1. Technical/functional competence
neutral third party. Sometimes, 360-degree feedback
tools are used in this process.
2. General managerial competence
3. Autonomy/independence
Fostering Commitment Beyond the Job
4. Security/stability
D
5. Entrepreneurial creativity
o your people commit themselves to more
6. Sense of service
than just their own jobs? For example, do they
7. Pure challenge
energize peers, take responsibility for whole business
8. Freedom to organize themselves around their
processes, transfer best practices across departments
private lives
and functions, and feel directly accountable for the
company's bottom line? If not, how can you foster
Once you understand each career anchor, you can
this broader commitment?
determine the one that best fits each person on your
team (or ask employees to help define what's most
When you motivate your people to excel, their energy
important to them). Ultimately, the people who
and creativity ripple across the entire organization.
work for you must communicate what matters most
Motivated people make others feel fully engaged in
to them, and you, as the leader, must continually
their work and inspire others to focus on possibilities
ask for this information.
instead of problems. They feel responsible for entire
business processes, not just their own tasks.
Strengthening Personal Qualities
You can foster commitment beyond a task or job by
D
o your people demonstrate personal qualities that
clarifying the company's fundamental objectives
enhance performance, such as blending optimism
and then demonstrating ways to measure a goal's
with realism, viewing themselves as owners of the
progress. You can challenge people to identify
business, trusting you and the company, and knowing
opportunities to leverage existing knowledge and
how to avoid burnout? If not, how can you help them
make sure they understand how all of the company's
develop these qualities?
disparate parts work together.
Motivated people demonstrate several distinctive
Open-Book Management Style
personal qualities:
T
he problem with some employee empowerment
1. They are optimistic, yet realistic about
programs is that some people will focus only on
limitations.
their part of a task. People need to take responsibility
2. They take pride in their work.
for whole business processes, not just the parts on
3. They build relationships of mutual trust with
which they happen to work. Achieving this means
their leaders.
employees must understand how other departments
4. They manage their time well, prioritizing
function.
appropriately to take full advantage of their
energy and creativity.
People work better when they know what's going
5. They take steps to avoid burnout.
on. When they understand the company's objectives
and metrics, they can take responsibility for their
Optimism is vital to high performance. It fuels the
own work. First, however, they require a stake in the
ability to make creative connections between ideas,
company's success.
to convince others to take calculated risks and to
persevere during sustained periods of corporate
An open-book bonus system is a powerful incentive
difficulties. But optimism is effective only when it is
program, providing substantial rewards to those who
rooted in reality.
improve performance. Such systems allow employees
to track their progress toward the bonus over the
One must strengthen flexibility and adaptation skills
course of the year. You can tie a unit's performance
to become resilient. As you enhance your personal
to compensation in the following ways:
resilience, your ability to apply it to business
situations also improves.
1. Employee stock-ownership plans
2. Profit-sharing programs
The key to enhancing resilience is to develop a
3. Pride as a form of compensation
deeper appreciation for how our beliefs influence
4. Small rewards are sometimes as meaningful as
our emotions and behaviors. This work is best done
larger ones.
one-on-one with a coach or mentor, as it's difficult to
refine self-awareness without the benefits of a
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