Matrix of motivational values ​​for managing developers

Good day to all. In this article I would like to touch upon the results of the experiment in the field of research of personnel motivation, which was conducted in our company recently and learn the opinion of the audience regarding the methods outlined below.

First a few words about us and why we needed such research. A small company in the field of outsourced development of application software, of which there are many in the modern market. About a dozen developers in the state. Actually, the factors of small size and high competition for employees were the foundation for the need for the described research. A small company cannot compete for personnel with large ones in a large number of aspects - wages, working conditions, social guarantees and more. We, like most small companies, have other positive aspects - the ability for developers to influence solutions at the project level, choose a technology stack, try new things, test their own work and conduct experiments; the possibility of remote work and a very flexible work schedule; the ability to know how things are in the company and see how their own actions influence the outcome of events.

Gaining developers, it seemed that we would be able to attract with such “buns” only children without financial claims and obligations - that is, students, young children without wives, children and other aggravating circumstances. But less than half a year later, as the difficulties began, work stops, deadlines fail, the liquidity of the enterprise is lost. The absence of a strong financial motivation turned from a blessing into a curse - the words that quality and timely work simply have no effect on people for whom money is not decisive.

Having unsuccessfully shaking the developers for two months in a row by talking about how we work better, we earn more, I realized that the problem should be approached from a completely different angle. And it became clear that in a small company the question of personnel motivation is even more acute than in a large one - the realization of this was something unexpected, although it would seem - an obvious thing.

Motivational values

It is surprising how insignificant the amount of information turned out to be, which has been freely available on the Internet on the issue of staff motivation (unlike, for example, from Internet marketing or sales). The classic (and the only more or less objective) work in this subject was found in the work of Dr. Edgar Schein (Edgar Schein), from which it was decided to make a start. A small excursion into the work of the village of Shane:

This paper explores an interesting concept of motivational values. Value is what motivates us to action, makes us set a goal and achieve it. Accordingly, knowing that he has such power for each particular employee, the manager only needs to remind the employee of this value, and he will do the rest. According to Shane, there are only eight types of them:

• Technical and functional type: to be recognized as an expert professional in your business, to feel yourself as part of the professional community

• General management: manage processes and people, control

• Autonomy: the ability to independently make decisions and ways to solve the tasks

• Safety and stability: a feeling of calm, constancy and monotony both in work and in life, for a long time

• Entrepreneurship: the ability to create something new, implement your own ideas, participate in the development of the overall picture

• Service, the desire to be useful: the desire to help, train, advise. The very environment in which such an employee works is usually chosen from deep personal motives

• Challenge, challenge: the ability to compete, solve problems that seem virtually impossible

• Lifestyle: striving for balance between personal life and career. Such an employee primarily values ​​his personal time.

Each type corresponds to a description of what the employee will value in his work and what to avoid, as well as basic motivators - for example, a long-term contract will be valuable for an employee with a pronounced value such as “security and stability” and absolutely uninteresting work on the constant launch of new projects. A good article with a description .

The above types of motivational values ​​make it possible to understand what the employee will value most in their work and what to avoid - knowing the type of value of the employee. Faced with the challenge of motivating developers and learning about Shane’s division, the first thought was to test for the types of our developers, and then it’s clear. To identify the values, the “Anchors of a career” method is used, a link to the text version of the test .

After reviewing the concept of values, a plan for achieving the required performance indicators was developed:

1. Determining the desired model of employee behavior is perhaps the most important step. It is impossible to change anything without knowing what exactly needs to change. In our case, it was “setting deadlines for completing tasks by the developers themselves and performing tasks at that time”.

2. Identification of motivators and demotivators for each specific type of motivational value that can be provided in our company. For example, for those who appreciate Life Style, we are happy to provide the opportunity to configure your own schedule, and those who are interested in the Challenge can demotivate with the tasks of supporting existing projects.

3. Identifying the types of motivational values ​​of each developer

4. Creating for each type of motivational values ​​of history, which shows how an employee, adhering to the desired behavior model, achieves the realization of the chosen value, and transferring them to the manager for each employee.
   For example, for “managers,” setting and meeting deadlines would allow management to trust them in managing a trainee or several, and for “strong and independent”, more trust in matters of self-solving tasks without external control and influence. The use of such stories in meetings and personal conversations, according to the hypothesis, should force the employee to independently choose our desired behavior model as the most preferable for himself. We convince, not convincing.

However, the test proposed by Shane is suitable for absolutely any field of activity - and so it is bad, because it gives a very approximate assessment, which does not take into account the peculiarities of the IT industry and the fact that all testees work in one area. As a result, these results cannot be relied upon seriously and used as a basis for interaction with developers. If the first, second and fourth points of the plan are more or less clear, the third point required a more accurate method of determining why the career anchors test did not work, because if we do not accurately determine the value, then the story will be completely different, not interesting to the developer.

Matrix of values

After three days of concluding reflections, an idea was born that extends Shane's methodology specifically for our needs. The plan was:

1. Take a list of roughly equivalent motivators for our developers, compiled in the second step of a plan to conquer the world of the hearts of KPI developers .

2. Let's make a test in which each value will be compared with each way of proposing to choose one of the two motivators.

In fact, with the help of specific motivators, we can create a matrix (in the simplest case, a binary one) of values, which reflects the result of sorting values ​​for a particular employee. Sample question:

“Each question invites you to choose one of two options. The choice of one option excludes the choice of the second one, i.e., the situation is implied so that by choosing one option, you cannot access the second one. Evaluate in each question, the choice in favor of which of the options you would make. ”

Question 11.

1. The ability to set their own timelines and the sequence of solving tasks

2. A daily, clear list of tasks with a clearly marked sign of the beginning and end of work on each

This question compares which of the two values ​​— autonomy / independence or security / stability — is more valuable to the developer. In total, we have 28 questions (in the Shane questionnaire - 41), with five options for assessment: from “exactly the first” to “exactly the second”. As a result, the comparison matrix will take approximately the following form:

Explanation. In the N, M column there is a number indicating how much the N value motivator is more important than the M. value motivator. 4 is exactly the first, 3 is the first, 2 is not sure, 1 is the second, and 0 is the second.

Further we summarize in the lines:

1 (Technical-Professional) - 12

2 (General Management) - 18

3 (Autonomy) - 10

4 (Security and stability) - 13

5 (Entrepreneurship) - 17

6 (Service) - 11

7 (Challenge, contest) - 14

8 (Lifestyle) - 17

Values ​​that received more than 14 points (maximum - 28) are recognized as dominant. According to him for this particular employee and motivational stories are built. In our case, we got an enterprising careerist who wants to live beautifully. The example is fictional, any coincidences with real people are random.

The method is good and bad in that it adapts to a specific industry and company, replacing values ​​with specific motivators, with whom it is easier to work with than with abstract statements from the questionnaire of the career anchor method. It means that:

1. The test is made anew for each new sphere and even a branch

2. The quality of the test depends on the equivalence of the selected motivators.

In our testing, we used both tests to compare the results. In fact, they differ quite significantly, in some cases - drastically. The opinion is that the questionnaire of the career anchors method reflects the desired state, the employee’s aspiration, while the matrix of values ​​test shows the state of the employee here and now, forcing him to choose between quite specific motivators. For a small company, whose staff is unstable, and the future is vaguely dynamic, knowledge of the state “here and now” seems more important, since the problems with motivation need to be solved on the spot.

Useful bonus - based on the results of the test, the manager can choose very specific methods of encouragement and punishment for the employee.

As a result of applying the test for each employee, his motivational values ​​were identified, the history of the implementation of the chosen behavior pattern into specific values ​​was determined, and an interaction strategy was selected for each developer. So far (at the time of writing), it shows efficiency.

Materials test, developed by us, as well as the keys to the questionnaire - in the cloud . I would like to know from the managers of small companies how important the problem of motivation of developers is in your case and what approaches helped to achieve frankness and efficiency in the team.