Series: “REAL Help Wanted...Building An ALL IN Workforce”
Show 1: We Are All The Same Nature vs Nurture The consensus about human behavior is we are predominantly driven by nurture - the culture, our social identity, and our family unit. If you asked to rate the influence between nature and nurture, most people (scientists included) would give you an answer of 80-90% nurture with the remaining nature. This means there is little behavior driven by our genetics and yet how do you explain commonalities across cultures? Take xenophobia (the fear of outsiders) for example, every society suffers from the same dynamic regardless of culture. What if human behavior is an outcome of natural selection? And if that is true we must consider the evolutionary forces that made some groups more successful than others. This premise is that variants of hereditary traits increase or decrease an organism's ability to survive, and the survival instinct is prevalent among all species. These inherited behavioral mechanisms provide a species with a greater chance of survival. It is true in the animal world, and why not humans? And what if these inherited traits become part of the social fabric or culture? A reversal of common belief. The science is called Sociobiology and based upon two fundamental premises:
Therefore, these traits were "adaptive" in the environment in which the species evolved. Look at the rhetoric we deal with today on topics like xenophobia, misogyny (dislike of women), or racism (superiority of certain racial groups). What if these are hard wired into all humans and it's the moderating force of culture and societal norms that keeps it in check? One reason this view is in such disfavor is because it is interpreted as providing cover for eugenics (determining who can and cannot reproduce), something I consider a false straw-man (sorry for the gender reference). Also we have entire sciences (social)that are founded on the premise that humans are blank slates and will become whatever their environments dictate. If that is true, why have all attempts to create a new man failed? The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia, as three of many examples, was that the state would control all aspects of life to create the new man and then the state would dissolve into a classless society. You don't need a degree in history to know how those experiments fared. Search for Meaning We started this show with a conversation about the origins of behavior; is it nature or nurture? Most science (sociologists and psychiatrists) believe people are clean slates at birth and their environment - parents, family groups, local communities, etc. mold them into who they become by adulthood. However, this model doesn't address why human behavior hasn't changed over history, especially when conditioned by totalitarian states like the Soviet Union or Communist China. We offered a different interpretation of history by raising the impact of inherited traits. We are not suggesting it is either / or, rather more human behavior is inherited and less is a function of nurture. The next step is to look at intriguing work by Viktor Frankl; a brief history. Dr. Frankl held Phd's in medicine and philosophy and practiced as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Vienna Austria in the 1930s. After the Nazi takeover of Austria, it was a matter of time before he found himself in a series of concentration camps because of his Jewish faith. As Frankl experienced the brutality and degradation around him, he observed that inmates who had some meaning in their lives were more likely to survive. He developed a theory from this experience that man had an innate need to find meaning in their lives. In fact it was a primal force that drives all human behavior - whether conscious or unconscious like food or personal safety. Frankl Quotes:
This is my foundation when focusing on how to attract, select, develop, and compensate for the type of people we can build a business around. What motivates people? How is today’s workforce different from earlier generations, and once you have selected and onboarded them - how to develop talent? One thought as we start. Nobody in this or any other industry has a nursery out back growing future employees. We are all competing for the same talent and the question to consider - how are some companies attracting the right people? Motivation - Expectancy and Motive Attempting a brief discussion on motivation is very ambitious. It is a topic I have studied and dealt with in over 40 years of managing. Here are a few insights picked up along the way. First is to understand that all behavior is rational - yeah, I said rational - to them. Let me explain. When people plan a response or just react, the behavior they choose makes sense to them because of expectations or expectancy. If the last time this situation arose you did X and it worked, guess what you will do next time in the same situation? It can look bizarre to everyone else, but it makes sense to them. So the first test of any leader is to understand the situation from their viewpoint, to make it rational. If you can, dealing with the immediate situation and the individual over the long term becomes easier. This doesn’t mean you agree, it means you get it and have a point of reference that will prove invaluable. If you are getting under the hood of somebody's personal computer (their brain), you will find the following operating code: motives drive behavior and its consequences reinforce or disrupt expectations. Let’s take these three apart. Motives are internal to the individual and driven by 3 needs - power, affiliation, and achievement.
One last thought, each of us has a primary motive that drives our behavior most of the time. Valuable information to know about your people. How about you - which is your primary motive? Is it the need to control your environment and keep everything predictable? Is it a need for approval to prove what you are doing is right? Is it the need to show your smarts or a bucket of blood work ethic? You also have a backup motive - what if the first one fails? What do you resort to now? This knowledge is significant because of the insight into and the predictability of future behavior. Here are potential combinations and notice which do not mix:
There is no Achievement & Affiliation combination because pursuing these is mutually exclusive. Based on which motive drives me, I will select a behavior that has the highest expectation of success. My expectations are formed from prior experiences, from prior employers. The good news is if you run a professional operation, it will exceed the experiences of many people. The bad news is everyone brings baggage to a new employer, even the first time employee. Summary This is just a starting point. Our first show: “We Are All The Same” was intended to lay the groundwork for discussing differences. I do enjoy taking contrarian positions but in this case that is not the motive. I made my bones as a first-line supervisor balancing operational demands with the impact on my team members. What I learned was simple - there are universal traits in people that drive behavior - their nature. How they act out those traits, based on nurture, is unique to each individual. Once I understood the rationality of their behavior it greatly increased by effectiveness as a leader. Next Week’s Show 2 “and Yet Very Different” will cover how we can group behaviors by generation and use that information to understand how to attract enough of the right people. Show Link: https://www.spreaker.com/user/10863617/rhw-070321
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