Five questions on motivation with a fellow Millenial

This week's readings dealt with employee motivation, and how to maximize the potential and output of your workers.  As a young person just starting out in their career, I have a lot of strong opinions about what an organization should be able to provide me in terms of rewards, feedback, and career development.  I feel an organization should reward based on performance, and should promote those who are putting forth the best work regardless of age or stature within the company.  But do all Millenials feel the same?  I sat down with a fellow young professional this week to talk about their experiences in the working world, and what motivates them to succeed in their work.  Because I work in a very small organization myself, I wanted to interview someone who works for a bigger company in the hopes of getting a different perspective, and this Millenial works for a Fortune 500 company.  To protect their identity, I have dubbed them "ZZ" for this post.

AM:  Thanks for sitting down with me today, ZZ.  We are both young people, just starting out in the working world.  But the organizations we work in could not be any more different.  What types of incentives and rewards does your company have in place to help keep their employees motivated?

ZZ:  Every month we have a contest to see which team of employees can post the best sales numbers.  The contest resets every month, so each month you get a chance to win.  The prizes are always changing: Sometimes it's a gift certificate that the group uses to go out to dinner, other times its a monetary bonus.  But there is always a prize attached at the end.  Also, there is 'Employee of the Month' and a few other awards handed out, but there isn't really any prize for that.  It's more for the recognition.

AM:  Do you feel these incentives help to motivate you to reach the benchmarks set by the organization? Or do you feel as though the incentives and rewards you receive as a young employee should be more diversified and curtailed to you as an individual (Meister and Willyard, 2010, pp. 3)?

ZZ:  I think they're ok, but they don't really get me fired up.  I don't know, I guess I just think it's all for show.  Like it's there to dangle a carrot in front of you, but is that why you should want to do your work? There has to be more to it then that, right?

AM:  I agree with you.  People in our age group are classified as "Millenials" and there is actually literature out there on how to motivate us.  One of my class's readings this week deals with this exact topic.  Do you feel a customizable benefits/incentives package would motivate you (Meister and Willyard, 2010, pp. 3)?  Or are you looking merely for a promotion/recognition?

ZZ:  Honestly, I haven't really given it a whole lot of thought until right now.  I've been so concerned with keeping my job and hitting my numbers that I haven't really stopped to think about what the company was doing to make sure I'm growing as a worker.  I don't really see much in terms of professional development opportunities being advertised around the office, but it's something I feel should be offered.  I think my company is a little behind the times when it comes to this stuff, and it's unfortunate because a lot of people end up leaving here and going to work at other organizations.  There's definitely a lot of turnover, and that might be a reason why.  I think people our age want to feel like they belong, like their opinion matters and that people care about what they turn out to be.  If the place you work at shows you they genuinely care, that's a great feeling.

AM:  Again, agreed.  Our readings said we are motivated by two types of motivational forces:  Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation.  They define intrinsic motivation as "the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence (Ryan and Deci, 2000, pp. 56), while extrinsic motivation refers to outside sources in your environment that cause you to complete a task, when the task itself is not enough (pp. 60).  Which do you think drives young employees like ourselves?

ZZ:  I think it's a pretty good combination of both, especially if you're a hungry, young person striving to succeed.  I know myself, I am extremely motivated to succeed at what I do.  I have a lot of pride in what I'm doing, being able to support myself, being able to stand on my own and work and do something that I love.  But at the same time, I want to know that that work means something to somebody.  I want to know it is appreciated.  So yes, some recognition, no matter what type it is, has to happen sometimes for you to not think you're just spinning your wheels.  You work hard because you have pride in doing that, but it's nice to see it's noticed, too.  I think outside motivation is necessary in some cases, but I think it's most important because you need to know what you do is valued in order to maintain that level of pride in where you work.

AM:  Last question for you.  Do you feel that what our readings this week call, "Live-Fire Rolls" (Martin and Schmidt, 2010, pp. 1) in which young talent is thrust into greater rolls and forced to "learn by doing" are a good thing for young workers like ourselves?  Or do you think it can be a very negative tactic?

ZZ:  I've seen this tried a few times with coworkers of mine, and it almost never ended well.  Most of the time the person wasn't ready for the responsibility, and it ended up becoming a disaster.  I just feel like, if you make that move, and it's a terrible one, where do you go from there?  Your confidence is totally shot, at such a young age.  I think doing those types of things with a mentor/supervisor to monitor the process is a much better idea, because this way you can learn on the job, but still have the security blanket you need in the beginning of a new role or responsibility.  I think that would make those types of things go a lot smoother then I've seen them go in the past. By having a mentor or a supervisor there, you get to ask questions, seek guidance, and ultimately learn more in my opinion then just by figuring it out on your own.

Conclusions:

I agreed with a lot of what my fellow Millenial had to say, and it was interesting to see how our views generally did not differ even though we are in organizations of drastically varying size.  I found it intriguing that he felt Live-Fire rolls had not been successful, and that it can become a serious confidence blow if it doesn't pan out the way you envision it.  For a young professional, the repercussions of that could be damaging for a long period of time.

What stuck out to me the most, though, was how they viewed recognition, and what motivates them to do their job well.  I feel that when you enter the working world for the first time following college or high school, you have a lot of pride in what you do, and want to become successful.  I know that personally, the idea of becoming successful has been my primary motivation since I began my career.  But I have also felt beaten down at times, as though the contributions I was making were going totally unnoticed.  As young employees we want to feel like we have a voice, and that we can make a legitimate contribution to our organizations.  But most of all, we want to know those contributions are noticed, and valued by the company.  Some type of recognition, whether it be incentives or otherwise, is essential for us to remain engaged.  Otherwise, we can become quickly disenchanted.

It's up to our managers to understand who we are as employees, and how we thrive in an environment where rewards, incentives, and recognition are curtailed to the individual, and not just a carrot dangled out on a line.  It's the organizations who make us young employees feel valued, feel like we are truly a part of the positive things that are happening, that reap the benefits of our intrinsic drive and determination.

References:

Nohria, N., Groysberg, B. and Lee, L. (2008). Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model. Harvard Business Review, pp. 1-7.

Meister, J. and Willyerd, K. (2010). Mentoring Millenials. Harvard Business Review, pp. 17-20.

Ryan, R. and Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions.  Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, pp. 54-67.