Student: How do you motivate and reward a workforce when pay is minimal or not an option at all? And a follow-up kind of question of that is if the answer is to generate a sense of value or worth in what you’re doing, how do you do that?

Marie Williams: And who was that directed toward? Well, considering that I pay big bucks; they’re usually about this big, I autograph them and I buy them at the monopoly store. I do manage an organization of roughly 2000, give or take, at any point in time to perform to the highest standards, never breaking ethics or code of conduct or corporate citizen types of things, to contribute 150 hours of their time, we’re talking greater than three weeks for no pay and no promotability. With that, it is part of an issue of what do they get out of it? It’s back to the listening for what’s important. Are you looking to build your resume? Are you looking to bring skills? Are you looking to benchmark? Are you looking to network? So you provide what the customer in this instance is looking for. They have to have ownership. They have to see where they fit into the big picture. And then the rewards and recognition program is that which is important to them. I’ve said this jokingly earlier in class, but it’s true. Do you know what people will do for attention? Money’s the seventh issue on the list. It’s feeling like you make a difference. It’s the recognition element. So I have a very formal trinkets and trash program. And with that about every couple weeks or so you send a little, silly in some ways, but a training and education newsletter out and build upon a theme of performance. So this year our issue is, in the criteria for performance excellence 5.3, Health and Well-being of the Human Resource. I’ve sent them mouse pads with ergonomic supports and those screen cleaners for the middle of the night when they’re still working for me. Do you know what people will do for Tootsie-Roll Pops? What would you do Brad, for a Tootsie Roll Pop? So, it’s finding a way to have a core value of high performance and expectation but understanding the core value of taking what we do seriously but having fun so that you get something back from it instead of just having our nose to the grindstone. We do it in teams. We do it in tandem. We do it to both do good, be good and receive good.

Dr Reimann: Either of you gentlemen want to correct or amplify on what Marie has said?

Bill Nussbaum: I hate to disagree so I won’t. I guess I look at what really has motivated me. Certainly salary or money issues are part of it, but there are many things over the years in the number of things that I’ve been in that have motivated me such as a place to live; quality of life. There are things that have been very important in my life. In particular times in my life I’ve wanted one sort of thing and then later on it changed; So finding a place or a company or organization to work in that gave me those things. Part of what Marie said was a feeling of ‘I’m part of this organization and I have a say’; that is a big part; feeling like you have something you can contribute to it and you’re recognized, whether it just be ‘Bill you did a great job. Thanks a lot.’ Or having some sort of just little things like that really mean a lot and they can overpower a monetary situation. An example would be why I’m here today. I moved to Tennessee, not for a money thing, it was basically for quality of life, for getting away from a very large metro area, for where am I going to be in five years? I constantly look at that and have looked at that throughout my life. What is my plan? Where do I want to be? How am I going to get there? I sort of plan around what are the things that me and my family are looking for? What are the things that really make us happy? So those are the kinds of things that really drive me and I think drive many people in what they’re after.

Marie Williams: If I could add to that too, I think one of the attributes that I see both for me and for others that I’ve worked with whether it’s in United Way or Rotary or in my organization, it has to do with both having the opportunity to get outside your comfort zone; to test; to learn and giving people a safe environment as well and requiring them to move outside their comfort zone and then be able to recognize how well they do with it. It is to provide the challenge and the stimulation and learning in a safe environment.

Joe Daylor: I would agree completely with all your comments. I think the thing that we’ve certainly found is you’re not going to motivate people and you’re not going to retain people purely on money. We know that for sure. So, I think the approach we always try to take is you have to meet people’s basic requirements, you have to be competitive and you want to be equitable, but it starts to come down to exactly what you suggested which is, at least in my mind, people want to feel like there’s a sense of purpose. They want to feel like they’re contributing to something larger than themselves. And they want to be heard. I think, again from my experience, there’s absolutely no difference in terms of those needs between a systems engineer in the sophisticated defense electronics business and someone who’s cutting up produce in one of our Friday’s restaurants. It’s those needs. So I think if you can get at those things then you have a chance of keeping them in the game.