The simple way to inspire your team | David Burkus | TEDxReno — Transcript

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1. 0:14In 2014,
2. 0:16KPMG's leadership had a problem.
3. 0:19Accounting
4. 0:21is boring.
5. 0:23Any apologies to any accountants in the
6. 0:25room, but that really was the issue.
7. 0:28The senior leadership of one of the
8. 0:30world's premier accounting firms had
9. 0:33been working for a while to improve
10. 0:35morale and engagement across the nearly
11. 0:3730,000 employees of the firm.
12. 0:40When they started, morale was
13. 0:43in the tank. Only about half of
14. 0:45employees had a favorable opinion of the
15. 0:47firm when surveyed.
16. 0:49Uh which is to say about a half of
17. 0:50employees had an unfavorable opinion of
18. 0:53the place they continued to work.
19. 0:57They had tried to pull the standard
20. 0:58levers, perks, pay increases, more
21. 1:01flexibility, more opportunities to
22. 1:03advance,
23. 1:04but their initial gains had leveled off.
24. 1:07And it's easy to understand why.
25. 1:09Accounting, in particular auditing, can
26. 1:12be a boring and thankless job.
27. 1:15For most of the day, you're staring at
28. 1:17documents and spreadsheets. You're
29. 1:18sitting in a cubicle provided by a
30. 1:20client who doesn't actually want you
31. 1:22there and doesn't want to answer any
32. 1:24more questions, either.
33. 1:27And so, having run out of traditional
34. 1:29ideas, KPMG's leaders decided to do
35. 1:31something different.
36. 1:33They decided to put purpose at the core
37. 1:35of their engagement effort.
38. 1:38And what they did first was particularly
39. 1:39bold.
40. 1:41They told stories.
41. 1:43They launched what they called the We
42. 1:44Shape History campaign. A promotional
43. 1:46campaign designed to tell the story of
44. 1:49how KPMG had been involved in pivotal
45. 1:51moments in world history.
46. 1:53So, they told the story of President
47. 1:55Roosevelt's Lend-Lease Act, which sent
48. 1:58billions of dollars in aid to the Allies
49. 2:00during World War II, and how he tapped
50. 2:02KPMG to manage logistics.
51. 2:04They told the story of how KPMG
52. 2:06accountants resolved conflicting
53. 2:08financial claims, which laid the
54. 2:10groundwork for the release of 52 US
55. 2:12hostages in Iran in 1981.
56. 2:14They told the story of how KPMG
57. 2:16certified the election of Nelson Mandela
58. 2:18in South Africa in 1994. They told
59. 2:21stories about how KPMG's work served a
60. 2:23higher purpose.
61. 2:25And they hung posters everywhere to
62. 2:26remind everyone of those stories. It was
63. 2:29bold. And it worked,
64. 2:31uh sort of.
65. 2:32It moved the needle a little bit.
66. 2:34What they did next was brilliant.
67. 2:38To understand why their next move was so
68. 2:40brilliant, though,
69. 2:41we need to talk about purpose.
70. 2:44See, most of us think of an
71. 2:45organization's purpose or mission as a
72. 2:47bold and lofty ambition, like helping
73. 2:50win a world war or certify a historic
74. 2:52election.
75. 2:53And most leaders think that to convey a
76. 2:56purpose that truly inspires, they need a
77. 2:58compelling answer to the question, why?
78. 3:01As in, why do we do what we do?
79. 3:04And this is where it gets weird, because
80. 3:06then most leaders look to their mission
81. 3:08statement. And even though mission is
82. 3:10different than purpose, but like that's
83. 3:12a totally different talk.
84. 3:14They look at their mission statement,
85. 3:16they work to rewrite it to make it more
86. 3:18compelling. They go through rounds and
87. 3:19rounds of editing and focus group
88. 3:21testing. And when their heavily
89. 3:23workshopped, perfectly worded statement
90. 3:25is complete, they send it out to
91. 3:26employees in emails that get deleted. Uh
92. 3:29they print it on posters that get
93. 3:31ignored. They put it on a page on the
94. 3:34company website
95. 3:35that no one visits.
96. 3:37Because it turns out most people are
97. 3:39less inspired by a compelling answer to
98. 3:41why
99. 3:42and more motivated by a clear answer to
100. 3:45the question,
101. 3:46who?
102. 3:47As in,
103. 3:48who is served by the work that we do?
104. 3:52I mean, think about yourself.
105. 3:54If I asked you to think of a time when
106. 3:55you felt highly engaged and inspired at
107. 3:57work, you probably wouldn't mention that
108. 3:59time your boss recited the company
109. 4:01mission statement verbatim.
110. 4:04Instead, you'd probably think of the
111. 4:05last time you got a thank you from a
112. 4:07client or a coworker, the last time you
113. 4:09felt your work was important to someone
114. 4:12else.
115. 4:14To explain this further, let's switch
116. 4:15cubicles. Let's move from the cubicles
117. 4:17of auditors in an accounting firm to the
118. 4:19cubicles of student workers at a
119. 4:21university donation call center.
120. 4:24You thought accounting was boring.
121. 4:26And maybe you got called by one of these
122. 4:28student workers in one of these call
123. 4:30centers. You They call in the evenings.
124. 4:32They always have a perfectly worded
125. 4:34script. It always ends in a request for
126. 4:36a donation. So, you end up having to
127. 4:38say, "No, I don't want to donate $1,000
128. 4:41to the new stadium. No, I don't want to
129. 4:43donate $500 to the new student union.
130. 4:45No, I don't want to donate $20.05
131. 4:48to commemorate my graduation year."
132. 4:51It's like some collegiate version of
133. 4:52Green Eggs and Ham. No, I don't want to
134. 4:54donate in a box or with a fox. No, I
135. 4:57don't want to donate in a house with a
136. 4:58mouse. Kid, I don't want to donate here
137. 5:00or there. Kid, I'm just trying to pay
138. 5:02off my student loans.
139. 5:05Then you can call me back about
140. 5:07donating.
141. 5:09Think about the person on the other end
142. 5:10of that line.
143. 5:12They're sitting in a windowless room.
144. 5:13They're constantly dialing people
145. 5:15destined to hang up on them, yell at
146. 5:17them, or or worse.
147. 5:19It's got to be boring. It's got to be
148. 5:21thankless.
149. 5:22It's got to be
150. 5:24draining.
151. 5:26And you can see it in the numbers.
152. 5:27Annual turnover in these types of call
153. 5:29center jobs exceeds 400%.
154. 5:32You do the math on that. That means that
155. 5:34in any given year, the entire staff
156. 5:35quits every 3 months.
157. 5:39In fact, when Adam Grant and a team of
158. 5:40researchers were looking for ways to
159. 5:42improve morale at a call center at their
160. 5:44university, one of the first things they
161. 5:46noticed was a sign in one student's
162. 5:48cubicle. It read, "Doing a good job here
163. 5:51is like wetting your pants in a dark
164. 5:53suit.
165. 5:58You get a warm feeling,
166. 6:02but no one else notices."
167. 6:07The researchers wanted them to feel
168. 6:09noticed. Obviously not for wetting
169. 6:11themselves.
170. 6:12They wondered if they could get the
171. 6:14student workers to notice the difference
172. 6:16they were making,
173. 6:17and if that would have a positive effect
174. 6:19on them.
175. 6:20So, they took the break time that these
176. 6:22workers received, and they used it to
177. 6:23run an experiment. Some of the workers
178. 6:25during one of the breaks got to meet
179. 6:27with a student who had received
180. 6:29scholarship funds raised by that call
181. 6:32center.
182. 6:33And they got to hear how receiving those
183. 6:35funds had made a positive impact on
184. 6:36them. They got to meet their answer to
185. 6:39the question, who is served by the work
186. 6:42that we do?
187. 6:44And when the researchers followed up a
188. 6:45month later, that little meeting had a
189. 6:48big impact on the workers.
190. 6:50The workers who got to meet someone who
191. 6:52directly benefited from the work they
192. 6:53were doing, they worked twice as hard.
193. 6:56They made double the number of calls per
194. 6:58hour. They spent double the number of
195. 6:59minutes on the phone. Their weekly
196. 7:01revenue went from an average of $400 to
197. 7:03more than $2,000 in donations. I mean,
198. 7:06it's impossible to overstate how big
199. 7:09this effect is.
200. 7:10These workers, they didn't get any
201. 7:12additional perks or benefits. They
202. 7:13didn't get any additional training. They
203. 7:15certainly didn't get asked to memorize
204. 7:16and internalize the university's mission
205. 7:18statement.
206. 7:20Instead, they got a 5-minute chat
207. 7:22with someone whose life was made better
208. 7:23by the work they were doing.
209. 7:26The researchers argued that these
210. 7:27workers were inspired by a sense of
211. 7:29pro-social motivation, the desire to
212. 7:32protect and promote the well-being of
213. 7:34others.
214. 7:36And that word, pro-social, that points
215. 7:38to what's wrong with most organizations'
216. 7:40attempts at talking purpose.
217. 7:43When you're talking about growth or
218. 7:45shareholder value or disruption or even
219. 7:47sustainability, it becomes awfully hard
220. 7:49to tell specific stories about specific
221. 7:52people whose life is made better by the
222. 7:54work that you're doing.
223. 7:56But pro-social purpose is what we want
224. 7:58from our work.
225. 8:00And it's what powered the second step of
226. 8:02KPMG's purpose initiative.
227. 8:05After the promotional campaign, after
228. 8:07the corporate propaganda of the We Shape
229. 8:09History campaign,
230. 8:11the leaders launched what they called
231. 8:12the 10,000 Stories Challenge. In
232. 8:15essence, they said to their people,
233. 8:16"You've heard how we've made a
234. 8:17difference in the past. Now you tell us
235. 8:19how you're making a difference right
236. 8:21now."
237. 8:22They set up an online application that
238. 8:24not only captured individual answers,
239. 8:26but let people design their own version
240. 8:28of the poster like the one from the We
241. 8:30Shape History campaign.
242. 8:32And the answers started rolling in.
243. 8:34Answers like, "I combat terrorism,
244. 8:37because I help banks prevent money
245. 8:39laundering that can go toward terrorist
246. 8:40groups." Or, "I help farmers grow,
247. 8:44because I support the farm credit system
248. 8:46that keeps family farms in business."
249. 8:47Or, "I restore neighborhoods, because I
250. 8:50audit community development programs
251. 8:52that revitalize low-income communities."
252. 8:55They wanted 10,000 stories.
253. 8:57They got 42,000
254. 9:01stories.
255. 9:03And in time, they also got massive
256. 9:04increases in morale and engagement
257. 9:06across the whole company.
258. 9:08But it's important to emphasize why they
259. 9:09got such a profound response. They got
260. 9:1142,000 stories because they stopped
261. 9:14talking about purpose as a collective
262. 9:16why and started talking about it as an
263. 9:19individual who. They didn't give every
264. 9:21employee a uniform answer to the
265. 9:23question, why do we do what we do? They
266. 9:25helped each employee find a specific
267. 9:28answer to the question,
268. 9:30who is served by the work that we do?
269. 9:33And just like in the call center
270. 9:34research, that switch
271. 9:36made all the difference in the world.
272. 9:39So, what does this mean for you?
273. 9:41Well, if you're in a leadership role, it
274. 9:43means part of your job is to become
275. 9:46chief storytelling officer.
276. 9:49Always ready to tell the story of the
277. 9:51client or coworker or community member
278. 9:53whose life is made better by the work
279. 9:55your team does.
280. 9:57And if you're not in a leadership role,
281. 9:59you can still motivate yourself and
282. 10:01other people by capturing every instance
283. 10:03that you come across. Every time you
284. 10:04hear about someone who's served by the
285. 10:06work that you're doing. Every thank you
286. 10:08that you get, capture it, save it for
287. 10:10when you or anyone else needs a powerful
288. 10:13story about how the work that we're
289. 10:15doing matters.
290. 10:18Because in the end, that's what we all
291. 10:19want from our work, isn't it?
292. 10:21People want to do work that matters. And
293. 10:24they want to work for leaders who tell
294. 10:26them they matter.
295. 10:28And the most powerful way to tell them
296. 10:30isn't to tell them some grandiose answer
297. 10:33to why do we do what we do.
298. 10:35In fact, it isn't to tell them anything
299. 10:37at all.
300. 10:38It's to help them find the answer to the
301. 10:40question who.
302. 10:43So, let me ask you.
303. 10:45Do you know
304. 10:47who is served by the work that you do?
305. 10:52Thank you.