This topic of “not being able to learn anything new at work” came up today. I feel sad that I’m not able to make a difference in the situation of others, to make things better. It did however, remind me of this video I saw some time back on what motivates people at work. I can’t agree more.
I found myself thinking back to what I’ve been though or seen others go through, and can’t help nodding at the things mentioned. If you can’t spare 10 minutes to watch the whole thing (which is quite entertaining because of the drawings), the main points are below.
Money is a motivator at work, but only to a certain degree. If you don’t pay someone enough they won’t be motivated. You have to pay someone enough to take the issue of money off the table. Once that is solved, there are 3 main factors that affect motivation.
Challenge, Mastery, and Making a Contribution.
Challenge – People don’t want to be micro-managed or directed. If you want them to be engaged in what they do, set them up with a problem and let them solve it themselves. They need to be empowered or allowed a certain degree of autonomy to do what you paid them to do. Solve your problems.
Mastery – Why do musicians play music on a Saturday? They don’t get paid to do it, but they still do it! Because it’s fun, and satisfying, to get better and better at something. Same case with whatever specialty skills you use at work.
Making a Contribution – Most of today’s innovations, like Linux, wikipedia and a bunch of other stuff integral to today’s working world was made, for free, by highly skilled people who have jobs! They just wanted to make a contribution to society. It doesn’t matter if they got paid for it. People just want to help people, and make a difference in the world.
I’ve found myself in all 3 situations before, and when I’m not in any of them I find myself getting frustrated. If you think about it it’s that simple really. If you’re feeling unmotivated at work it’s probably one of the above factors.
