How do you know when you are doing a good job?
Me: “Mike, the culture of the company is changing, not for the better. I’m concerned.”
Mike: “It IS? I had no idea! What can we do about that?”
Mike was the CEO, wide-eyed and acluistic regarding from whence his corporate culture flowed. Culture does not flow from the top down, it gushes in massive torrents. Not every company has the culture of rewarding good work; I don’t know if that’s good or bad, right or wrong. I know that it can be changed, if you want to, and only if you know; and that culture comes from the very top.
The psychology of motivation is warped. It is fantastically easy to demotivate and productivity negative. (What is negative productivity? Sabotage.) Consider that productivity derives from worker attitude and worker attitude derives from the attitude of the leadership. If you’re surprised, read further if you want a headache. A raise in salary may result in an increase in productivity, but the response has a saturation point where more money promotes only an attitude of entitlement and productivity again goes down.
“What motivates these damn worker bees? They say they want more money, but more money doesn’t increase their productivity! What the heck is going on?” Testosterone my gentle manager, testosterone. “But I don’t want testosterone engorged employees!” you cry, “I want docile easily controlled pawns to do my bidding!”. Harsh words, true or not, testosterone or not, that’s what drives your corporate culture.