When
it comes to your profession, what motivates you? That has been our focus this
week – employee motivation. “A satisfied and motivated team is the bedrock of a
successful [IT] department” (Anonymous, 2005). Though this quote is from a
submission to Computer Weekly and is
discussing workers in technology, the idea is the same regardless of the field.
Happy and motivated employees are more productive. But what truly motivates people
professionally? Though we all understand that monetary compensation is
important, it turns out that money may not actually be the thing that motivates
people. Let’s consider a real world example of that. If you know anybody that
happens to be in the mission field such as clergy, counselors, religious
literature writers, or missionaries, you probably are aware that the financial compensation
for the work is quite low. Growing up, my father was actually a full time Baptist
minister. I was in Dallas this week visiting my sister and she and I were just reminiscing
about how we thought that it was so neat to have pancakes for dinner twice a
week and how going out to eat for a “fancy” dinner was going to the Mexican
buffet. What we didn’t realize at the time is that my family didn’t have enough
money for anything else. My father’s salary was pretty average, I would say,
for someone in that field. So why would someone go through all of that trouble
for such low pay? Obviously there are other motivators besides money. Some
might say, though, that this is a bad example because it deals with a spiritual
calling. Let’s consider another example, then. What about those that spend
countless hours doing volunteer work? Even devout atheists that have no
spiritual motivation still garner a great deal of “job” satisfaction from their
volunteer work. So what is motivating them? It clearly isn’t money.
To
assist in our learning this week, we were provided with a video to watch by
Andy Mulholland. I tried to do a little research on him – I value the
credentials of those imparting their wisdom upon us – and found that he has
quite an impressive background in information technology, business, and
business consulting (Mulholland, n.d.). I am not sure if you will be able to
access the video that we were given to view as it requires a login but I believe
that most of the subscribers/viewers of this blog are either classmates,
colleagues, or fellow academics that have access to Books 24x7. The link is
provided in the references below. Mr. Mulholland discusses that he was offered
jobs from competitors – one that would nearly triple his pay – but he evaluated
what truly motivated him and decided to not just go with the best financial offer.
He outlines three major motivators for [engineering] employees and states that “the
balance between the three things varies with the individual” but the same
motivators exist across the board (Mulholland, 2011). They are:
·
Assign
interesting work
·
Expand
the skillset of your employees
·
Recognize
achievements
I am
going to describe how each of these fit into my current profession to keep me
motivated as a Center Leader for my Army recruiting career. First, the work
assigned to me is interesting because I believe it to be truly important. It is
surely not a physically demanding job. It isn’t even that difficult. However, I
know it is a critical role. When it comes to the military, we have backup plans
for just about everything. As a Paratrooper, I had a reserve parachute. As a
communications provider, I had backup radios and satellite equipment. When I
was a gunner on a gun truck, I had multiple machine guns in case of a
malfunction. When it comes to recruiting, though, if we don’t meet our mission,
there is no backup plan. We truly have a “no-fail” mission. However, as a
salesman – and that is what recruiters are – it is easy to sell the product
because I believe in it. Completing my mission excites me to no end. No two
days are ever the same, either. I meet people from every background and every
walk of life. Next, my work does provide the opportunity to expand my skillset.
The Army provides opportunities for career enhancement at every level. Unfortunately,
due to budget cuts, some of our opportunities have diminished a little and it
has become more competitive to receive training slots but I have never felts as
if I didn’t have the opportunity to attend a school if I wanted to compete for
it. Even as a recruiter, I have multiple opportunities to attend training. Due
to my physical condition now, though – a crusty old paratrooper with arthritis –
I tend to gravitate toward conference attendances over the more physical
courses. Even earlier this year, I was given the opportunity to attend a two
day leadership seminar here in NYC where I was able to focus on e-mail writing
techniques for leaders. (It is difficult to convey tone in e-mail but the
training allowed us to learn how to express different levels of urgency or
satisfaction.) The last factor that Mulholland mentioned was the recognition of
success to keep employees motivated. This is truly one area where the Army shines.
We go to great lengths to recognize success. Even the smallest award – just the
little “pat on the back” from upper echelons – can truly motivate us. About
four months ago, we had some network issues that our civilian contractors were
unable to fix. I was able to hack into our router, identify the problem, and
correct the issue. It took only about 20 minutes but my commander wrote and
approved an Army Achievement Medal for me that is now in my permanent record. I
had no idea that he was doing that so it was truly an unexpected surprised when
he presented it to me. Recognition is important.
Though
Mr. Mulholland only mentioned three points, I want to share three more
motivators that work for me. Please note that these are my own personal
motivators so there is no reference for them. I am sure that everybody has
their own motivators and some will share mine but these are the three main
motivators for me professionally. First, I am inspired by a culturally diverse environment.
In my recruiting center, we have a Soldier from Puerto Rico, one from China, some
from affluent background, some from poor. Diversity is inspirational to me. I
don’t want to work in a place where everybody is the same as me. I want every
race, religion, creed – I want us to all come together and acknowledge our
differences and learn from one another. I don’t think we need to ignore our
differences. We need to embrace them understand that the synergy that we create
is unstoppable. Second, I live the opportunity to get out of the office. I am not
talking about time off but rather about the opportunity to take my work out of
the office. I am motivated by the fact that my job allows me to go to high
schools, conventions, sporting events, etc. I still get to work toward to
mission while experiencing an environment other than my own. I suppose that
goes hand-in-hand with cultural diversity. It is experiencing someone other
than what I am accustomed to experiencing and learning something new. Third, I
am motivated by time off of work. I absolutely hate wasting time. If I am only
going to live to be about 80 years old, I don’t want to waste time sitting in
the office being unproductive. I would rather be rewarded with time off for
achieving goals than a financial bonus.
Though
this list is far from all-encompassing, it is evident that there is much more
to professional motivation that just money. As Mulholland noted, “if you
overpay someone to stay, it won’t work” (2011).
Andy
Mulholland, Author at CIO of the Future. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2016, from
http://cioofthefuture.com/author/andy/
Anonymous.
(2005). Happy, motivated employees provide the bedrock of success. Computer Weekly, 34.
Mulholland,
A. (2011). The Three Things We Work For (Money Isn't One of Them). Retrieved
June 24, 2016, from http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/VideoViewer.aspx?bkid=43753
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