Among John Maxwell’s blockbusting 22 Laws of Leadership, the Law of Big Mo (shortened form for momentum) arguably comes to the fore as a secret formula for managers and team leaders to nudge their organizations in the right direction by harnessing the power of momentum. Momentum makes the future look bright and obstacles appear small. An organization with momentum is like a fast-moving train. One of the truths of the Law of Big Mo, as revealed by Maxwell, is that “momentum helps followers to perform better than they are – when momentum is strong, people are motivated to perform at higher levels making all the team members more successful than they would be otherwise”. The leader must not expect the organization to create momentum on its own – momentum is the leader’s responsibility.
In utilizing the Law of Big Mo to fast-track the attainment of the organizations’ performance milestones, modern managers and team leaders often find themselves in a quandary where a difficult choice has to be made. This often borders on the most effective strategy for motivating their team members to churn out their peak performance that ultimately coalesced to the attainment of the team’s strategic goals without much ado. Team leaders and managers are often saddled with the arduous task of implementing the motivation strategy that takes cognizance of the peculiarities of their organizations and that, which will ultimately produce the most optimal results in terms of attainment of both short-term and long-term objectives.
However, the impact of the “catfish effect” in nudging passive and demotivated employees into peak performance appears to hold for all organizations irrespective of their nature or structure. Over time, the catfish effect has proven to be effective as a tool for stimulating greater performance from the down lines of the organization’s workforce. The catfish effect is the motivating effect of strong competition on weaker individuals. It refers to the effect that a stronger competitor has in making the weaker competitor better themselves. This concept has its origin from a 2010 American documentary film entitled Catfish with Norway as the setting. It was narrated that because of their better texture and more nourishing flavour, live sardines are several times more valuable, and thus more expensive than the frozen ones. It was said that only one ship could bring the live sardines home, and the shipmaster kept this method as a trade secret. Upon his demise, people found that there was one catfish in the tank. The secret was found to be that the catfish keeps swimming, and the sardines try to avoid the predator. This increased level of activity keeps the sardines active and ultimately elongates their lifespan till the ship arrives ashore.
In the context of human resource management, the sardines and catfish can be equated to active and inactive employees with the following characteristics. Sardines: They are passive performers who need a nudge to get into action. They tend to switch off during meetings, lack involvement, and do not contribute to processes. Catfish: They are motivated to perform and have the potential and skill to execute complex actions. Highly competitive, they are quick thinkers and problem solvers. Very active and strategic thinkers by nature, they are the ones in the organization who are high on energy and are willing to learn more, take initiatives, and give results all the time.
Similarly, this method is used to motivate a team so that each member feels strong competition, thus keeping up the competitiveness of the entire team. It is expressed in two ways: first, enterprises should continue to add fresh blood. Those vibrant, quick-witted young forces introduced into the workforce and even management, jolt conservative and possibly lazy employees, to arouse the “sardines” for their survival awareness to win the heart of competition. The second is to continue to introduce new technologies, new processes, new equipment, new management concepts, to enable enterprises to fight the tide waves in the market, and enhance survivability and adaptability, according to Kunshan Well (2013).
Finally, in implementing the “catfish strategy”, the organization’s HR has to thread with caution. For the strategy to be effective, the strong competitor with high morale will need to be given support so that she/he does not feel left alone, which can be a de-motivating factor for the person. As reported by Ganesh Chandan, the Chief Human Resources Officer of Tata Projects, India “At Apollo Munich Health Insurance, this practice is commonly used for the new hires. The newly-hired employees are placed with the experienced ones causing a sort of cross-pollination of skills and experience.” By and large, the “catfish effect” gives a sublime message that highly active and motivated employees act as battery chargers for the sluggish employees in the company, who are low on energy and enthusiasm.
Waheed is Executive Chair/Head of Research & Strategy, Majeesky Consulting Nigeria
