What motivates us in our work is understandably not money
when you’ve experienced working in an environment where the 3 motivators that
Andy Mulholland discussed are lacking.
Mulholland noted that there are 3 specific points that we, as employees,
work for. They are having interesting
work, being able to expand on your skill sets, and being recognized for your
ability.
I found these points to be incredibly accurate and
true. As discussed in the class
discussion this week, having motivated and happy employees can make a company
perform at a much higher level. From my
own personal experience, I have worked for a company that provided none of the
3 points that Mulholland discussed. It’s
interesting because, at the time, I knew I was unhappy at my job, but I
couldn’t necessarily pinpoint why.
Thinking back, after reviewing this module, it’s clear now that I was so
unhappy because I didn’t find my work that interesting after the initial
honeymoon period wore off. I was unable
to expand upon my skill set because the company didn’t recognize my abilities
and skills sets. I came from a
background that had a wide variety of skills that I could offer; yet I was not
allowed to expand upon these abilities.
That was probably the most difficult part of my job was knowing I had
more to offer, but not being able to do anything about it. I felt like I was taking steps backwards,
which made me feel stuck. I knew if I
didn’t leave that job, I would be miserable.
There were several other areas that impacted my unhappiness
at my previous job as well. The work
relationships within the company were poorly handled, which made it feel as if
we were all children. People would talk
about other people and their lack of abilities, it made it feel like you were
unable to trust anyone. Another area
that bothered me was their attempt at rewarding us. The methods they used were not to reward the
workers; they were to make up temporarily happy after they laid off several
hundred people every couple of months.
It felt like they were rewarding us for making it through the last round
of “cuts”. It was very disheartening and
belittling. I felt like a no body in the
company and that my skills were being ignored.
After quitting after one year, I have never felt
better. I now have a new job, while not as
initially inspiring as my first, I find that it offers a much better work-life
balance and the rewards match much of what is needed as an employee at the
company. Most importantly, as discussed in the readings this week, I feel that I more motivated to do a better job. While I always try to be a hard worker, it's easy to lose motivation when basic goal setting traits are not even being met. I feel like my skills are now being
recognized as they hired me for a position that I lack experience in, but have
gained knowledge in the area. Knowing
that they believed in me to succeed in a position I had little experience in
made me feel that they saw my full potential, which in turn, allowed me to
expand my skills sets and gain more experience. While it pays less than my previous job, I am so much happier in this new place in my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment