The second offering of the DENR Managers' Forum occurred on October 19,2000 at the Four Points Hotel in Raleigh. The forum was attended by a capacity crowd. Sixty two participants interacted with a panel of managers including Harry Payne, Commissioner of Labor; Michael Williamson, DENR's Deputy Secretary for Operations; Dewey Botts, DENR's Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources; Bill Meyer, Director Division of Waste Management; and Sharon Johnson, Industrial Assistance Section Chief in the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance.

Chris Russo, Director of Organizational Excellence moderated the session around the topic of "Motivation". Chris opened the meeting with a "lecturette" so everyone could have a common reference point for discussion. He gave the group a "quick tour" of motivational theory.

Question: How do we get someone to do something for us?
Answer: We meet their needs)

Chris refreshed everyone's memory of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs:
1. physiological needs (basic - food, clothing, shelter)
2. stimulation needs (people can't be bored, they need to see action)
3. safety needs (we need to feel safe from the threats of the environment)
4. belonging (we are a group oriented animal. we need to feel accepted)
5. growth / esteem (we need some position in the group that is recognized)
6. self actualization (a balance of all the needs of an individual)

Maslow's hierarchy helps us understand that people are motivated to do things that will satisfy their needs. Maslow looked at the individual needs without direct consideration of the work setting or the organization.

Frederick Hertzberg provided our first look at organizational motivation and job satisfaction. According to Hertzberg, we cannot deal with motivation at just the individual level, but must look at the organization. Hertzberg maintained there are two factors to consider:

Hygiene factors are those that can maintain employee satisfaction
Hygiene Factors include:
1. salary
2. organizational policies
3. working conditions
4. technical supervision
5. supervisor relationships
6. interpersonal considerations

Motivational factors are those that cause an employee to demonstrate a positive attitude and achieve results.
Motivational factors include:
1. recognition
2. advancement
3. achievement
4. work itself

One either has job satisfaction or doesn't. If an employee is not satisfied, something is missing. Human beings are unique in that they need growth and the ability to accomplish something.

Hygiene factors can maintain satisfaction, but they do not motivate.
Hygiene factors are those things that represent the basic work environment and must be in balance before motivational factors can be considered. Motivational factors can move the employee to a point of increased productivity and positive attitude.

Chris talked about reward systems. An organization must consider four things about rewards:
1. Rewards must be high enough to satisfy basic needs (the rewards system itself)
2. Rewards must be greater than or equal to that available outside the organization (external equity)
3. Rewards distribution must be seen as fair by the members of the organization (internal equity)
4. Rewards must fit the needs of the individual (individuality)

After Chris delivered a basic primer on motivation, the forum was opened up to a panel for discussion Chris
asked the panel to each respond to the question:; "What motivate you?" The panelists responses were:

Dewey Botts:
• A sense of accomplishment
• Being passionate about what I do
• Feel a part of it

Michael Williamson:
• Achievement
• Recognition (contributing to a team, recognized by the team, recognized by peers outside the organization)
• The work itself
• Responsibility - being given the authority to make something happen

Harry Payne:
• I like the opportunity to learn & be recognized for applying that learning.
• Likened the question to being a twin... People always ask: "What is it like being a twin?" Well, when you haven't been anything else, it is hard to answer.

Bill Meyer:
• Accomplishments of the staff
• Crisis management
• Management getting out of the way
• All of us in it together

Sharon Johnson:
• Having a compelling purpose
• Being allowed to try new things and to make a mistake
• Diversity - being able to do different things

After the panel discussion, Chris opened the conversation to the floor.
Participant questions follow:

Question:
What are some suggestions / tips for motivating long time employees?

Answer(s):
• cross training so people don't get stuck
• help people feel part of a team
• provide for some outside activities (staying in the office makes one lose focus)
• change things around - step out of the tree structure, start everyone at ground zero, make the old timers prove themselves again (they like the challenge).
• The CEO and the newest employee share the same need to be safe on the job - get them out of their hierarchy
• let people grow in organizations outside of the office (training, professional organizations)

Question:
What about "opportunities" that hinder the job they are supposed to do?

Answer(s):
• Maybe the "highest achievers are not always the best ones to hire (can they keep motivated?)
• There are lots of lessons available to you if you have children... always wanting to participate in many things.
We need to have honest conversations about what is the focus - what comes first.

Question:
How do you motivate a manager who de-motivates their employees?

Answer(s):
• There is a distinction between communication and listening. There is a perception that we can't communicate "up" very effectively. Each work place has its own culture that has to be dealt with.
• Some work units are using a 360 feedback process as part of the performance review process for supervisors. [note: This is a process where employees are given an opportunity to evaluate their supervisors for job performance.]

After a break, we discussed motivational gaps (i.e. things in the workplace that are missing and need to be present to increase motivation).

Participants offered the following examples of motivational gaps in DENR:
• Performance Pay Process
• Consistency in employee evaluations
• knowledge of available tools
• Rewards and Recognition
• Lack of direction for the department
• Need for better supervisors (hold supervisors accountable)
• Heavy workloads
• Time vs. reward gap
• accountability gap
• measurement gap
• our culture doesn't promote risk taking - in fact, we penalize it.

The Motivation discussion was also played out in the Mooresville Regional
Office on October 25th with 19 people attending. Chris Russo again moderated a discussion among
participants. This meeting did not make use of a panel but rather provided the Motivation Theory Primer followed
by a group discussion.

Chris asked the group if they knew why people leave work in DENR. Last year, the DENR Permit Reform
Implementation Team (PRIT) looked at employee exits over the last 5 years, the number one reason for leaving
was relationship with their supervisor. The second reason was administration / company policy.

The Mooresville Forum and the Raleigh Forum had strikingly similar conversations about motivation. When
asked "what motivates you?", people said the following:

• ownership of the work
• being able to influence outcomes
• being part of a productive team
• having a variety of projects
• a sense of accomplishment

The Mooresville discussion group talked about barriers and gaps to motivation. Barriers can be related to
hygiene (e.g. salary, policy, working conditions, supervisor relationships). Gaps are missing motivational factors
(e.g. achievement, advancement, recognition, work itself).

The participants observed the following:

BARRIERS -
• two people earning the same salary but they don't to the same level of work. The way we reward the better
worker is to give them more work.
• We burn out the "go-to" people.
• We can't give extra money for a job well done, or even a day off work.

GAPS -
• achievement
• recognizing the negative

On the point of "recognizing the negative", Chris introduced the motivational concept of KITA (Kick In The
pAnts) Yes, the acronym has been modified for polite company. The KITA theory recognizes that not all
motivation comes from positive application. Sometimes, a negative application is needed for motivation. How
well do we apply KITA in DENR?

The Mooresville Forum was the work group's first effort to establish a
meaningful dialogue "outside Raleigh". DENR managers came from Asheville and Winston-Salem as well as
Mooresville. Participants expressed a desire to see more forums in the future. The Managers' Forum Work
Group plans to offer the topic forum quarterly and include regional locations each time.