Motor Mnemonics in Employee Performance Management
In a very ritualized, highly structured short sequence of finger pointings, he rhythmically segued from one to another: As I recall, first to the left, then to a chart, then to the right, then straight ahead (or some permutation of these)—as though he was anointing his route with the sign of the (railway) cross(ing). This was performed once upon leaving each platform along his route.
I had seen it earlier in the day, traveling in the opposite direction, and initially thought that first motorman had some kind of a nervous tic. But not being that slow on the uptake, I quickly sussed it as some confirmation sequence performed in the interest of safety. After all, as the Japanese say, “Anzen—dai ichi!” (“Safety first!”).
When I asked the driver shown in the photo what it was for, he said “kakunin“—confirmation, thereby unwittingly acknowledging that he was confirming my hunch as well as his performance of the required safety-check sequence (which, if in fact, a personal tic or compulsive confirmation, would be a form of OCD not unique to him on that job).
Applied Employee Performance Motor Mnemonics
OK. So it’s a nice, semi-exotic anecdote; but what does it have to do with you, job psychology, employee management or anything else on your windscreen? Answer—at least the following:
*Employee performance management through active-passive job mnemonics:What this obviously standardized part of the motorman’s training illustrates is the importance and the power of mapping motor performance to cognitive-perceptual task performance through the use of mnemonics—memorization and recall aids.
Note that in this instance the recall of both the gestures and their significance must be active, not passive, recall. This means that the motorman must not only recognize the signals when he sees them, but must be able to produce them at will, as required. This distinction, in the context of framing mnemonics for employees, is important for employers to grasp, since a mnemonics-based performance-management system that merely made it easier for employees to recognize and properly label critical job steps might fail to ensure such vital active recall—despite the fact that mnemonics are predominately active-recall tools.
For example, imagine that during an employee evaluation, the onboard supervisor must recognize the motorman’s signals and confirm whether they are correct (as opposed to the motorman who is, through his hand signal, confirming the completion of the check). This illustrates the distinction between passive recallvs. active recallof a motor mnemonic.
Where this becomes important is in the instance when a supervisor switches jobs and becomes a motorman. Any assumption that just because the assessment supervisor recognized the signals while performing his former job, he would also automatically apply them as required, in the active mnemonic mode, would be grossly mistaken.
*Supplement for employee muscle memory: “Muscle memory” designates the memorization of muscle performance-based sequences thorough repetition, e.g., memorizing the performance of a piano piece through repeated “kinesthetic” (touch and spatial orientation) feedback.
Although muscle memory is sometimes equated with motor memory, as I am using the latter concept, “motor memory” designates the utilization of learned, established muscle performances for the purpose of mnemonically remembering and performing correlated tasks, e.g., cognitive, not the memorization and performance of the muscle-based tasks themselves.
Distinguishing muscle and motor memory in this way thus allows distinguishing applications of them. For example, a karate studio manager wants his instructors, i.e., his employees to do two things:
1. teach the proper sequence of defensive and offensive moves through repetition and creation of strong muscle memory
2. teach the proper sequence of “kata“, a.k.a., “forms”, whose purpose is perfect form, without regard for any sparring feedback or standards, by means of highly stylized moves and accompanying cognitive, explanatory interpretations of what the move mean—much as the motorman’s gestures function, namely, to confirm that an external state does or does not exist.
In the case of the karate kata, making the move “confirms” that a specific situation, e.g., an opponent’s punch to the face is imagined to be delivered, to which the prescribed form’s move is the required motor mnemonic.
While these applications emphasize motor mnemonics for physical jobs, viz., physically guiding a train or a kick, motor mnemonics can be comparably applied in the office.
In this connection, one example should suffice:
The XYZ company has to train raw recruits to do two things: 1. provide the specific support services associated with the products or services sold; 2. to do so with a certain “style”—the importance of this latter condition correlating to a degree with either the cost of the service, the status of the clientele or the prevailing standards of courtesy, which, in the case of Japan, for example, are very high.
From the motor memory perspective, the second factor’s elements—those of style—can be manipulated to confirm and ensure that the substantive work-performance sequences have been sequentially and qualitatively properly executed, much as a check-out clerk’s prescribed “Have a nice day!” (intentionally or not) confirms that all the sequences from order, through payment and on to bagging or handover of the purchases and return of the credit card or change have been completed as required.
Hence, what, from the customer’s standpoint appears to be nothing more than an exercise in etiquette, is in fact a key part of a fail-safe motor-memory focused confirmatory system.
A bonus consequence of this kind of training. when it is openly and clearly explained to employees, is that it can dissipate any customer-service employee resentment about having to “suck up” to customers and perform like a polite marionette.
The kowtowing employee can come to enjoy sharing the insider’s perspective that all of that niceness is not emotional fakery, but instead a crafty control on job flow that works for the benefit of all, including the employees, who are, as a result, much less likely to make any mistakes of omission (if not also commission), e.g., failing to return a credit card.
In the First Place, for the First Time
As a job performance management tool, motor mnemonics have a storied history, beginning perhaps with the 4th-century B.C. Greek orator Demosthenes, credited with having introduced the rhetorical expressions “in the first place”, “in the second place”, “in the third place”, etc., in reference to points being made in a speech or debate.
Just as the motorman is correlating physical points with safety points to be confirmed, Demosthenes correlated his “topos“— physical points with his “topics” (which, as a concept, is derived from the preceding Greek term.
Again, like the motorman, Demosthenes identified three or four critical physical points to which to anchor his performance as he segued from one step to the next.
The key difference is that Demosthenes was not following the instructions of or being trained by an employer. However, if you are an employer who wants employee performance that is as reliable as Demosthenes (who also practiced oratory with pebbles in his mouth), consider the use of motor mnemonics.
Note: It may be conjectured that Demosthenes’ use of pebbles as a corrective for his reported speech defect—an inability to distinguish “r” and “l” (much as most Japanese cannot, despite practice with “Toyota Corolla” or “My lover is a robber”)—is likely to have been a form of motor memory job-performance training: The absence of the pebbles may have been experienced as a kinesthetic, muscle-based signal confirming that a live performance with a live audience was underway.
There, of course, are almost certainly going to be other applications of motor memory job-performance mnemonics—indeed, some which you may devise yourself.
But as a precaution, to ensure that your are able to effectively consolidate and incorporate them into your own managerial or job-performance repertoire, there is one thing you may want to consider as a first step.
Chew gum to confirm that you are thinking…
…despite any appearance to the contrary that it may suggest.