I had a chance to attend a webinar this morning entitled, “A Conversation with Gary Hamel on Management in the 21st Century: Building a Blueprint for a Company Fit for the Future.” The presenter talked about a number of interesting things around innovation of management itself.
One thing he mentioned was the degree of engagement that employees have in their work:
|
Passion |
120% |
|
Creativity |
100% |
|
Initiative |
80% |
|
Intellect/Skill |
60% |
|
Diligence |
40% |
|
Obedience |
20% |
At any point in time, I might be 20% engaged – just fulfilling the job requirements, nothing more – or might be 80% engaged by taking initiative to go outside the scope of my assigned duties. We might quibble with the numbers, perhaps, but the logic is sound. When people are motivated to apply their personal passion and creativity, they deliver much more value to the organization.
In a previous post I talked about engagement. The challenge here is that we often see it as something that’s given to us or done to us, rather than something that we control. But think about this: In the parts of your life where you’re most motivated (with your family, in a social circle, on holiday, when exercising, and so on) did that passion come from somewhere else? Or did it come from being interested, excited, challenged, and refreshed?
There’s probably a deeply spiritual element to this, but that depends on your belief system. My point is that you can decide to pull your motivation from anything you desire. I happen to get a lot of excitement from learning. So I search for jobs that will challenge me in this dimension. I take on projects and assignments outside my job which will help me learn something new. I spend a lot of my personal time learning new things, as well.
And the end result is that I enjoy my job more, which means I put more energy into it. That’s good for me, my family, and my employer.