Motivating Employees With Different Views of Work
Your team members have different motivations, so you must manage their motivations differently. It’s like speaking a different language for each employee.
Let’s say your manager unexpectedly moves into a different role, leaving your team without a manager. Let’s say they offer you the spot. Let’s say you reluctantly accept the new position and are now the manager. You go from being their peer to their leader. Now, you have to figure out how to get results from your team members.
Could you let me know how you’ll do that? They’re all so different.
Three Different Employees
Mark
There’s Mark, who’s 52. He’s been at the company for 12 years in the same role. Mark is dependable and steady. He doesn’t complain, gossip, or get too involved with others personally. Mark arrives exactly when his shift starts and leaves exactly when his shift ends. He has three children—one in college and twins in high school. His wife is a full-time homemaker and has some unique medical needs. Mark maxes out his yearly PTO on family events, is on the platinum family insurance plan, and gets the full company match for his retirement account. He doesn’t think about work on the weekends and sometimes dreads returning to work on Monday.
Alejandro
There’s Alejandro, who’s 26. As a first-generation college student, he was hired right out of college and is already in his third role at the company. Alejandro is a hard worker and hustles. Unmarried and without a family, he puts in extra time in the evenings and weekends. Alejandro often talks about moving up in the company. He has won the “Rising Star” award once and “Employee of the Month” three times. He has gained the attention of upper management, who sometimes invites him to sit in their box at the game, where Alejandro posts selfies of himself with the executives.
Betsy
And there’s Betsy, who’s 63. Although she studied accounting in college, she’s had many jobs, from teaching math in an underprivileged area, nannying in a nanny co-op, owning a florist shop, and running operations for a non-profit. Although she doesn’t have to work because of her wise investing, she chooses to work because she loves it. She plans on working until her body gives out because she can’t imagine not doing this work. Betsy has never asked for a raise and sometimes feels disappointed when the weekend comes. She marvels at how fortunate she is to be doing work she loves. It feels like an extension of her identity.
Three Views of Work
In his 1985 book Habits of the Heart, sociologist Robert Beulah and his team described three ways employees view work. In 1997, psychologist Amy Wrzesniewski and her team published a study referencing Beulah’s three views. They found that these same three views were present among employees in equal distribution regardless of occupation type.
The study found that:
1/3 of employees think of work as a job
1/3 of employees think of work as a career
1/3 of employees think of work as a calling
Job Mindset
Employees with a job mindset work primarily for material benefits like pay, insurance benefits, and retirement savings. Their job fuels their life outside of work, and they’re likely concerned with the cost of living, pay increases, performance bonuses, insurance premiums, PTO tracking, etc. These employees don’t derive much pleasure or fulfillment from work, but rather in providing for others they often support, like family.
Among your team members, Mark views work as a job:
His primary interest is receiving pay, insurance, and retirement savings.
He doesn’t find fulfillment in the work but in providing for his family.
He enjoys the weekends and sometimes dreads coming back to work.
He doesn’t get too involved with his coworkers.
Career Mindset
On the other hand, employees with a career mindset work for promotion and advancement. They’re interested in moving up the corporate ladder and doing what will be best for their careers. They know this may mean working a job they don’t love, but it’s worth it for the sake of the future. They enjoy the status, prestige, and privileges of being promoted.
On your team, Alejandro views work as a career:
He is romantically unattached so he can focus on his career.
He works extra time on evenings and weekends.
He has already had multiple roles and successes.
He relishes the perks and status that come with recognition from upper management.
Calling Mindset
Employees with a calling mindset find fulfillment and purpose in their work. They are likely to introduce themselves by their work because it feels like an intrinsic part of who they are. They don’t work because of the pay or the perks but because their work brings them into something bigger than themselves. They believe they’re making the world a better place. It’s not working they love, but the particular work itself.
Your team member Betsy views her work as a calling:
She doesn’t need the money but works anyway.
She would rather work than take a weekend off.
She feels her work is an extension of her identity.
She loves her work, which brings her joy.
Here are three employees with three different views of work. As their manager, you’re trying to get results from all three. Can you manage them the same?
Yes and no. You can manage them reasonably without favoritism or prejudice. You can develop them, inspire them, and manage their performance. However, you cannot manage them similarly because they have different motivations.
Introduction to Motivation
Motivation is the cause that moves one to act. It incites, triggers, provokes, and arouses, moving a body from a state of rest to a state of action.
When you’re motivated, you’re moving, slicing through the air. When you’re demotivated, you’re lumbering, dragging on the ground. Motivated people get up and go. Demotivated people sink and sulk. What’s the difference between them? A powerful motivational cause.
When you have one, you feel you can fly. When you don’t, you fall like lead. How long is a day when you’re motivated? It whizzes by. How long when you’re demotivated? It drags on forever.
Your team members have different motivations, so you must manage their motivations differently. It’s like speaking a different language for each employee.
Mark is motivated by compensation and work/life balance, so write a total rewards statement and don’t bother him at home.
Alejandro is motivated by promotion and prestige, so chart his career path and like his selfie pics from the executive box.
Betsy is motivated by her intrinsic connection to the work and the difference it’s making, so discuss the work with her and share customer impact stories.
Let’s say you become a manager overnight and have to get results from your team. Let’s say you used to be one of them, and now you’re their leader. How will you manage them? By managing them according to their motivations. Don’t forget your huge advantage—you know them!
You know that Mark loves his family time and is working to support them. You know Alejandro is all about pursuing the next level, and you can ask him to work late. You know that Betsy is the heart and soul of the team, who carries the sacred purpose with her. Manage their motivations. Manage by relationship. Manage the person.
That’s how you motivate employees with different views of work.