Management - Using Contests For Growth

Let's talk about using contests for growth, adding a little spice to your activity schedule, keeping it fun, breaking up the rhythm, reminding people why they're working so hard. That's one of the keys that a manager can do. And you trust your own instincts about when to do it because it's like dessert. You can have too many of them. But contests can be useful for growth, but they're booster shots, not really cures. And now here is why. When you go in there and let's just say you have your trucking along in your business and you're doing about this much volume, you know, your up and down, your sales volume, maybe sometimes up. Some of this, that what a contest is designed to do is to focus everyone, give them a reason to push. And then if you're lucky, you're going to get a surge. Because people have now a deadline. You know, they have a deadline, they have a clear prize, extra bonus to go for, and that can give you a growth surge. And most growth comes in surges. So it gives you surge, but it's not a cure as of itself. The advantage that you get out of this thing is you can't assume that they do a big surge here and they're going to stay there. But here is two big benefits that you get out of. You know, there's so much about contests. I'm sure I'm going to do more parts of this. But just to get the issue on the table, here is the one thing. People learn how to work in a contest because they're focused on this goal in their prize. They really learn how to eliminate unimportant things out of their life. They learn how to cut their presentations, get to the point and get the important things done. They prove to themselves, essentially you just say they learn how to work because you could be sitting there telling them how to do it. They can see other people doing it, but eventually it's got to come down to them teaching themselves how are they going to get it done. But once they learn that, they can use that the rest of their life. So that's why the contest is not the cure. But it can help create an internal change that can help cure lack of production because of lack of efficiency with your people. The other thing is on a lot of the contests, the rewards are going off on an adventure, going on spending a day, some kind of event to where they spend personal time with the leaders, whoever the office leaders are. Usually it's a top group. And what happens is they build a person. You know, you get A chance to build a personal relationship. They get a chance to find out who you are, get to know you as a person. And they go from just working for you, become friends. If you're already friends, you can expand your friendship. Maybe you get the spouse to be involved and mix and mingling and it allows you to develop that bigger, stronger relationship. Like they say, people won't quit on a friend, but they will quit on a boss. And so one of the things that contributes from contests is the fact that before the contest they learn how to work. They teach themselves. They put them in that pressure. It's a self imposed pressure cooker environment because they want to win the prize. Whatever's in this box, they want it. And so they're willing to drive themselves, otherwise they wouldn't. It breaks them out of their normal humdrum habits. And you could have told them they were being inefficient. Everything. They might have taken it the wrong way. You know, they're trying to push me, they're trying to yell at me, they're trying to force me to work. Yet when they stretch and they go for something simply because not they don't have to, but they want to, they find out what they're capable of and a lot of them find out. It's just as you know, of course they'll like the more income they make from it, but they're going to like being more productive. They're going to like the changes in their life. They're going to like being able to get more done. They're also going to like not wasting time learning. There's certain activities and things they did that weren't that enjoyable. They were basically time wasters. They're going to enjoy not having to do that stuff anymore. So this has an effect of creating an internal change for making them more efficient. That's the first thing we were talking about. The second thing is when they get to go on and enjoy the prize. You know, it's one thing if you give them something, but it's another thing if they're going out to. They get in a qualify for a special group. They get to go out for a dinner, there's a one day event you have of any kind, or if it's a vacation thing where you're gone two, three, four days, a nice place on the beach or in the mountains, something different, something fun. Then they get a chance to spend that personal time with the leaders. And if you're wondering about how to design your contest, those are the kind of contests that get people most excited rather than they occasionally get run where you're giving away a thing, a TV, an iPad, something like that. But the chance to spend times with a big shot, that really resonates with them. And they'll fight for that. And then they identify. They start identifying more with you than with other people. Mediocre people, people sitting in the back of the room and grumble in the hallways. Possibly they see themselves more identified with you and top leaders. So it happens to change their identity. So contests or booster shots by themselves, they're not cures, but they can help lead to the cure for increased growth and production. Use contests. It teaches people to compete. It teaches them how to be more efficient. It also gives them opportunity to get spend more time with you. Use contests for growth.