Some time ago, I was enjoying an evening with my wife at Barnes & Noble. While grazing some new business releases, I was reminded of How Will You Measure Your Life?, by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, along with James Allworth and Karen Dillon. The book is Christensen’s typically thoughtful and academically rigorous consideration of our purpose and the process of making a difference. Though he writes from a business/organizational context, there is much here that is deeply personal.
The first section of the book addresses strategy for meaning and happiness in your career. Here, the authors dismiss the common assumption that financial rewards increase happiness. Although rewards can reduce dissatisfaction, such factors as recognition, challenging work, and responsibility increase our job satisfaction.
This concept is not new. Business students will recognize it as affirmation of Frederick Herzberg’s 1959 work on motivation in the workplace. Herzberg’s research led him to conclude that the factors that motivate us at work are different from, and not simply the opposite of, the factors that cause dissatisfaction (“hygiene or maintenance factors”). You can follow the links below to a couple illustrations of the findings.
As leaders, I believe we all understand this concept on some level. However, it is useful to be reminded of it as it applies to our staffs and our volunteers. Non-profits and ministries have an advantage over commercial organizations. Work in this context is intrinsically motivating. However, businesses with a compelling purpose, clearly articulated in terms of the result we produce for others, can foster similar levels of motivation. In either case, we must daily seek ways to offer challenging work, accomplishment, recognition, greater responsibility, and personal growth to make the job even more fulfilling for our teams.
Hygiene factors and motivators graph: www.businessballs.com/herzbergmotivationdiagram.pdf
Rocket and launch pad analogy diagram: www.businessballs.com/herzbergdiagram.pdf
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