I’m distressed about purposelessness.

The serious companies with whom we consult worldwide have all spent time, and usually a lot of money, crafting a “vision-mission-values” statement. There seems to be some confusion about why. Sometimes, it seems, they’ve made one because that’s what everyone else does.  Something’s just not “clicking” – or maybe I’m just on another planet with this issue?

Clearly it’s difficult for a large organization to stay focused when people don’t have a shared picture of where they’re going.  What are we in business to accomplish?  To avoid confusion, let’s call this the “What.” Most mission statements I’ve seen have some clarity around the What:  To be the best bank in someplace.  To deliver world-class hospitality.  To deliver technology solutions supporting key government programs.

Then it seems valuable to at least have an idea of strategy – how we’re going to do that (but in my experience good strategy changes rapidly with changing circumstance).  This is the “How.” How sounds like: By maximizing lending through blah blah.  By touching the heart.  By integrating robust services for rapid deployment.  These are interesting, sometimes important, but rarely powerful.

The tragically missing ingredient is the WHY.

I am most often invited to do leadership programs for senior executives or for high potentials (upper level but usually younger managers being groomed for senior leadership positions).  Occasionally I get to work with both groups in the same organization, and it’s fascinating to see how these groups each relate to the mission-vision-values statement.  Often the senior leaders are excited, they’ve been involved in the creation and it has meaning, significance, to them (though sometimes it’s “just something HR did”).  I’ve never seen a group of high potentials likewise touched by these documents.

Some executives, particularly finance types, seem very excited about phrases like “being the best in,” and perhaps that is a big enough WHY for them.  Perhaps encoded in that phrase is something deeper than financial gain?  But it doesn’t seem to translate to a compelling purpose for middle managers, and it certainly leaves me flat.

One of most powerful human drives is to belong to something worthwhile; so perhaps leadership is about enrolling people in a truly significant purpose.  To tap this power, we need two ingredients:  significance and belonging.

What constitutes significance?  A start is “value above and beyond utility.”  Something can have non-utilitarian value because it’s beautiful or impressive or makes us laugh.  A great statue, an impressive building, a winning team or a compelling story all have value above and utility. That’s part of the human experience from time immemorial and not a bad touchstone for motivation. Maybe “being the best,” if it really happened, would have significance.   I suspect that companies that change their domains, like Apple has done with mobile computing, carry significance because of that groundbreaking experience.  But there’s still something deeper: meaning.

If significance is about value, then meaning is about purpose. “Purpose above and beyond utility.”  In other words, a real answer to WHY.

I suspect that I’m a bit of an extremist in this regard.  For me, “to make money” doesn’t qualify because that’s not above and beyond utility.  “To be the best” doesn’t qualify because that’s not a purpose (it’s a recognition of something).  “Giving 1% of profits to charity” doesn’t work for me because that’s a byproduct of the organization’s success, not the focus in and of itself.  When I seek meaning, I am looking for a profound commitment where the work of the organization is threaded in the very fabric of life.

In itself, this kind of purpose, a “real WHY,” is tough to find.  But even more difficult is keeping it real in a growing, dynamic organization.  I’ve heard there are some that have done this, but in the hundreds of companies where I’ve worked, and in the many thousands my colleagues and I have touched, I’m hard pressed to think of more than two – and both of those are nonprofits where the WHY is clear, but their HOW isn’t!

How depressing.

Or maybe – what a great opportunity for us?

In the Six Seconds Model, the “capstone” is a competency we call “Pursue Noble Goals,” which enables you to connect with purpose in your daily life — to put your purpose into action.

Daniel Pink’s video about his new book, DRIVE, provides a fun and clear way of talking about this essential topic:

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

Here are a few other pieces from our blog about this topic…

About “pursuing” a noble goal

The purpose of a noble goal

Purpose and the generation gap

Putting it in action today

Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” about Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.

This simple, clear model shows how different motivators drive different kinds of performance — and helps managers, leaders, parents, educators — anyone concerned with motivating others — consider how to use their emotional intelligence to fuel lasting motivation. This model is presented in the “Motivation from the Inside Out” module in the Developing Human Performance curriculum (a series of 14 programs on leadership available for all development professionals).
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If I offered you $100 to read an article more intently, would it really make a difference in your actions? It would be difficult to measure this because I’ve asked for a change in your attitude or motivation. On the other hand, if I offered you $100 to proofread this article without missing anything, I may affect your “motivation” on this measurable goal-but researchers say this change won’t last long. Eventually, financial incentives wear off and can even reduce motivation! (See Alfie Kohn’s “Punished by Rewards.”)

Maslow’s Hierarchy can help us understand current research on motivation. Psychologists have demonstrated that after basic needs are met (the lower two steps of the Hierarchy), the top three steps of the pyramid are needed to motivate workers. For the unemployed or someone in a position that doesn’t pay enough to meet his/her needs–money could be the primary focus (and motivator). But once a worker is making enough money to satisfy their needs, raises and bonuses no longer motivate.

Does this seem untrue? Consider these examples:

While pay raises may appear to motivate workers, these are more likely tied to esteem needs. How many times have you witnessed employees become dissatisfied with their salary only after they discover a colleague’s pay?

True story: a nurse told me that her supervisor offered her a bonus if she would take on a special project. “Bonnie” said that she felt insulted by the offer and said no. Have you ever had this experience? (I have.) Was it the amount of money she was offered? What caused her to feel insulted?

I think my client was offended because she really didn’t need more money. Bonnie was higher up on Maslow’s scale and she wanted that recognized. Imagine if I offered you a sleeping bag, saying that I wanted to make sure you were warm during these winter months. Instead of accepting the bag with gratitude, you would probably be insulted and ask yourself, “Why does Laura think that I need help keeping warm in the winter? I have enough resources to keep myself warm.” If you have a home and enough money for heat, my offer misconstrues your reality and affronts your self-esteem. (On the other hand, if I said I had an extra sleeping bag that you might want to use camping, you may happily accept the gift).

Bonnie continued her story saying that years later, a new supervisor asked her to do the same project. This manager didn’t offer her any extra pay but appealed to Bonnie’s skills, her chance to help the team, and her ability to handle a thorny challenge. The manager appealed to two proven motivators on Maslow’s Hierarchy-to feel a sense of belonging, (third level) and to be recognized as having skills and abilities (fourth). Bonnie accepted the new duty but as she finished the story, she was shaking her head. “I feel like a dope because I could have done the same work and gotten a little extra money for it!” But Bonnie received more than money, which is why she said yes the second time.

Maslow’s Hierarchy reminds us that the “soft” needs of self-actualization (doing work for its own sake because we love the work), self-esteem, and love/community, are much stronger motivators than “hard” currency.

Have you heard this story? It illustrates what we’re learning about incentives and motivation. A slightly different version is found in Alfie Kohn’s, Punished by Rewards – The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes.

For months, an old man endured the insults of a group of boys as they ran across his yard. One afternoon, after listening to another round of jeers, the man came up with a plan. He met the children on his lawn and announced that anyone who came back the next day and yelled rude comments about him would receive a dollar. Amazed and excited, they showed up even earlier on Tuesday, hollering insults with enthusiasm. The old man came out and paid everyone saying, “Do the same tomorrow and I’ll pay you twenty-five cents.”

The kids thought that was still pretty good and came out on Wednesday to taunt him. At the first catcall, the man again paid his hecklers. “From now on,” he announced, “I can give you only a penny for doing this.’” The kids looked at each other in disbelief. “A penny?” they repeated scornfully. “Forget it!” And they never came back again.

Have you seen the effects of incentives backfiring? What happened?

Do you want “your people” to be motivated, or do you want to control them?  I suspect many people (managers, teachers, parents) get these confused from time to time.  I know I do!  Of course most people say “motivated” but is that what they put in action?

Control means they do what you want.

Motivated means they do what they want.

Are these two mutually exclusive?  Take it personally for a moment: If you think someone is trying to control you, how does that affect your motivation?

I suspect that I want to control people when I feel out of control myself.  When I am fully confident, powerful, and charged up, I accept – even appreciate – the tension of real motivation.