Employees require purpose and meaning to their work in order to fully engage and give their best effort.
It’s interesting to me how often themes seem to converge across the various news and blog sources I follow. Today is one example – “Why” seemed to crop up rather frequently. Here are just 3 examples.
Why Am I Here?
From a perennial favorite of mine, the Blanchard LeaderChat blog, is this post on what motivates you at work. I was most fascinated by the list Author David Witt started the post with – a list for meeting attendees on “why are you here?” These were the possible answers (quoting):
- I am not really here. (Well, maybe my body is, but my mind is elsewhere.)
- I am being paid to be here. (And if I wasn’t being paid—or receiving some other type of reward—I wouldn’t be here.)
- I have to be here; I’d be afraid of what might happen if I wasn’t.
- Being here aligns with my values and will help me and my organization reach important goals.
- Being here resonates with me; I feel it could make an important difference to others in my organization and/or help me fulfill a meaningful purpose.
- I am inherently interested in being here; it is fun for me.
If you notice, each of the answers gets at a different level of motivation, including extrinsic (I have to be to get paid or I’m just going through the motions) and intrinsic (I want to be here for several reasons).
Broadening this beyond just meetings, it’s important for any good leader or manager to pay attention to why their team members come to work every day. Why do they contribute? Do they need extrinsic motivation or are they already intrinsically motivated? What could you do to help those needing extrinsic motivation to move into the intrinsic group? Could you make the core values of the organization real to them so they are more in alignment with personal values?
Why Should I Care?
From Forbes, comes this article questioning the role that open workspaces and perks like foosball tables and free soda play in employee engagement. As the author says:
“When companies like the one I visited recently tell me their workplace culture and trendy furniture builds employee engagement, I try to make them see that they’re focusing on the wrong part of the equation. They’re focusing on what, not why. What can tell you a lot about a company, but it’s why that tells you it’s a good company to work with.”
She goes on to pose five important “why” questions employees ask, including the one I started this post with:
- Why am I here?
- Why should I trust your leadership?
- Why should I be loyal to your company?
- Why don’t you communicate your company values?
- Why aren’t you clear about the rewards of working in this company?
You will be far better served helping employees frame and answer these questions than leaving it up to chance and circumstance. Give them reasons to understand your core values in relation to their daily work. Help them connect living those values with appropriate recognition and reward.
Why Should I Change?
Finally, from Envisia Learning comes this introduction (and free download offer) to Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It.”
I’ll be looking into the book myself in coming weeks, but I’m intrigued by the methods the authors suggest of helping employees understand why they should change instead of merely informing employees of change. The Enlighten, Encourage, Enable method briefly outlined in this post makes sense as an approach to change management.
What are the “Why” questions you are regularly asked or do you ask yourself?
About the Author
Derek is Vice President, Client Strategy & Consulting Services, at Globoforce, the world’s only provider of truly global, strategic employee recognition and reward programs. Their management team blogs regularly on Globoforce news, products, customers, and industry insights at the Globoforce Blog.
