Enthusiasm on the Job
– Critical but Deteriorating
I begin to imagine
my 5 years old Nephew and all the time that i saw him grow up since his birth,
up to the first 2 years of his life i
have observed him get enthused and excited about almost anything that he came
across from mud to an aeroplane and while he would observe, feel, see and react
to these things including new people he would have an amazing energy level to
touch, feel and taste almost everything that he could get his hands on, the
next 3 years of him growing up I observed that now he would get excited and
enthused only by select things and people, his favourite soft toys and games
were of no interest to him anymore, he would not be enthused or intrigued to
meet new people rather he was simple and sober and unresponsive to them
sometimes even shy.
As I
begin to analyze my nephew’s changing behaviour I get a call from my old time
Management college friend and we have a long chat and the afterthought of our
conversation made me realize that we are the same as toddlers or as collegians
or as professionals, i remember having graduated from a management school I and
my group had an extraordinary trait of having undying enthusiasm in any task we
took to accomplish and on the graduation the excitement levels were sleeve
busting as we realize that now is the time we step up for a great job and all
great organizations await us. While all
of us begin our journey as professionals we all are at the peak of our
enthusiasm and excitement levels in any assignment we venture into and as we
get more and more experienced and see that all the tasks that are being done
are repetitive and monotonous which leads to dip in motivations levels to do
those tasks and diminishing enthusiasm levels by each day as time passes by. In
this bewildered state of mind or as we call monotony we begin to explore
secondary options expecting it to be more satisfying hoping to revive our
enthusiasm levels leading to job changes and profession changes.
I
would like to look at this phenomenon of diminishing enthusiasm from both
Employer and Employee perspectives:
· Employer
Perspective: To an employer each employee and their contribution on the job
results into the desired output, expected results, achievements and revenues
and hence it is very critical to have an energised and motivated team of people
for success of any organisation whereas on the other hand if this team is de-motivated,
unenthused, complacent and unforthcoming the results could be disastrous
leading to fall of even the largest business empire of the world.
· Employee
Perspective: Human beings by nature are the most exploring animals in the
world. New things, feelings, emotions, relationships, experiences is what keeps
us going wanting to do more, no more, achieve more and venture into unexplored
avenues personal or professional. Monotony in any form of work results into
diminishing enthusiasm doing the same thing over and over again and this
monotony is a killer of creativity in professionals leading to reduced energy
levels, lack of enthusiasm affecting the effectiveness and efficiency of
individuals in any given job.
Hence
today if we look at most of the organizations there is a heavy impetus given to
Employee Engagement, Performance measurement, Assessment and Feedback, continuous
learning amongst various organizational initiatives which help every employee
identify himself and his contribution in the big picture of the organizational
success and achievements and from organizational perspective these initiatives
help understand and evaluate the organizations talent pool, star performers,
deliverables measurement and progression.
Every
organization today is moving towards need based talent and hence there is a
clear job outline or job description that is given for every job role wherein
the HR understands which candidates would be an ideal fit as per the role and in
turn the candidate evaluates the profile and his fitment with the proposed
role.
There
are many Indian companies which shadow non performers and some do not have
enough work to keep people engaged 9 hours per day and 5 days a week but these
still continue to pay salaries wherein all that the employee contributes is his
physical presence for 9 hours at work as there are no deliverables and
measurement hence making the employee take the system for granted, and in
absence of any work related challenge over time if any given professional
remains in the mentioned scenario it would only get increasingly frustrating
even though (S)he keeps getting his/her salary but over a period every
individual seeks meaning to what (s)he does at work and whether he is learning,
growing and contributing and if the answer to all of these questions is no then
the only option left for the employee is to look for a job which needs his/her
contribution as (s)he is not able to add value to himself nor to the
organization in such case job switch will be a win -win situation for both the
employee and his organization.
