What can cyclists teach you about how to motivate your people?

Motivate, motivation, motivating, employee, employees, engagement, engaging, communication, communicating, intrinsic, extrinsic, purpose, sense, mastery, autonomy, carrot, stick,
punishment, reward, Pink, Dan, work, workplace, workforce, worker, workers, business, behaviour, behavior, human resources, leadership, leading, leader, management, managing, manager,
supervisor, supervising
CYCLISTS
What can
MOTIVATE YOUR PEOPLE?
teach you about how to

Strange question!
What do these people know about business?

1. They are probably in work.
The majority are middle-aged men.
They come from all works of life and include CEO’s as
well as hourly workers.

2. They know a lot about motivation.
Cycling is one of the toughest sports there is.
You don’t race up mountains if you don’t want to do it.
Photo: Karin Schermbrucker

So what?
I don’t see what all the fuss is about
motivation.
My people show up to work and get
a bonus when they work well.
What’s the problem?

Well, you may be one of the few
doing a great job.
The statistics are not pretty.

All the big HR consultancies
regularly measure engagement
(their word for motivation).

Here’s whatTowers Watson found:
65%
35%
% of employees
"highly engaged"
32,000 respondants
Global Workforce Study, 2012
% of employees
"unsupported",
"detached", or
"disengaged"

and here are Gallup’s findings:
47,000 respondants
The State of the Global Workplace , 2010
% of employees
"highly engaged"
89%
11%
% of employees
"not engaged" or
"actively disengaged"

Who cares if my people are “highly
engaged” or not, so long as they
show up and do a decent job?

You should.
Take a look at the difference in
performance between companies
with highly engaged workforces
and those without.

Here is what AON Hewitt found in terms
of total shareholder return*:
0%
-10%
-30%
-20%
10%
20%
-28%
22%
High engagement
(top quartile)
Low engagement
(bottom quartile)
*expressed in % with respect to the average (2900 organizations)
Trends in Global Employee Engagement,2011

Productivity
Profitability
Quality
Absenteeism
Here’s what Gallup found in terms of
the impact of superior engagement:
Meta-analysis (199 studies)
The State of the Global Workplace, 2010
When engagement
increases:

Gallup again: Financial Impact
The State of the Global Workplace, 2010
Earnings per share (EPS)
of the top 10% for engagement:
>
4 x competition EPS

Engagement
=
Motivation
=
Performance
?

That might be a step too far…
HOWEVER
Are you going to bet against it?
If motivation = discretionary effort,
don’t you want to get as much of this
as you can?

I thought this
was supposed to
be about cyclists?

OK.
So what do the
cyclists have to
tell us?

The research:
604 replies
45 000 words
91% M, 9% F
Average age 43
6500 km/4000 miles p.a.

These people are passionate!
Let’s do the math…
6,500 kms (4000 miles) per year
=
450 kms (330 miles) per month

In reality, weather conditions etc.
mean an average of
1000 kms (625 miles)
per month through the summer

Or,
20 hours
per week

We are not talking about riding to the cornershop!
Photo: Marvin Faure

People come from all over the world to test
themselves on the mythical cols of theTour de
France
Col de la Madeleine – 1993 m (6538 ft)
www.climbbybike.com

"I rode from Grenoble to Cluses,
alone, going over the cols du
Glandon, de la Madeleine and des
Saisies : 240 kms of high mountain
passes.The next day I went up to
the Flaine ski-station then the
following day I returned to Grenoble
by the same route : a total of 540
kms, 28h on the bike, in 3 days."
- A participant

?
Where does this extraordinary
motivation come from?

There is no one
single reason to
ride a bike, but
many different
reasons.

From a list of 30 possible
motivations, here are the top 6

#1
I just love
riding my bike
94%
Source: Marvin Faure (The Motivation of Amateur Cyclists (2011))

#2
In order to stay
physically fit, for my
health, I feel really
good afterwards
93%

#3
A personal challenge,
to push myself to the
limit, to prove
something to myself
90%

#4
Time out for myself,
away from day-to-
day stress
80%

#5
Camaraderie
66%
Photo: DSO

#6
I am highly
competitive and
love the racing
57%

Let’s take a look at the list all
together.
What strikes you about this list?

I just love riding my bike
In order to stay physically fit, for my health, I feel really
good afterwards
A personal challenge, to push myself to the limit, to
prove something to myself
Time out for myself, away from day-to-day stress
Camaraderie
I am highly competitive and love the racing

What is the source of these various
motivations,
internal or external?

I just love riding my bike
In order to stay physically fit, for my health,
I feel really good afterwards
A personal challenge, to push myself to the
limit, to prove something to myself
Time out for myself, away from day-to-day
stress
Camaraderie
I am highly competitive and love the racing
Internal
motivations
External
motivation

You mean they
put themselves
through all this
punishment for
their own,
internal reasons?

Yes sir.
The racing is secondary:
all but 2 or 3 have no
chance of winning.

They do it for sheer fun and pleasure,
because they want to stay fit and healthy, for
the challenge of pushing their limits, to take
time out and to be with friends.
Photo: Matthew Alexander

OK. I still don’t get what this has to
do with motivation at work.

We’re getting there.We also asked
the cyclists:
"What lessons can you draw from
cycling for your professional life?"

“Determination ,
commitment,
pushing yourself to
the limit, finding
new challenges”
“If you are determined, you can
go way beyond what you think
your current boundaries are”
“If you don't believe you can do
it, you can't.Yet if you do, then
anything is possible.”
“I can achieve
anything I desire
if I am willing to
dedicate the time
and effort.”
“Never give up!”
Photo: Matthew Alexander

OK.
So now we’ve established these guys
are super motivated to go cycling, and
they have demonstrated some useful
skills – tenacity, determination,
perseverance…
So how many of them are actually
motivated at work?

Are you kidding?
Half these guys are super-motivated
cyclists, but as soon as they get to
work their motivation disappears?

To answer that, let me tell you a
short story…

Far away and long ago, somewhere
in the heart of Europe, a young lad
wandered around a building site in
the center of the town.
He saw three men that were
working with stone and went to ask
them what they were doing.

The first mason said:
"I’m dressing this
piece of stone. It’s my
job."
Photo: Trevor Newman

The second mason said:
"I’m the best stone
mason here. Look how
much work I have done."
He pointed to a large pile
of dressed stone.
Photo: Steven J. Lilley

The third mason said:
"I am building a
cathedral"
His eyes sparkling, he
pointed in the air to
where the great building
would stand, decades in
the future.
Photo: Marvin Faure

Very nice.
Can you frame that for me so I can
see how to use it?

Yes.
This, according to our cyclists, is what was missing
for them to be as motivated at work as they are on
their bikes:
Sufficient autonomy 54%
The possibility to learn and develop 57%
A sense of meaning, a higher purpose 60%
Source: Marvin Faure (Enquête sur la motivation des cyclistes amateurs)

These are the same three pillars of intrinsic
motivation identified by Daniel Pink in the NY
Times bestseller “Drive”:
1. AUTONOMY
Sufficient autonomy
2. MASTERY
The possibility to learn and develop
3. PURPOSE
A sense of meaning, a higher purpose
Source: Pink, D.H. (2011) DRIVE –The SurprisingTruth AboutWhat Motivates Us

According to Pink:
“The science shows that the secret to high
performance […] (is) our deep-seated desire to direct
our own lives, to extend and expand our abilities, and
to live a life of purpose”

In many companies, the principle motivational tool
is a bonus tied to the achievement of individual
objectives.
 This not only misses the point in terms of intrinsic
motivation, it is often counter-productive.
This surprising statement is underpinned by
numerous scientific studies, including our cyclists.

Creating the conditions where people can
be highly motivated at work involves five
considerations:
First,
1. Hire the right people
2. Pay them well

Then,
3. Give them space (autonomy)
Don’t micro-manage!
4. Help them become experts
Focus, time, training
5. Ensure they find a higher purpose
There must be a meaning beyond materialism

The only thing left to do:
Hire some cyclists and get to work!
Photo: DSO

Chemin du Canal, 5
1260 Nyon
Switzerland
T. +41 (0)78 682 69 26
marvin.faure@mindstore.ch
www.mindstore.ch
Photo credits (unless otherwise stated):
TheAlpine Challenge 2011 by HotChillee, photography by Matt Alexander & Karin Schermbruker

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What can cyclists teach you about how to motivate your people?