).

Misinterpreting Your Message

This happens often with email because vocal inflection and body language is not experienced.

It can also happen when the writer uses words or jargon that the reader does not know. Most readers (and listeners), will subconsciously guess / assume the intended meaning.

The result is that an email may be interpreted as bossy or the message may be misunderstood completely. This is especially true if the reader is very busy or having a bad day – something the writer likely has no control over but is just one more reason to keep your message simple, polite and considerate of their needs.

Over-detailing Email

Like the name suggests, when someone gives far too much detail his or her audience shuts off and doesn’t read anything. This happens in email, face-to-face, meetings, presentation and all other communication.

This often happens because the writer or speaker is passionate about what they are communicating but are not considering what their audience needs at that moment. Sometimes the short story is the best story.

Technology Etiquette (Tech Etiquette)

Technology etiquette is a growing challenge in business. It is about being mindful of when you should use your technology and when you should leave it alone. It’s important to be aware of how your use of technology impacts you and those around you.

Technology etiquette training focuses on the behaviours you should and should not emulate and the impression you create when you use your smartphone or tablet in the company of others, in meetings and/or when you are with or on the phone with clients. Our training looks at the ‘What’ and the ‘Why.’

Conclusion

The above are 5 email tips you should be aware of when you write and read email. You may be making assumptions that are hurting your ability to be as productive as you can be.

I want to leave you on a positive note, so here is one email tip you should always do.

Know What You Want – Then Design Your Dialogue Backwards

Most often this is called Bottom-lining or Getting To The Point.

Grab your readers’ attention by putting your action item at the top of your email. Follow your action item with your facts and logic as support information. Designing backwards to how we often write email lets your reader know the context of your support information if and when they read it… which make you and your email dialogue more relevant to them.

Happy email communication.

Click here to join our priority list to receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like:

• How To Change Pre-learned Biases
• How To Begin Difficult Conversations
• Mindfulness At Work
• How To Motivate Millennials: 7 Best Practices
• 5 Essential Email Etiquette Habits
• Collaboration Is A Work Ethic That Needs Empathy

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business etiquette courses including Business Writing, Email Etiquette, Time Management and Mindfulness.

Click on the image to watch us on Canada AM.

Find answers to your Professional Development questions / needs at brucemayhewconsulting.com.

Call us at 416.617.0462.

I’d enjoy reading your comments on this post.