THE IMPACT OF USING MAPS
November 14, 2022
In the words of the rapper NF, “If actions speak louder than words, it’s pretty quiet, isn’t it?” There are a million and one theories about how best to improve your bottom line whilst simultaneously engaging and motivating your people, but the problem is just that: most of them are academic theories with no practical application in real-world business environments. But at Motivational Maps, we aim at all times to prioritise the practical efficacy of our tools and methodologies.
So, rather than deal with theory, today we’re going to share three examples with you that are all real case studies of work done by one of our licensed practitioners. These stories or studies will give you an idea of how Maps works in a practical setting and the major impact it can have on both employee motivation and importantly the bottom line.
Scenario 1: Customer Satisfaction
Picture a small business with a core team that delivers custom projects for clients. There is a performance and profits problem with the team, and so they agree to do a Map. Searcher is their top motivator and Builder is their lowest. This means that their number one priority is “making a difference”, whereas their lowest priority is profitability. As you can imagine, this is not ideal for many businesses! Remember, we tend to avoid doing that which does not motivate us, even if its doing may be beneficial.
In a discussion with the team, it was revealed that the team members all want to please the customer when working on their project, so they often agreed to make changes to the specification of the job to satisfy the customer. These changes typically had an impact commercially on costs which the company then found more difficult to pass on to the customer when it came to invoicing. Because they had done a Map, we now understood why they were doing this—Searcher is their number one driver. In a non-profit context, this is no bad thing: they really do want to do the best thing for the customer.
After discussion about the team’s motivators, it was agreed that they would introduce an amendment form for all site staff to use. They completed the form with details of any change the customer requested so the customer felt heard, and they felt that they were meeting the customer’s needs in acknowledging the changes. The form is then sent to the office where they re-price the project and agree any cost changes with the customer before the changes are implemented.
Commercially, the business is in a much better position without the team feeling that they were compromising on their desire to please and look after the customer – to deliver, in fact, outstanding customer service.
Scenario 2: Problem Person or Problem Solved?
Picture another company in which a key team is currently going through a period of change, hence needs a coach to work with them on handling this change. One lady in the team—we shall call her Mrs Example—is significantly under-performing and her under-performance is inadvertently and inevitably affecting others too. When it came to discussing her Motivational Map with her on a one-to-one basis, it was noted that she had very low satisfaction scores. The Map assessment works in two halves: the first half reveals the order and priority of your motivators, and the second uncovers the degree to which they are “met” and satisfied. No sooner had Mrs Example been presented with her Map she said, “I’m in the wrong job, aren’t I?”.
The conversation became part Motivational Map discussion, part career coaching. Mrs Example resigned shortly after and had a much better idea of the career she did want to pursue. The business owner was delighted because he did not have to manage Mrs Example’s performance, which as many HR consultants will attest can be long drawn out and somewhat painful for all concerned. This saved the business time, effort, and money in managing the situation, but also freed Mrs Example to question and better understand her own motivations and find a way of meeting them. Win-Win in fact.
Scenario 3: Behold the Finished Product
In this third scenario, the business is having issue with staff retention in one specific team. They provide drawing services to various industries, but are finding that their design engineers are leaving the company and tending to take up standalone roles based in manufacturing businesses. Once Motivational Maps were provided to the team, it became clear the design team had Searcher as their top motivator, but they all had low satisfaction scores. The Director was confused as to why they had low satisfaction scores, as in his view they had job satisfaction when they correctly completed a drawing and sent it to the customer. After one-to-one discussions, it became clear that the design team were missing the final piece, actually seeing the “widget” or product they’d been involved in designing and this is where they would get true motivation from. This led to working with the Director to introduce a post-sales visit on larger projects. This was included in the job specification so the client knew about it and the client paid for the visit. It enabled the design engineer to see the finished product and significantly increased their satisfaction levels. In addition, the company trained them on some post-sales/follow up questions to put to the client, asking about next projects and so on, which meant that not only did employee retention improve, client retention did too.
These are just three ways in which the Maps can create greater satisfaction, internal harmony and collaboration, and provide financial opportunities. As we have seen, the bottom line—and profit—is often surprisingly tied up with the more ambiguous and human element of motivation. Through the counterintuitive process of addressing the realm of feelings, internal psychological drivers, and energy, we can manifest the physical and pragmatic rewards that we want and need to survive and thrive as businesses. The key lesson, however, is not to think about it, but to take action!
So, go to https://www.motivationalmaps.com to find out more about Maps and what it can do for you! Thanks to Katherine Duff, Motivational Maps Licensed Practitioner, for these real case studies.
Source Katherine Duff, LP.
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