Social scientist and author outlines four ways to encourage corporate altruism
HR professionals can help nurture a culture of generosity and altruism in their organisations, renowned social scientist Adam Grant told delegates at the CIPD Annual Conference in Manchester – and they will be rewarded with better performance, higher engagement and greater loyalty if they do.
Grant, the youngest tenured professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of the bestselling book Give and Take, used his closing keynote presentation to argue that creating a giving mindset was one of the most effective ways to transform businesses.
He outlined his theory that people are either ‘givers’ who enjoy helping others with no strings attached, ‘matchers’ who will aid others if there’s something in it for them or ‘takers’ who are only interested in helping themselves.
“HR attracts givers,” said Grant. “They give their time generously, with no expectation they will get anything in return. They end up with deeper and better relationships.
“Givers are good citizens. They bring people together, and that fuels creativity and innovation. They are critical to business success. But givers can be seen as do-gooders or bleeding hearts. It can be seen as a sign of weakness. They often make people’s lives better at their own expense.”
Being a giver could either sink your career or accelerate it, explained Grant – altruistic employees were over-represented in both the top- and bottom-performing quartiles in every profession. He told the audience they had the power to create organisations which sought out and genuinely rewarded givers: “A culture of successful giving happens when everyone is motivated to help without asking for anything in return; and when they do that it helps their careers rather than impeding them.” He outlined four key ways to encourage giving:
1) Better selection
Screening the takers out of your business turns out to be the best way to be more giving. Or as Grant put it: “It’s nice to have the right people on the bus, but more important to have the wrong people off the bus. Seed just one taker into a team and paranoia will spread quickly.” The impact of takers is up to three times greater than that of givers, and it’s hard to spot them during a superficial conversation: takers may be good at concealing their intent, while those who appear rude or cold at first may in fact be generous by nature. Grant suggested being careful about references (recommendations from peers are more reliable than those given by bosses), using behavioural interviews to see whether candidates share credit with others or hog it for themselves and employing situational interviews to obtain an objective view of behaviours.
2) Redefine giving
“Being Mother Theresa or Gandhi isn’t sustainable for most of us,” argued Grant. Instead, giving should start small, with a series of ‘five minute favours’ a few times a week. At first, giving staff might be seen as people to be taken advantage of, but by aligning the giving with employees’ interests and capabilities, over time they would be viewed as valued experts.
3) Change the system of reward
Many organisations remain unbalanced in the way they use reward. “If you only reward individual accomplishments, the number of takers will inevitably rise,” said Grant. Instead, he said, HR professionals should identify “what types of giving behaviours are crucial to their organisation” and ensure they are aligned with the reward system. He gave the example of a manufacturer which offered a job for life to engineers who authored patents worth £80m or more – but only if they had also acted as supporting authors on colleagues’ patents.
4) Encourage a culture of ask-seeking
More than three quarters of all giving begins with a request. But it’s tough to ask – many may be reticent, worried about being a burden or simply unsure where to turn. Changing the mindset begins at home, said Grant: “As an HR leader, when people see you ask for help they take it is as a sign that asking is encouraged.” But it’s also possible to create formal structures, such as a ‘reciprocity ring’ where people come together to share requests for expertise or assistance.