In trying to break new ground in what they consider their innovative approach to business, they can spend too much money, over multi-task to the point of losing focus, and work too independently without consulting with authority figures, thereby compromising their ability to complete a job well done.īaby Boomers have tunnel vision. They are keeping a running tab of their successes which they easily overinflate and exaggerate as they self-promote their way to the top. Gen X is on the move and while they are the strongest generation rising the ranks in companies right now, they are also impatient. While GenY’s are capable of a job well done, it is sabotaged by a mindset of entitlement. To make matters worse, they often have parents who overvalue their adult children’s strengths and contribution to companies thinking that they should get promoted, be paid more, and be praised. If they do not get these instant results, they feel that the quality of their work does not have to be as good because the company/manager does not appreciate their value. Gen Ys are best known for their desire for instant gratification and immediate results for their hard work. In addition to the struggles we all face, I have found that each generation has its own roadblocks to having ‘a job well done’ mentality. People can have the tendency to think, “We own the benefits someone else owns the costs.” Unconsciously overinflate the positive financial impact of our actions because we tend to lighten the hidden and real costs that come with what we do.Conveniently ignore the miscues, cul-de-sacs, and ill-conceived timewasters we have created.Have an overinflated view of our standing and skills.Assume credit or recognition for the victories and success that may rightfully belong more to other people.According to the author Marshall Goldsmith, here are our common pitfalls in overvaluing our contribution to a project. In general, we overvalue our strengths and don’t look enough at our weaknesses that may be inhibiting production, process and culture. There are many reasons we lose sight of ‘a job well done’ but a primary one is overvaluing our contribution and quality of work. In other words, I shouldn’t pay my kids for their chores because the internal motivation of a job well done will work more for them in the long run than the instrumental motivation of moolah! Or more seriously, internal motives are a much more important ingredient to success. a desire to be trained as a great leader) did much better years later than cadets with only instrumental motives (get a good job later in life) and surprisingly did better than cadets motivated by both internal and instrumental motives. In a study done with cadets at West Point, they discovered that cadets who entered with only strong internal motives for success (e.g. But the research has proven that only internal motives create long-term success. When a person performs a task well, often there may be an internal and instrumental reward for example, a conscientious student learns and gets a good grade. An internal motive for a doctor, for example, is to cure a patient to save her life the instrumental motive is the doctor wanting to earn a good living. In it, they cited that we have two prominent motivators: internal motives and instrumental motives. And in doing this, what gets lost?Īmy Wrzesniewski, a professor from Yale, and Barry Schwartz, a professor from Swarthmore, recently wrote an article entitled “The Secret of Effective Motivation” in The New York Times. At what point are we just getting through the work to move on to something we like more instead of focusing on doing a job well done. And this got me thinking – how often are we as adults shirking our responsibilities at work and in life when the job/task is not our favorite, is not in our strength center, in not in our job description, or is something for which we won’t get any credit. The satisfaction purely lies in being proud of your work. All the while they would be asking what they would receive for what they considered “extra work.” Finally, I realized that in the category of chores, my children had lost sight of the importance and satisfaction of “a job well done.” It seemed to have been lost upon them that the reward in any work and toil was the result of a job well done. When I would go to check on their work, inevitably I would make them come back to do it again. Recently, I was getting frustrated with my children because when I asked them to do so-called “chores” around the house, they would do whatever it took to get it done in the least amount of time regardless of the outcome.
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