This is quite possibly the most difficult post that I've created in my 3 years of blogging, mostly because it hit's very close to home. I've typed and retyped it several times. My first inclination, probably my emotions coming into play, was to make this an in your face kind of post aimed at those who make the decisions, who are in the position of power and affect our productivity and sense of worth (you know who you are). However that is contrary to who I am, and it would do very little for those to which this post is truly aimed at. This is aimed primarily at those who we've left behind (you know who you are), particularly because I think that those who are at the top and have the real power to affect change will quickly dismiss this as radical talk from a disgruntled former employee. They are truly from the old school, and quite frankly it works for them and their bottom line. It works only for them, I might add, and I'd hazard a guess that it has worked very well. The people who make it work for them (the real assets) drag themselves into the office dreading every step, put in a good days work (and then some) and leave feeling broken down and hollow, there is no personal satisfaction, as there is no appreciation for their creativity let alone recognition of their efforts! A pay cheque is not recognition of your efforts! A pay cheque alone does little for your self worth. While those in the position of power preach team work, they do not demonstrate it, they prefer conformance and compliance from their employees rather than engagement, personal satisfaction, and a sense of purpose. The profit motive has long been un-moored from the purpose motive, if there ever was one.
The video below includes a talk given by Career analyst Dan Pink, and was brought to my attention by a friend who, like I did, had the pleasure of working for a company that simply has no idea as to what motivates us. The old carrot and stick method was used selectively, we were expected to feel as if we were lucky to be part of such a successful organization and that we should be thankful. We were not engaged in the process, appreciated for our creativity or encouraged to think beyond the task at hand. We often got the stick but there was very little carrot.
In the video Pink talks about us (the collective us), those who work in cognitively challenging occupations such as the world of IT. I encourage you to watch it, several times perhaps, and truly think about what is going on in your place of work. As for my friend and I, we have moved on to organizations that look at the science and understand what motivates us and I am thankful for the lessons which I have learned. I now have input, a sense of accomplishment, ownership, and purpose, I am no longer just a smaller, better smelling horse...
