"Give and Take": Are you a giver, taker, or matcher?

A senior executive recently commented to me that their most highly motivated moments at work are when they”re contributing to the growth of others: “but this is a bit fluffy isn’t it?” Not so. This executive is motivated by what Adam Grant, refers to as pro-social motivation, “a desire to benefit other people and groups”.

Adam Grant’s recent book “Give and Take” draws together many years of his and others” research on reciprocity and pro-social motivation. He suggests that corporate cultures sit on a continuum with “giver cultures” and “taker cultures” at the extremes, and matcher cultures around the midpoint.

Matchers help others but expect an equal amount of help in return. They give to people who they think will help them in return.

Takers ask for help and give little or nothing in return. They tend to claim personal credit for success for example saying “me” and “I”, rather than “we” and “us”. They tend to “kiss up and kick down” and seek to come out ahead.

Givers are guided by pro-social motivation, “the desire to help others, independent of easily foreseeable payback”. Givers “add value without keeping score”, they do not expect immediate gain. The most successful givers care highly for others but also have some self-interest, such as attending to their work and other needs. They give in ways that reinforce social ties. They set boundaries to ensure giving has maximum impact and joy, without burning out or compromising their work commitments. They are cautious about giving to takers. Givers are motivated by a sense of service and contribution and are more productive when they think of helping others. Grant found, however, that givers are not successful if they lack assertiveness, become a doormat, or burn out by excessively giving.

“Organizations will always have a mix of these three basic styles. But there’s reason to believe that in the long run, the greatest success and the richest meaning will come to those who, instead of cutting other people down, pursue their personal ambitions in ways that lift others up. From a manager’s perspective, it would be wise to clear the path for more givers to succeed, so that they can bring others along as they climb to the top.” (Time)

“Giver” behaviours result in these organisational improvements:

• Group effectiveness, cohesion, coordination

• Interpersonal networks

• Sales performance, revenues

• Productivity

• Client satisfaction

• Creativity

• Quality

• Problem solving

• Staff retention, job satisfaction, sense of belonging, pride

• Personal success

Grant suggests that people in leadership positions can:

• Encourage reciprocity

• Help givers to set boundaries

• Guide giving behaviour in the direction of best impact: helping others whilst protecting one’s own work commitments

• Emphasise the intrinsic motivation which occurs when being a giver

• Help staff to match their own expertise and resources to others’ needs

• Implement reward and recognition systems which favour givers

• Role model giving behaviours

• Design jobs to connect the role directly to the recipient, client and to a sense of purpose

• Screen out takers; minimize the number of take employees

• As coaches, what can we do with this? We can pass on the links to the articles and books to our clients. We can help leaders who are unaware of Adam Grant’s research to know that increasing peoples” “giving” behaviours can bring a range of organisational improvements. Clients who are natural “givers” can be affirmed and supported by this research. We could help these clients to set boundaries or to re-craft their jobs to suit their strengths.

Adam Grant offers this advice in an interview with Time Magazine: “Organizations will always have a mix of these three basic styles. But there’s reason to believe that in the long run, the greatest success and the richest meaning will come to those who, instead of cutting other people down, pursue their personal ambitions in ways that lift others up. From a manager’s perspective, it would be wise to clear the path for more givers to succeed, so that they can bring others along as they climb to the top.”

I wonder what you would do with this research. Do you have clients who are already taking this work on board and changing the way their teams work? And what of ourselves? How does Grant’s work apply to how we coach others? Can we lead to greater success for all by adopting more giving mind-sets?

Amanda Horne

References

Grant, A. M., & Berg, J. M. (2011). Prosocial motivation at work: When, why, and how making a difference makes a difference. In K. Cameron & G. Spreitzer (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship. New York: Oxford University Press.

Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success (Adam Grant, 2013)

In the company of givers and takers. Harvard Business Review, April 2013

Givers take all: The hidden dimension of corporate culture. The McKinsey Quarterly, April 2013

Viewpoint: Good Guys Can Win at Work, Adam Grant, April 10, 2013

Fitting In and Standing Out: Shifting Mindsets from Taking to Giving

Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead? March 2013

Be a Giver Not a Taker to Succeed at Work. Forbes Magazine, April 2013