Accomplishment

I used to think that the goal of life is to have things as comfortable as possible. Not working hard, but maybe sitting on the beach all day.

My perspective has changed. I’ve learned that some of the most joyful times come from working hard and making a contribution.

Those are pretty general criteria – “working hard” depends on what I’m good at and how frustrating the experience might be. “Making a contribution” depends a bit on whether people appreciate what I’ve done, but not always. Sometimes it’s the more general feeling that I’ve created value through my work.

When you have employees who don’t seem to care about working hard, there can be several reasons:

• The work may be harder for them – perhaps lacking skills and knowledge
• The work might be frustrating – particularly in a team that’s not working well together
• They might just not find it interesting – perhaps a poor job fit, or fatigue
• They don’t see the value in doing the work, or doing it well
• They’re not getting supportive and encouraging feedback – from the manager, team mates, or those receiving the value

You have to be careful not to make broad statements like “they’re just lazy.” Because that doesn’t lead you to fruitful action; you’re just trying to justify getting rid of them.

People approach work for all different kinds of reasons, but usually they DO want to do work that matters and they can be proud of.

Even hard work.