A great day =
Since the pandemic shifted many jobs to work-from-home (or anywhere) and the Great Resignation|Reshuffle|Renegotiation|Rethink further upended our work order, organizations have been madly surveying and throwing a lot of stuff at the wall to lure and keep the people they need to run their businesses.
There’s no question that our relationship to work has forever shifted, at least for those whose jobs don’t require a physical presence, and we’ll be wrestling and experimenting with this before we figure it out.
As for the money and can-you-top-this perks, isn’t there some good generation-transcending evidence telling us this isn’t the fix? For those struggling to meet basic needs, more money is a powerful incentive. For those who have enough money to quit jobs without having another, these incentives can work in the short-term. The short-term doesn’t last very long. The increased costs do.
A great day =
Think about a great day you’ve had at work — you ended the day with good energy and felt pretty darned satisfied. What made it great?
Over a decade ago, an intriguing multiyear study tracking the day-to-day of hundreds of workers in a variety of settings asked just that question — “What happens on a great workday?” They also asked 600 managers what they thought motivated their people. The managers ranked recognition for good work (public or private) #1, followed by incentives, support, and clear goals.
What turned out to be the most powerful motivator and emotional booster wasn’t even on the list: progress. “On days when workers have the sense they’re making headway in their jobs, or receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak. On days when they feel they are spinning their wheels or encountering roadblocks to meaningful accomplishment, their moods and motivation are lowest.” On the workers' best days, progress was cited 76% of the time. The next highest factor was collaboration (53%), followed by instrumental support (41%). Incentives were rarely mentioned.
This stopped me in my tracks. I had 3+ decades of work under my belt at the time, and nothing had ever rang more true for me. And while this study included only so-called “knowledge workers,” why wouldn’t it generalize? I worked in a lot of those “other” jobs — sandwich maker, food server, assembly line worker, bank teller — and a great day was a smooth shift with no glitches where I was on a roll. My coworkers and I had each other’s backs, helped each other out, and actually managed to have some fun in what might be considered a pretty mundane job. Progress + collaboration.
A culture of helpfulness
Instead of incentives, the authors tell managers to “scrupulously avoid impeding progress.” Micromanagement, constantly changing or unclear goals and priorities, indecisiveness, poor communication, holding up resources, and silos are just a short list of culprits. Chip away at them, and proactively “cultivate a culture of helpfulness.”
Doesn't it stand to reason that If we’re able to make more progress — work more seamlessly and harmoniously — we’d have more time for the rest of our lives and less stress?
An inside job
Simultaneous with the publication of this study, Dan Pink brought us DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us where he lays out the evidence-based case for human motivation being largely intrinsic and falling into three buckets:
Autonomy: the urge to direct our own work and lives
Mastery: our desire to get better and better at our craft, and
Purpose: wanting to work in the service of something larger than ourselves and which connects us to others
And further, that external rewards and too much structure have been shown to get in the way of problem-solving and creativity.