By Jim Whitt
The Gallup Organization has tracked employee engagement in the workplace for several years. Their first study in the year 2000 found that 55% of the workforce had no enthusiasm for their work. Gallup described them as “not engaged.” 19% were so negative they poisoned the workforce to the degree that their companies would have been better off if they called in sick.* The research in the years after the initial study show little improvement. This means the overwhelming majority of today’s workforce has little to no motivation.
Billions of dollars are being spent to motivate employees but these studies reveal that what passes for personal and organizational development in the workplace is failing miserably. The traditional methods of motivating employees – reward (paychecks, perks, pensions) and punishment (reprimands, the fear of losing a job, intimidation) – may have succeeded to some degree with past generations of employees but have a limited influence today.
It’s obvious the traditional carrot and stick approach doesn’t work.
People don’t want to be employees, they want to be partners in a cause!
People today are searching for two things: 1) the opportunity to fulfill their own unique potential (defined as Self-Actualization by Abraham Maslow) and 2) the opportunity to contribute their potential to something bigger than themselves (what we call Team-Actualization). People want and need to identify with a common purpose that is collectively bigger than the individuals employed there. They don’t want to be employees, they want to be partners in a cause. Then they must see how their piece of the puzzle (the individual’s own unique purpose) fits into the big picture of the organization’s purpose.
So I developed a very nontraditional approach to personal and organizational development. It’s all about transforming lives, leaders and organizations through the power of purpose. It revolves around my fundamental principle of human behavior: “Without a purpose our only motivation is reward and punishment.”
To find, hire and keep good people organizations have to become people magnets. I help organizations become people magnets by developing “purpose-driven” cultures.**
Here’s how I can help you increase productivity and efficiency by as much as 40%…
Gallup found that if organizations could just get an increase of 3.7% more work per person (the equivalent of 18 more minutes per 8-hour shift) it would result in a $355 billion increase in the Gross Domestic Product. Here’s how to get that 3.7% increase plus some.
Humans are the only animals that can choose their behavior. All other animals are merely responding to the extrinsic stimuli of reward and punishment which is, in reality, manipulation not motivation. Humans intuitively despise manipulation because the human spirit does not respond to reward and punishment — it responds to the one motive that is unique to the human species – purpose. This enables us to rise above our baser needs and become intrinsically motivated as opposed to being merely extrinsically manipulated by reward and punishment. Intrinsic motivation can lead to a 40% increase in individual productivity and effectiveness.
Here’s my approach in a nutshell…
Here are some fundamental principles that I adhere to in our purpose-based approach with people and organizations:
- Without a purpose our only motivation is reward and punishment. Purpose is the key to intrinsic motivation. It is the catalyst that empowers individuals and organizations to reach their full potential.
- People have to reach the right conclusions on their own. Until people realize they need to do something different to get different results they will not attempt to do something different. I’ll challenge them to consider what they do, why they do it and how to change it. Then we present them with processes that will help them develop new patterns of behavior.
- Change and development is a process, not an event. Personal and organizational transformation is the result of a continuous developmental process. Since every organization is in a different stage of change, I customize the processes to fit the organization.
To learn more about how Jim Whitt can help you call 918-494-0009 or email info@purposeunlimited.com.