There is lots of conversation among us lean coaches about motivation and inspiration related to people changing. The difference to focus on is where the source is that compels you to action: internally with the case of inspiration and externally in motivation.
Lean requires leadership; a top down approach because people do what their boss needs. People generally work on what they think their boss thinks is important. One for motivation theory.

On the contrary, it is widely known that we really foul things up when we reward people for things that they should be doing anyway. Dan Pink talks on this concisely in his TED presentation and in his new book DRiVE. So, people are inspired.
The conversation could go on and on. Jeff Liker presents 5 motivational theories in The Toyota Way and how Toyota uses all of the above given different circumstances. I bet a blend is appropriate. We need leadership being sincere and learning with the team. And we need people ready to do the right thing.

So, what's keeping the team that you are on from changing?

Thanks to some local friends in the A/E/C industry I'm getting through Steven Spear's new book on organizational design, Chasing the Rabbit. We came up on a powerful remark about learning that I want to share. It is about responsibility and doing your homework to make yourself ready for external help.
Page 259: [The success of improvement] "rests on your willingness, energy, and drive to do your own homework so that you are pushed to the edge of your abilities and are therefore receptive and positioned to benefit from feedback, critique, and coaching."

What I hear on projects is, "we need to get our own house in order before asking others to change."

Construction, like healthcare, is learning from another industry. I was just watching David Fillingham, Chief Executive, Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Trust give his speech on Managing the Lean Hospital: what it takes to engage the whole hospital for the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit 2009. In this he has four points on how to convert the skeptics that I thought fit very nicely to our industry (construction):

• Rigorous use of lean methods
• Convincing data
• Hands on experience
• Reinforce through changed management system and leadership style.

So, in my own words this means that we need to:

• Adopt some tools and not to deviate from them. Make a concerted effort to use the Last Planner® System, A3 Learning, and a Visual Management System like Toyota's Safety-Quality-Deliverable-Cost-Morale work cell management boards.
• Find success stories and share them. Celebrate and publish all the wins. Go to www.leanconstruction.org and share a new presentation with your team once per week. 
• Get into action early and reflect on the learning. Experiment! When is it the right time to change anyway?
• And finally, change at the top. Leadership needs to be fully engaged. The Project Executive needs to be very well versed in Standard Work and all the tools that are being adopted so that they can coach the practice.

Projects are made up with people thrown together. Establishing the role of a relationship designer in a project based company has many practical purposes. Let's call that person the Social Architect (SA). The Project Managment Body of Knowledge ( PMBOK) does not go into enough detail about the social aspects of project management, yet we assign this role as part of the Project Manager's job description. A better fit would be somewhere above the project level; a support person who provides guidance and training to the staff PMs and superintendents. This person would be someone with knowledge of organizational behavior and culture, as well as team dynamics. They should also be a Lean thinker.

Just as a building architect must account for both the structural limitations and aesthetics of a building, a Social Architect must account for both the technical and interpersonal makeup of the project team. A major root cause of such poor performance on construction projects is our industry's inability to effectively collaborate. Poor collaboration typically leads to the suppression of ideas, decisions being made away from where the work is being done in a top-down fashion, and overall poor trust and one way communication by project participants. A root causes of poor collaboration in our industry is the "boss man" mentality that is embedded in the organizational culture of many construction firms. Eliminating this root cause (the "boss man" mentality) is critical to resolving poor performance on construction projects. Here are some capabilities of the Social Architect do what is needed on modern projects.

Capabilities of the Social Architect

• The Social Architect is a natural facilitator. But one step beyond that is required. Not only adept at creating an enviroment that is conducive to learning and making sure the right people are in the room when needed, the SA must be able to identify when the group needs to come together.
• Just like facilitating, training is a big part of the SA's job. Their audience would typically be other managers. The Social Architect helps managers act in a way that aligns with an empowerment culture. They can coach other facilitators for effective meetings and help managers get accountability and commitments from people rather than demanded responsibility.
• They don't have to be the charasmatic leader, but they need to guide the leader with what the team needs to hear. For example, they need to be the ones that ask why they are focusing on a certian element rather than just going deeper into it. As the cliche goes, they need to be able to see the forest through the trees.
• The workplace of the 21st centuary needs to be a place where people want to come to work at. The Social Architect promotes consensus and demonstrates to managers how to achieve a level of participation with staff that allows them to feel like their voice matters. In addition, they could perform audits of human-related factors to ensure that project team members have a high-quality project experience.
• As a cabinet level position, the SA would track human-related metrics from project to project (stakeholder satisfaction surveys, absenteeism, turnover rate, etc). Company wide, the SA could facilitate an Idea Development System for soliciting and implementing team member ideas. At the start of the projects, the SA would help balance the project manager in selecting the team for a balanced technical and interpersonal compatibility levels.

Something to think about over the Holidays for that New Year's resolution...

"...Accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

Yes, this is a quote from the Declaration of Independence.  Using this quote to offer some commentary on the state of the AEC industry would have probably been more appropriate near Independence Day but when a good thought strikes, why wait?  I like this quote because it so eloquently describes how we are more likely to go with the flow no matter how frustrating that practice can be. 

Status isn't well known or discussed, yet it affects motivation and is a part of every leaders job. Strategy-Business.com's recent article, Managing with the Brain in Mind outlines what a leader can do to help their people create an environment to support motivation. The article covers what happens with our brains when we experience unpleasant things in the workplace. Not safety like OSHA, but mentally safety like not hostile. The article deals with everyday things, like when someone offers advice. When they do that they may be inadvertently saying they are superior to you and diminish your status. Uncertainty is another everyday thing we deal with. Some uncertainty is good; no one likes a micromanager. Too much can be very uncomfortable and make it nearly impossible to get stuff done.

The general result when we are threatened is that we, to say the least, loose our edge. We go from serene and concentrated to stubbornly focused on the threat.

Go to the article for a detailed description of each of the 5 things that a leader can do to help create a safe environment that motivates: one that promotes status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.

"Walking the tight rope with the family in urgency can be such a thrill." Part investigator, part social worker, part thrill seeker; all are self described characteristics of Megan, a distant cousin that I met at a recent family reunion. She works in the reception of a hospital's ER. "Sometimes the patients arrive unconscious with a cell phone and a wallet. It is up to me to get in contact with the family and get the financials straight." 

I could see why it was such a thrill. Then the lean coach in me took over. What support was she getting from her employer? How were people in her position developed? I began asking these questions to find out that there isn't a pre-defined support structure. Outside of work, there isn't a social worker's MeetUp group. There isn't an emotional support system in place, other than ad hoc.

Pete Abilla recently wrote about why transformation efforts fail in his popular and personal blog - shmula. He cites an often used statistic that a majority of attempts fail (he uses 70%; some estimates are much higher). Reason is, he claims and I agree, that about half the time management doesn't do what they are suppose to and the other half the time subordinates don't do what they are suppose to do. Of course a lack of resources and other reasons contribute.

http://www.shmula.com/1510/why-transformation-efforts-fail

It seems to be true. There certainly is debate on its usefulness. The Lean zealots call the stuck-in-the-muds cancer. The stuck-in-the-muds call lean a waste of time and effort. Those that know about lean debate; those that don't know wonder about it when they hear a buzz word.

Here are some questions to answer about lean and the culture at your organization. If you answer 'no' to any of these, lean may be something that you might find useful.

motivation |ˌmōtəˈvā sh ən| - The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.

inspiration |ˌinspəˈrā sh ən| - The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative.