The best way to improve your employees’ performances is to focus on motivating the “extra milers” in your organizations.

A new study out of the University of Iowa found that employees function better when team members who goes beyond their job descriptions—the extra milers—are in a central position in the workflow.

“The extra miler has more of an influence in the center because they have more contact with other workers and because others can see what they’re doing,” said lead researcher Ning Li, professor of management sciences in the Tippie College of Business. “Through this role modeling, everyone on the team becomes better. If the extra miler is on the periphery, they don’t come into contact with as many team members and nobody notices them.”

After studying 87 teams with an average number of eight members per team, the researchers found that extra milers showed two distinct behaviors—helping and voice.

“Helping behavior means they physically assist other workers with their jobs, for instance, if they’re overwhelmed, or out sick,” Li said. “Voice behavior means they provide leadership by speaking up to make constructive changes that provide a better workflow, or work with management to make the job easier for the workers.”

Li said the study suggest managers should organize their teams based on members’ individual characteristics and not treat employees as interchangeable.

“It demonstrates that you need to pay attention to key players in a team because some of them are more important than others,” Li said. “Management can rely on the extra miler to have a positive impact on the team and know that person will help to manage the team.”

(Image: Simon Chorley/Creative Commons)

Guests’ mobile phones at the Palace of Auburn Hills will soon be able to talk with the seats.

“The 20,000 seats at the home of the Detroit Pistons will be equipped with near-field communications (NFC) technology that allows those using the seat to do things such as order concessions, said John King, [Palace Sports & Entertainment] PS&E’s director of information technology,” Bill Shea reported for Crain’s Detroit Business.

The new seats contract will be awarded this month, and the project will cost at least $6 million. The whole project will be completed by 2018.

Shea also reported that $15 million has been spent on technology upgrades at the venue, primarily on the video board system installed by Daktronics Inc. That cost is part of $40 million in renovations that include bathroom, suite, and lighting improvements, among other items. Ericsson also installed 300 wireless access points in the venue to improve the Wi-Fi service.

“An improved Wi-Fi network also allows PS&E and Pistons to push content, such as player and coach interviews and other internally-generated content, to fans via their mobile apps,” Shea reported. “Fan-generated content, such as tweets and photos during games and events, are used by the venue as loyalty-building tools.”

Please visit Crain’s Detroit Business to read more about what the venue is doing to improve the guest experience and its bottom line.

(Image: Rebecca Carlson/Creative Commons)

“It’s become the Philippine’s most iconic structure … just within three months.”

 Andrew James, Populous

Philippine Arena from Populous on Vimeo.

The Lubbock Entertainment and Performing Arts Association (LEPAA) recently unveiled the final design of The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences. The venue’s design is a group effort involving Garfield Public/Private LLC; Parkhill, Smith, & Cooper; MWM Architects; Diamond Schmitt Architects; Hugo Reed & Associates; Jaffe Holden Acoustics; Schuler Shook; and Lee Lewis Construction.

“Our vision for this facility is that it’s perfectly at home on the global stage of performing arts centers, that it can compete with the best in the world, but that it’s inspired by and in the spirit of Lubbock, West Texas, and the South Plains,” said Matthew Lella, principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects, in a statement.

The Texas venue will include a 2,220-seat theatre, a 425-seat theatre, a 6,000-square-foot multipurpose room, and a bistro cafe. LEPAA will also allow Lubbock Independent School District students to use the venue and hold UIL competitions in it.

“The goal of LEPAA and The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences is to create a lasting cultural arts legacy for years to come,” said LEPAA Board Chairman Tim Collins.

(Image: Diamond Schmitt Architects via LEPAA)

The best way to “win” in negotiating is to make the buyer feel like what is purchased is a gain rather than a loss of money. It really comes down to word choice. This is what was discovered in a recent study by researchers at Leuphana University of Lüneburg and Saarland University in Germany.

For example, the researchers ask you to imagine selling a car. After looking it over, you can either say “I would like 9,000 Euros for the car,” or “I’ll give you the car for 9,000 Euros.”

The content in those two sentences is the same; however, the second one is the version to say.

“Saying: ‘I’ll give you my car for 9,000 Euros’, draws the attention of your opponent on your car—which is what they can gain” said Dr. Roman Trötschel, one of the study’s authors. “If you do otherwise, you will emphasize the resource they would lose in case a deal is struck, namely the money he needs to shell out for the car. We were able to demonstrate that the party, whose loss is emphasized in the negotiation, is less willing to make concessions.”

The researchers conducted eight studies involving a total of 650 subjects. The results were always the same—bringing the offered resource to the foreground achieves favorable results. These findings apply to sellers, too.

For sellers, Trötschel suggests not lowering a price immediately, but add value to the offer.

“Offer to fill up the car. Throw in the winter tires, as well as a bottle of special cleaning fluid for the paintwork,” Trötschel said. “Emphasize what your vis-à-vis will gain—not the money that they would lose if you reached an agreement.”

(photo credit: The Open University (OU) via photopin cc)