Enthusiasm on the Job – Critical but Deteriorating

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.