Workplace Wellbeing: Stop Telling Me What To Do Nicole Fallowfield, CWP, CIC Principal Director Of Health Risk Management 1
A Little Background On The Topic Health Coaching Stages of change Knowledge leads to change Just give me a plan Ahh the epiphany! Stop Telling Me What to Do!! 2
Agenda Neuroscience Simplified Motivation Types & Incentives Real Employee Engagement 3
Neuroscience Simplified 4
A Quick Lesson In Neuroscience 4 areas of the brain that play critical roles in change 5
Prefrontal Cortex: CEO of the Brain Problem solving Emotion Working/Short-term memory Complex thought Planning Highly energetic but fatigues easily Not fully developed until about age 25 6
Basal Ganglia Control & coordinate fine movements Carry out learned sequences of movement Stimulated by routine & familiar activity 7
Limbic System Governs emotions & behavior Fight or Flight 8
Nucleus Accumbens Pleasure Center Motivation Addiction Involved in the release of dopamine 9
Motivation What s the brain got to do with it? A lot! 10 The brain is wider than the sky - Emily Dickinson
11 What is Motivation?
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) Theory of motivation Developed by Edward L. Deci & Richard M. Ryan 3 basic inherent psychological needs Competence Relatedness Autonomy 12 Sophia, Michaela, & Alexa
What s Interesting about SDT Opportunities to satisfy any of the 3 needs contributes to a person being motivated vs. amotivated. Opportunity to satisfy need for autonomy is necessary for selfdetermined vs. controlled. 13
Types of Motivation Controlled Autonomous 14
15 Incentives & Motivation
What does the research say? 16
17 The Candle Problem
The Solution 18 Overcome Functional Fixedness
The Candle Problem with a Twist Psychologist Sam Glucksberg modifies Dunker s experiment. Group 1: Timed for Norms Group 2: Timed & Given $ 19 Which group did better?
The Truth About Incentives Rewards (incentives) narrow our focus If then rewards work really well for simple tasks Tasks that require right-brain thinking (creativity/problem solving), rewards have the opposite effect 20
21 Another Example
The Results As long as the task only involved mechanical skill, bonuses worked as they would be expected: the higher the pay the better the performance. Dan Ariely, What s the Value of a Big Bonus?, New York Times, Nov. 19, 2008 22
The Results Once the task even called for even rudimentary cognitive skill, a larger reward led to poorer performance. D. Ariely, U. Gneezy, G. Lowenstein, & N Mazar, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Working Paper No. 5-11, July 2005; NY Times, 20 Nov. 08 23
And if You re Still Not Convinced 2012 AJHP Study concluded: Financial incentives = higher program completion rates, but They did not result in improvements in health risks or health outcomes 24
Conclusion and a Quick Story Science says one thing and we do another! 25
Compliance or Commitment? Controlled motivation Extrinsic rewards Autonomous motivation Intrinsic rewards 26
FACT: We regularly make decisions that aren t good for us 27
FACT: Knowledge alone doesn t lead to behavior change 28
FACT: Behavior change is difficult! 29
So, what does work? SOMETIMES YOU WIN, SOMETIMES YOU LOSE LEARN 30
First we have to stop 31 Oversimplifying health behaviors Telling someone what to do Asking, How can I get Trying to motivate Assuming there is a lack of knowledge, motivation or willpower.
32 Next Start thinking bigger picture
Recognize all Aspects of Wellbeing are Connected Adults who are thriving in all 5 areas of wellbeing 41% fewer unhealthy days 65% less likely to be involved in a workplace accident 81% less likely to look for a new employer Study on increasing/decreasing levels of engagement at work TC and TRG decreased as engagement increased Decreasing engagement resulted in increased levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides 33 *Based on research by Gallup
Start Asking How can I create the conditions that allow others to motivate themselves? Do our wellbeing efforts allow for choice? Do we include all areas of wellbeing? Are we providing incentives/penalties that demoralize, or even worse, lead to shortcuts, lying, cheating? 34
SDT Says Provide Autonomy Support Take the other person s perspective Allow choice Encourage self-initiation Provide meaningful rationale if asking someone to do something to Achieve Autonomous Motivation *This applies to all aspects of employee engagement 35
Autonomy Support in Action When a physician offers autonomy support, patients: Healthier Take medications more reliably Eat healthier diets Get more regular exercise When health coaches offer autonomy support: The participant is engaged and driving the plan Questions are asked that illicit intrinsic thinking Better thinking produces better acting 36
Getting Started 3 A s Ask for input Act on the data Assess evaluate your efforts Then repeat! 37
38 Employee Engagement Happens Here!
39 Resources
40 Thank You!