The video discussed three motivating factors in the
workplace which are; 1). ”Give me interesting work”; 2). “Expand my skill set;
and 3). “Recognize me. In all honesty these three factors were on point on how I
personally feel in the organizations I work for. I started off in active duty
(Army) now I work as a Probation Officer, Deputy Marshal Reservist, and an Army
Guard member who reports once a month, two weeks out of the year.
“Give me interesting work” is a concept that even in high
school that always followed me. When I deployed I never was able to be
complacent always trying to find work to do. I would volunteer on missions that
I was not scheduled to go on, I would be in the gunner’s hatchet trying to be a
gunner ( when my position does not allow me too), and I would even trade
missions with my fellow Platoon Leader in order to expand my experience out in Afghanistan.
” Whetten & Cameron discussed goal setting (pg. 333) where having an “effective
motivation program” is through goal setting. Groups that set goals had a higher
performance rate than those who did not. My goal as a leader was to show my
superiors, soldiers, and peers that I am a “well-balanced” leader who can get
down and dirty with their subordinates, have the knowledge of his superiors,
and one step ahead of his peers. Even as a Probation Officer and Marshal
Reservist, I am looking for work outside my comfort zone that way I be that “balanced”
individual and gain as much knowledge about my job as I can. I try to imagine I
am a tool box. I different compartments for the specific tools, I will always
be readily available, and I serve a multi-purpose for whatever task is in front
of me.
“Expand my skill set” is a concept that kind of ties itself
with the “give me interesting work” explanation above. I was trained to be a “generalist”
meaning I can be put somewhere outside my scope of work and duties and still be
an effective manager, leader, or even subordinate. Currently in the Army I am
the Executive officer (X0) for one of the companies as I transferred over from
being a Platoon leader. As a Platoon leader I was in charge of soldiers, their wellbeing,
their families, their safety, and their career. Now as an (XO) I am in charge
of logistics, maintenance, and personnel for the entire company rather than
just a Platoon size element. This was a new assignment which for my Army career
will expand my skill set to become a Company Commander. It is structures like
this that keep me motivated to strive to become more and like I said earlier which
was to be “balanced”.
The third one “recognize me” is a motivator is an impact that
can be a double edge sword on me. Meaning that I do get recognized for the
great work I do, and sometimes (majority of the time) my great work doesn’t go
recognized and leaves me in a bitter state toward my organization. Deep down I am
humble about it, but there are times when if the work I put up is not being
recognized, or let alone my soldiers work is not being recognized then I have
internal attitude (that I do not show) within myself. Like I said I remain
humble, but the frustrations are there. The Army is good at recognizing their
soldiers. There are times though that goes straight out the window and they do
not. “The number one reason people leave their job is they do not feel
appreciated” (Whetten & Cameron, 2011). Then on the other side of the sword
being recognized can be higher expectations when you do exceed the performance
standards. That being said I believe that it is always good to set those goals
and strive to be better every single day.
If I can identify 3 additional motivators that I thought of
was 1). Team oriented values; working alone can be fine and dandy, however for
an organization to shine and grow it takes the concept of team work. My success
truly is not because of my individual accomplishments in the military, it is because
of my subordinates and the outstanding work they do. 2). Benefits; whether they
be monetary or non-monetary such as extended paternity/maternity leave, being
able to take care of family members, being allotted time to work out of home,
and being able to adjust a flexible schedule in cases where an employee needs
to do so for example. Finally 3). Fairness; this motivates me when it comes to
promotions, other job assignments, and training opportunities in the event of
competing with other coworkers. In my experience I have been shafted numerous times
because I wasn’t the favorite or I didn’t brown nose enough to get be afforded
those opportunities. I just would like experience,
work demeanor, results, education, and the list can go on to be the justification
for those examples I listed earlier.
References:
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing
Management Skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
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