Article by Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick

After interviews with thousands of leaders and employees over the last 20 years, here’s an aha: Most leaders strongly believe that their people are motivated in pretty much the same ways they are. For instance, if a manager is purpose-oriented, then he’ll most likely believe only hedonistic jerks are motivated by money. If she’s driven by ideas like pressure and competition, then only the lazy would clock out every day at five o’clock. If he’s all about friendship and teamwork, then only loners and malcontents would want to work alone.

Many leaders carry these biases around like so much lumpy baggage. And in teams where these prejudices are allowed to thrive, those who fit in become “teacher’s pets,” while those who don’t fit feel alienated and unappreciated. Ever worked at that place?

The truth is, it takes a diverse team of people with differing motivators to truly succeed in business. To accomplish more and fully engage their people, the best leaders we studied learn to speak their teammates work language—whatever it is.

In our research, we identified five clusters of commonly related motivators that we called “identities.” It’s important to stress that we’re not saying that any given individual is purely one of these following types, just as almost no one could be described as purely an idealist (with no realist tendencies at all) or a one-hundred-percent introvert. These are archetypes, and each of us will inevitably tend to have stronger associations with some of these types over the others.

We found these identities are most helpful in identifying the driving motivators of those we work with or who work for us. With a nod to Gary Chapman (author of The 5 Love Languages) for borrowing his organizing structure for just this article, The 5 Work Languages (or identities) are as follows. Please note these are short descriptions of complex subjects, abbreviated here:

The Achievers: If this is your work language, you feel most engaged when you are given tight deadlines, are challenged to tackle ambitious goals, and get to work to solve problems. Achievers usually like to be put in charge of others or projects, and at the very least want to be in control of their own destinies.

The Builders: When this is your work language, you are more purpose-driven, hardwired to develop others and serve those around you. Builders cultivate loyal friendships and thrive in strong team environments. They also typically believe it’s important to speak out on significant issues.

The Caregivers: Those with this language are often more tuned in to others’ emotions. They are more motivated when they have regular fun at work, and believe balancing time at work and time with their family time is important.

The Reward-Driven: Those who speak this work language are typically more extrinsically motivated, driven to compete and win prizes—whether money or applause or the admiration of others. Many of the Reward-Driven believe that the cocktail-party question, “What do you do?” is extremely important.

The Thinkers: This language is for those who are more creative, who love to learn, enjoy a varied routine, and like to feel an adrenaline rush now and then. Most Thinkers get frustrated with red tape and bureaucracy, and want their work to make an impact on the world around them.

So how is this information useful in diagnosing what changes we should make in our work, or what changes a leader could make for his people?

Take just one case, that of a professional woman who took our assessment and discovered her number one identity was Thinker. Specifically, she was driven by ideas such as creativity, autonomy, variety, impact, and learning. Near the bottom of her list of motivators were pressure, teamwork, and money. It might seem natural, then, to find she worked as a creative director at an advertising agency. Case closed, right? After all, wouldn’t that job allow her to exercise her creativity every day, in a place that gave her a fair amount of autonomy and variety crafting pitches and developing campaigns? You’d think so, but she spoke with us because she was increasingly discontent with her work.

It seemed the job was high pressure, which was demotivating to her, and she did her work almost exclusively for one big client, which gave her little variety or the learning opportunities she craved. She was loyal to the agency, and wanted to stay, but she was, in her words, feeling “straight-jacketed.” Over the course of a few months she worked with her manager to sculpt her job. Together they identified a need that was unfulfilled in the firm. She was able to form a major deal group, which pitches to win new clients. Today it’s her job to do just enough to win a deal, and then she turns that new client over to one of the fulltime creative teams. In a given year she’ll now work on dozens of pitches, meeting with potential clients to learn about their product strengths, their competitors, their consumers, and then delivering a creative pitch that shows how the agency’s strategy aligns with the customer’s specific goals. She jokes that she’s become a hired gun; and you know what, she loves it.

Obviously this type of complete job sculpting may not be possible for most of us, but the good news is many of the people we’ve spoken with over the past few years writing our new book What Motivates Me were able to make relatively minor tweaks to their current jobs and see upticks in fulfillment levels. Many fulfilled people didn’t find their bliss down a new path; they made course corrections on the path they were already on.

This article is copyrighted and authorized by: Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick

For more information Chester Elton “hyperlink for his page”

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Article by Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick

Our research teams have surveyed more 850,000 people to learn what makes people the most motivated and engaged in their careers. We found that when individuals are fulfilled on the job they not only produce higher quality work and a greater output, but also generally earn higher incomes. And those most satisfied with their work are also 150 percent more likely to have a happier life overall.

As we researched this subject for our new book What Motivates Me, what follows are seven things we found the most motivated, fulfilled people don’t do:

1.   They don’t chase the almighty buck (if that’s not what motivates them).

Motivation is not about doing what anyone else thinks is right for you, nor is it necessarily about chasing a job that pays well if money is not what floats your boat.
It’s about aligning more of your work with what drives you. People differ enormously in what makes them happy—for some challenge, excelling and pressure are the greatest sources of happiness, for others money and prestige, but for others service, friendship and fun are more satisfying in a workplace. The trick is in identifying your core drivers and then aligning your work to do more of what you love and little less of what frustrates you.

2.   They don’t wait for a manager to motivate them.

The truth is, very few leaders know what’s really motivating to their people or, even if they do, would know how to apply that information to their day-to-day work. Motivated individuals have discovered that the surest way to happier and more successful work lives is: first, understanding what drives you and then second, doing some sculpting of the nature of your jobs or tasks to better match duties with passions. That involves working with a manager, of course, but most motivated people lead this effort themselves. They take charge of their careers.

3.   They don’t leave to chase a dream job.

There is a prevalent notion that if you’re unhappy with your work it will take a
Herculean effort to change things, that you have to quit and find your “dream job,” for the vast majority of people, that’s just nonsense. That’s not to say motivated people never change departments or companies, and we all can appreciate that if an
individual is completely miscast or miserable it’s not good for them, their customers, or their managers. But most people don’t need to take a risky leap; instead they need to start by making small but important sculpting changes in their work lives. Many of the happiest people we’ve spoken with didn’t find their bliss down a new path; they made course corrections on the path they were already on.

4.   They don’t believe everyone is motivated like they are.

One of the traps most of us can fall into is believing that other people are driven by the same things we are. We’ve counseled a bevy of frustrated teams on this issue. Perhaps the majority of the team members are what we call “Builders”—people who
are focused on high-minded ideals like developing others, service, teamwork and a greater purpose. And most of those team members believe anyone who is not motivated in those ways is not a “team player.” But on the team are also a handful of people we would classify as Achievers, Caregivers, Thinkers and Reward-Driven, and these people who feel alienated and unappreciated. Great strength comes in recognizing and appreciating diversity, but we have to understand and utilize the motivational drive of others. For instance, the Reward-Driven can make a team more competitive, Thinkers help us be more creative, Caregivers encourage empathy and fun, Achievers make us more goal-oriented, and Builders help drive purpose and meaning. Most teams need all Identities in play to function at high levels.

5.   They don’t focus inward.

The happiest people we found in our studies typically focus their work efforts in service of others rather than on self-gain. That may mean they achieve more or sell more or
do more because they truly believe in their products or services and genuinely believe they are helping their customers by putting those goods in their hands—versus those who are simply striving to win a deal and cash a paycheck. It’s a subtle change in thinking, but it’s important. Psychologists also say most people perform at work better when they focus their energy toward serving their families instead of themselves.
Thus, motives based on the pursuit of power, narcissism, or overcoming self-doubt are less rewarding and less effective than goals based on the pursuit of providing security and support for one’s loved ones, or being able to give of one’s gain to a worthwhile cause.

6.   They don’t hang out with whiners.

We all know who they are: there’s typically a group of people who complain about everything at the office. If the boss pulls out her wallet and starts handing out twenty-dollar bills, the whiners will later moan that they weren’t fifties. The most motivated people avoid this petulant bunch. Complaining with no solution is a toxic habit. Sometimes making a positive difference at work is simply a matter of how a person chooses to think. We always counsel those troubled at work to look for ways to be authentically positive; for instance, publicly acknowledging a coworker’s accomplishment on completing a project. And even if it doesn’t help change the office environment, we remind them they can always do this at home: telling their significant others or kids why they are inspiring, always using specific language not vague platitudes.

7.   They don’t compare themselves to others.

The motivated people we interviewed don’t waste a lot of time comparing themselves
to those who have more; instead, they regularly express gratitude for the talents, resources, and relationships they do have, not to mention their health, their friends, their own brilliance, their motivation, and their family who inspire them. Everyone is happiest when they are thankful for the gifts they have been given, and that gratitude should be offered up regularly to those around them who support them and help them thrive. Psychologists are only just beginning to understand the healing and strengthening mental power of grateful attitudes. The most successful and happy people are frequent and specific in their verbal appreciation of not only their colleagues but also family members and friends.

This article is copyrighted and authorized by: Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick

For more information Chester Elton “hyperlink for his page”

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